Light Rail West

Public Transport In The City Was Better in the 1950's
Until November 1958 an extensive tramway network served the inner west. Neighbourhoods like Five Dock, Lilyfield, Leichhardt and Haberfield benefited from trams in many ways, including higher capacity and much less pollution than the buses that have in most cases replaced the old tram routes.

This efficient and high capacity network was dismantled, despite local opposition. The result was noisy and inefficient diesel buses battling to do the work of the trams. The increased car traffic caused by people who abandoned the inferior public transport services have led to the pollution , gridlock and deteriorating travel times experienced on the roads today.

Light Rail West

light rail west routesDespite being one of the only light rail proposals to fail the feasibility study test, the Lilyfield "extension" of the last remaining section of the Sydney's old tram network has exceeded the expectations for numbers of passengers.

Far from being the 'toy train' that many feared it could become (a repeat of the monorail experience), it provides a great service, prompting calls for further extensions throughout the highly congested inner west.

Light Rail West has been developed by EcoTransit Sydney as one alternative to the current proposal to create a motor way through the inner west.

Although it has been recognised that such a motorway would only increase travel speeds for 18 months or so (based on several other Sydney motorways) the proposal is still being pursued by the RTA and the NSW State Government as a means of 'reducing' congestion.

Light rail, on the other hand would give our current system much more capacity by increasing the efficiency of the current number of lanes on our roads. It would achieve this with less noise and pollution. Light Rail West includes several branches through the inner west and could easily extend to a line up Parramatta Rd to Parramatta itself.

Download the PDF of the Light Rail West Proposal