Adelaide Trams

[jibb]

Transport Minister Stephan Knoll was interviewed on 5aa this morning about delays and cost overruns of the tram extension.
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sout ... d081307ef0

[Heardy_101]

Waiting for the Liberals to announce that due to these cost blowouts and delays they can't put a right turn in....

[marc506]

Waiting for the Liberals to announce that due to these cost blowouts and delays they can't put a right turn in....

Or they put in but everyone complains about the extra delays etc and people find out that the previous govt was correct in the first place.

[Myrtone]

How about a live stream of the opening ceremony?

[jibb]

Looks like the extension is still in the "Go-slow" mode.
No news of starting dates for tram testing,driver training or services?
2 0f the ex Madrid trams 207 and 209 have still not left the depot?
I sent off an e-mail today to Stephan Knoll to see if I could get any answers to these questions!

[jibb]

On both the channel 9 news last night and in the Advertiser today,it was announced that the starting dates for this new extension had been pushed back to a date to be announced!
Trams were originally planned to begin testing on Sunday night,but this has now been cancelled.

[Tim Williams]

This is disappointing and it makes me curious as to the reason(s) for the delay. I have always sincerely believed that both extensions, as they are, are a scandalous waste of money. If the King William Road extension only had been constructed through to North Adelaide (Piccadilly Movie Theatre) then I believe that would have reasonable and maybe might have encouraged development of the still vacant ex Le Cornus sight and other places in that vicinity.

Similarly, I see the tram extension to the Entertainment Centre as pointless for two reasons:
1. There is an almost parallel railway line to Pt Adelaide that could handle all passenger needs for the Entertainment Centre, with the aid of a covered walkway to Bowden(?) Station.
2. The passenger loadings on that line are low, as there is little or no residential accommodation close by and those residences are handled well by buses.

The current obsession with tra$ms/LRV’s is fine/justified with an appropriate population density, which really does not exist in Adelaide. Buses can and actually do the job of moving people around well in Adelaide and I am certain new forms of propulsion will gradually address the pollution factor, such as it is.

[jibb]

The Transport Minister is due to make an announcement today re the delay.

[jibb]

Just been announced that trams won't run on new extension till mid July?

[PD2/20]

Just been announced that trams won't run on new extension till mid July?

Any reason cited?

[jibb]

No-I received an email from DPTI-but no reason given, driver training next month will take 3 weeks.

[tonyp]

This is disappointing and it makes me curious as to the reason(s) for the delay. I have always sincerely believed that both extensions, as they are, are a scandalous waste of money. If the King William Road extension only had been constructed through to North Adelaide (Piccadilly Movie Theatre) then I believe that would have reasonable and maybe might have encouraged development of the still vacant ex Le Cornus sight and other places in that vicinity.

Similarly, I see the tram extension to the Entertainment Centre as pointless for two reasons:
1. There is an almost parallel railway line to Pt Adelaide that could handle all passenger needs for the Entertainment Centre, with the aid of a covered walkway to Bowden(?) Station.
2. The passenger loadings on that line are low, as there is little or no residential accommodation close by and those residences are handled well by buses.

The current obsession with tra$ms/LRV’s is fine/justified with an appropriate population density, which really does not exist in Adelaide. Buses can and actually do the job of moving people around well in Adelaide and I am certain new forms of propulsion will gradually address the pollution factor, such as it is.

A major reason for the extension to the Entertainment centre is park-and-ride. The fare-free zone was created in association with this. They're trying to stop people driving into the CBD and parking. Yes the railway may be nearby but it would have nowhere near the frequency of service to encourage people to park and ride. Patronage of the tram more than tripled when this extension was opened.

New lines out through Adelaide's low density suburbs I agree are not really viable as yet. The Liberals plan for new lines to use the tram as a distributor through the central area make much more sense.

[Eurostar]

Just been announced that trams won't run on new extension till mid July?

The contractor should be penalised for every day late

[Tim Williams]

Thanks Tonyp, it is good to note your comments about patronage,but do you honestly think that free park and ride there was more of an attempt by the SA Govt. to justify the spend to the Ent. Centre. In actual fact free park and ride from more railway stations might reduce in city traffic and parking and would also boost rail patronage.

[tonyp]

Thanks Tonyp, it is good to note your comments about patronage,but do you honestly think that free park and ride there was more of an attempt by the SA Govt. to justify the spend to the Ent. Centre. In actual fact free park and ride from more railway stations might reduce in city traffic and parking and would also boost rail patronage.

What they've done with the line to the P+R at Entertainment Centre is what they do in scores of cities in Australia and around the world. Open up a second front to head off those who won't P+R out at a suburban station/interchange but still insist on driving in. Think of it as a military operation. When your outer line of defence fails, you fall back to the inner one. The same method (perimeter P+R connected with fare-free downtown circulator bus or tram) is used, in Australia, in Perth, Melbourne, Canberra, Wollongong, Parramatta and Brisbane, in addition to Adelaide.

[Eurostar]

Thanks Tonyp, it is good to note your comments about patronage,but do you honestly think that free park and ride there was more of an attempt by the SA Govt. to justify the spend to the Ent. Centre. In actual fact free park and ride from more railway stations might reduce in city traffic and parking and would also boost rail patronage.

When I was studying at TAFE in City, I found it cheaper to park at Adelaide Entertainment Centre carpark, pay the $4 to park there and get the tram to North Terrace than parking at Modbury Park N Ride and get the bus to Light Square.

[BroadGauge]

Similarly, I see the tram extension to the Entertainment Centre as pointless for two reasons:
1. There is an almost parallel railway line to Pt Adelaide that could handle all passenger needs for the Entertainment Centre, with the aid of a covered walkway to Bowden(?) Station.

I always thought of the tram line to the entertainment centre as being a stub for future extensions. I recall at one stage there was an official plan to run both trains and trams on the current rail line as far as Woodville? And converting the Outer Harbor line to light rail has been proposed at various times too.

None of those plans seem likely to happen any more, especially not after all that money was spent recently to grade separate the heavy rail junction leading into that line, so that stub doesn't really seem to have much purpose.

[tonyp]

The stub has plenty of purpose - to serve the park and ride and to serve the entertainment centre.

[TA3001]

The proposal to convert the OH line to a tramway has as much benefits as replacing the O'bahn with one. Travel times will be slower, less capacity for major events, reconstruction of each platform will be a necessity, and not to mention installation of overhead wires along with possible standardisation. $400 million or more to make a service inferior to what it is currently? Spending money on removing lanes from Main North Rd and South Rd could have more benefits as at least it will see some motorists seek alternative routes.

The concept of the OH line becoming a tramway reminds of the claims that the Bendigo line capacity would be increased as a result of it being converted to single track during the RFR project (Regional fast rail). If there were benefits to converting to light rail, why wouldn't it have been performed decades ago? Also, where would the service commence from? ARS or through running from Glenelg? I didn't include this with the initial cost estimate.

[The Phonj]

This is disappointing and it makes me curious as to the reason(s) for the delay. I have always sincerely believed that both extensions, as they are, are a scandalous waste of money. If the King William Road extension only had been constructed through to North Adelaide (Piccadilly Movie Theatre) then I believe that would have reasonable and maybe might have encouraged development of the still vacant ex Le Cornus sight and other places in that vicinity.

Similarly, I see the tram extension to the Entertainment Centre as pointless for two reasons:
1. There is an almost parallel railway line to Pt Adelaide that could handle all passenger needs for the Entertainment Centre, with the aid of a covered walkway to Bowden(?) Station.
2. The passenger loadings on that line are low, as there is little or no residential accommodation close by and those residences are handled well by buses.

The current obsession with tra$ms/LRV’s is fine/justified with an appropriate population density, which really does not exist in Adelaide. Buses can and actually do the job of moving people around well in Adelaide and I am certain new forms of propulsion will gradually address the pollution factor, such as it is.

While there has been little change to the streetscape of Port Rd since the opening in 2010 of the tram extension to the Entertainment Centre; the closure of the Wigg factory and upcoming closure of the Coca Cola factory, both on Port Rd, and most likely to be replaced with medium or high density housing, creating potential tram passengers. I also have witnessed many people walking from the suburb of Thebarton to their local tram stop. The bus passenger loadings along Port Rd (between the City and about stop 7), Phillips St and George St have plummeted since the tram opening; most people opting for the free ride instead of paying for a bus. The buses may well serve the suburb of Thebarton, but to many people, they'll happily catch an electric tram or train, but a bus is 'beneath them' and they would drive instead.

In another observation, while stuck in the North Tce traffic jam yesterday, I noticed a rather large crack in the concrete roadbed of the tram line at or around the Pulteney St tram stop Certainly a larger crack than the hairline fractures often found on the mass concrete pours.

For future planning, I'd like to see a future tram line built to replace a bus route, rather than this piecemeal construction methodology currently used - Taking trams to the Piccadilly Cinema in North Adelaide replaces no bus services. Taking them further afield to Blair Athol (via Prospect Rd) obviates the need for the bus along that route. While there are little to no savings (the buses and bus drivers that were required are now replaced with trams and tram drivers) there is not the additional cost of duplication of services.

[jibb]

Tram testing will occur on the 2 new tram extensions tomorrow morning from 1230am until 400am. Trams will test the whole system.
Driver training will begin shortly on the new sections.

[busrider]

113 took the honours of being first tram to run along the track from King William St to the old RAH. It didn't end up going down to the Festival Theatre stop though.

[jibb]

Last night testing continued with trams travelling over the King William Street/North intersection. They continued to Elder Park terminus.
Both Citadis 202 and Flexity 113 were used, including the left turn from King William Road into North Terrace to travel east to the East Terrace terminus.

[Tram Conductor]

I was wondering if any members have any updates re tram testing and Driver training along the new North Terrace tram line extension. Is there any further news as to when regular services may commence on the new extension .

[Tim Williams]

These new unused extensions are amazing, the first to an unused hospital and the other being half way to the prominent and much used Adelaide Oval, but there seems to be little hurry to bring them into service - perhaps the current "powers that be" have realised how useless and what a waste of public money these extensions are!!!!