Conceptual System Design

Describe about the Report for System Design Process of Sydney Light Rail Project.

According to the Ministry at Sydney, light rail was poised to have a very bright prospect, as it would help in transportation of a large number of people between various parts of the city. Hence, in 2012, the ministry planned to start a light rail project that will cover the route between Kingsford-Randwick and Circular Quay and will pass through George Street of CBD, Sydney. The route was also expected to cover areas of York Street, Elizabeth Street, Harbour Bridge and George Street (Ney and Gray 2014). These areas have extremely high rush of office passengers and streets get extremely clogged in the rush hours. According to a survey analysis, the congestion expenses may rise to $9 billion by the year 2021. Light Rail can ease the rush easily to a large extent if the project is completed and trains are dispatched at regular intervals according to plan (Hensher 2016). Sydney Ministry also expects a massive economic development of the region if the Light Rail Project is completed successfully and very reliable services are provided. Although the project is expected to bring economic prosperity as well as more transport options in Sydney area, there are a large number of challenges in the project that have to be solved before the completion of the project.

In 2014, initial part of the project, nearly 6 km track between Dulwich Hill and Lilyfield, was completed. This route is an extension to the Inner West Light Rail of Sydney.

The project was designed to create a light rail route between Kingsford-Randwick and Circular Quay and will pass through George Street of CBD, Sydney. The route was also expected to cover areas of York Street, Elizabeth Street, Harbour Bridge and George Street. In the city, around 50,000 people use transport during normal hours and during peak hours, the number rises to more than 500,000. For transportation purposes, there are a large number of buses and cars that result in massive traffic congestion during the rush hour (Birdsall 2016). The route of the light rail was carefully selected so that it would pass through the busiest areas of the city. Frequent and reliable services will attract more passengers that would ease the pressure largely from the heavy traffic.

According to the proposed system, the light rail route would be created along with the main road routes. However, the geography of the city has made the roadways to be built along ridges and for this reason, less space was available for the light rail route (Olesen and Lassen 2016). Moreover, the existing city plan also permitted limited space for expansion of the roads and hence, the light rail project was always a challenging one to execute.

Preliminary System Design

For these reasons, the concept of the system design had to be such that the light rail can be implemented along with the normal roadways. Again, the actual road areas should not be decreased or it will result in more traffic congestion.

The proposed route would pass through all the busy areas of the city as well as the most important places during the rush hours (Currie and Burke 2013). According to the analysis conducted by the Sydney ministry, the light rail will be able to transport maximum number of passengers compared to the other general means of transport.

Figure 1: Estimated Passenger Capacity for Each Vehicle

(Source: mysydney.nsw.gov.au 2012)

The key benefits of the Sidney Light Rail Project were expected to be as follows.

For the preliminary system design, a large number of challenges were faced. These were as follows.

Ever Growing City – Sydney is one of the most busiest and important city of Australia. Along with the growing number of industries and business organizations, the number of working people is growing day by day. These result in growing number of transport commuters in the city. In the city, around 50,000 people use transport during normal hours and during peak hours, the number rises to more than 500,000 (Downs, Cassels and Ericksen 2014). This stat itself is the proof of the rising number of commuters. Due to too many commuters in the rush hour, traffic congestion is very common in the city. According to a survey, to clear congestion and travel only 2.5 km, it takes nearly an hour during the peak time.

Urban Renewal – Construction of light rail route means the authority must also emphasize on the development and renewal of nearby areas for maximizing profits from passenger income (Ho, Hensher and Mulley 2015). The light rail was poised to reach more areas of the city that will eventually lead to urban renewal.

Global Competition – With respect to the financial expansion and global reach of the city, the light rail must be developed so that it attracts more tourists from other regions and countries (Burke, Currie and Delbosc 2014). The most modern light rail cars should be installed in order to compete with other cities of the world. Attracting more international passengers will help in generating more revenue for the authority that will ultimately lead to massive financial growth.

Figure 2: Inner West Light Rail Route (Completed in 2014)

(Source: mysydney.nsw.gov.au 2012)

The basic design of the light rail network system was based on the following factors.

Customer Priority – The services would always be provided based on the customer priorities (Birdsall 2015). According the New South Wales Government, the light rail would be able to provide services to different types of passengers, e.g.

1. Short trip passengers (business, tourism, shopping purposes)
2. Suburb passengers (work, entertainment)

• Student passengers (school, university, etc.)

1. Patron passengers (major events, race course, etc.)
2. Bypass passengers (rail to road, rail to ferry, etc.)
3. Other passengers (patients, commuters delayed by congestion, etc.)

Services – After the completion of the initial phase of the project in 2014, as promised, the authority provides light rail services every 2-3 minutes in the rush hour and 6-10 minutes in normal hours (Mulley, Tsai and Ma 2015). The authority always aimed to provide reliable and fast services to the passengers.

Simple Traffic and Transportation System – During the execution of the project, one of the most important aims of the authority was to reduce the congestion and chaos of the normal roadways and provide smooth and simple light rail services (Miller 2014). The authority also aimed to provide comfort to the passengers as well as producing a more eco-friendly environment. Following this objective, electric powered and air-conditioned light rails were implemented in the light rail route (Peter, Jeffrey and Garry 2013). After starting the route completed in 2014, the congestion and chaos in the nearby road have decreased considerably along with the air pollution around the route.

Convenient Ticketing System – The authority has opened computerized electronic ticketing system for the light rail services at different outlets as well as on-board. This has made easier for the commuters to buy tickets for their travel (Martin 2014). In the near future, the authority has planned an integrated ticketing system and allowing the use of Opal Cards and e-ticketing system.

The Inner West Light Rail Expansion Project was completed in 2014. This project covered an overall length of around 6km from Dulwich Hill to Lilyfield. This route has connected a number of key areas of Sidney like Dulwich Hill, Haberfield, Leichhardt as well as other commercial areas like fish markets of Sydney, Paddy’s Markets, Marketplace of Leichhardt and Capitol Square. This route also acts as a connector between roadways and the heavy rails at Dulwich Hills and Lewisham. The overall expenses of the project went to nearly $180 million.

This light rail route was designed in such a way that it acts as an integrating factor for the transportation system of the area (Hensher, Mulley and Rose 2016). In addition to added transportation option, the route acts as a connector between roadways and the heavy rails at Dulwich Hills and Lewisham. Moreover, this route enabled the railway authority to reopen the old Rozelle Rail Freight Corridor. Due to this, the congestion of roads in the nearby area has reduced drastically.

The route has been designed such that the commuters can easily access other means of transport after leaving the rail car. The route also touches several major parking spaces as well as major bus terminals, ferry ghats, heavy rail stations, etc. This route also passes through nine busiest parts of the city as Marion, Leichhardt North, Taverners Hill, Hawthorne, Waratah Mills, Arlington, Lewisham West, Dulwich Hill Interchange and Dulwich Grove. Two substations have also been constructed for supplying electrical power to the light rail system (Chandler 2015). In addition to all these, other systems like passenger information system, wildlife protection measures, access paths, lighting facilities and others have been installed.

Further construction projects for new routes like CBD and South East Light Rail, George Street and Bus-Light Rail System Integration are currently in progress.

From the case analysis, the potential of light rail system in Sydney can be estimated very well. Without the light rail system, the transport expenses due to traffic congestion could have risen to $9 billion in a few years, whereas at the expense of only $190 million, one phase of light rail system was complete. This is also more viable in terms of business as it will generate more and more revenue each year with rising popularity of the light rail system.

Conclusion

From the report, it has been clear that light rail has a very bright future in Australia. Some areas have extremely high rush of office passengers and streets get extremely clogged in the rush hours. According to a survey analysis, the congestion expenses may rise to $9 billion by the year 2021. Light Rail can ease the rush easily to a large extent if the project is completed and trains are dispatched at regular intervals according to plan. Hence, in 2012, the ministry planned to start a light rail project that will cover the route between Kingsford-Randwick and Circular Quay and will pass through George Street of CBD, Sydney. The route was also expected to cover areas of York Street, Elizabeth Street, Harbour Bridge and George Street. In 2014, initial part of the project, nearly 6 km track between Dulwich Hill and Lilyfield, was completed. This route was an extension to the Inner West Light Rail of Sydney. This route has connected a number of key areas of Sidney like Dulwich Hill, Haberfield, Leichhardt as well as other commercial areas like fish markets of Sydney, Paddy’s Markets, Marketplace of Leichhardt and Capitol Square. This route also acts as a connector between roadways and the heavy rails at Dulwich Hills and Lewisham. The overall expenses of the project went to nearly $180 million.

The following recommendations can be provided after analyzing the report.

• The new light rail routes should be created along with the main road routes as well.
• The actual road areas should not be decreased or it will result in more traffic congestion.
• The authority must emphasize on the development and renewal of nearby areas for maximizing profits from passenger income.
• The most modern light rail cars should be installed in order to compete with other cities of the world.

References

Birdsall, M., 2015. From Metro and Light Rail to Trains and Trams: Exploring Sydney, Australia’s Expansive Public Transit Initiatives. Institute of Transportation Engineers. ITE Journal, 85(11), p.31.

Birdsall, M., 2015. From Rapid Transit and Light Rail to Trains and Trams: Exploring Sydney, Australia’s Expansive Public Transit Initiatives: PART TWO: SYDNEY’S LIGHT RAIL EXPANSION. Institute of Transportation Engineers. ITE Journal, 85(12), p.28.

Burke, M., Currie, G. and Delbosc, A., 2014. Performance of Australian Light Rail and Comparison with US Trends. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, (2419), pp.11-22.

Chandler, B., 2015. Australia award for urban design presentations in Melbourne. Planning News, 41(9), p.6.

Currie, G. and Burke, M., 2013, October. Light rail in Australia–performance and prospects. In Australasian Transport Research Forum, Brisbane, Australia.

Downs, C., Cassels, B. and Ericksen, J., 2014. Case study of rail design on Gold Coast Light Rail. CORE 2014: Rail Transport For A Vital Economy, p.76.

Hensher, D., Mulley, C. and Rose, J., 2016. Preferences for BRT and light rail. Restructuring Public Transport Through Bus Rapid Transit: An International and Interdisciplinary Perspective, p.209.

Hensher, D.A., 2016. Why is Light Rail Starting to Dominate Bus Rapid Transit Yet Again?. Transport Reviews, 36(3), pp.289-292.

Ho, C., Hensher, D.A. and Mulley, C., 2015. Identifying resident preferences for bus-based and rail-based investments as a complementary buy in perspective to inform project planning prioritisation. Journal of Transport Geography, 46, pp.1-9.

Martin, S., 2014. Moving beyond cost: Evaluating LRT and BRT options for Australian and New Zealand cities. CORE 2014: Rail Transport For A Vital Economy, p.178.

Miller, N., 2014. The impact of a new light rail network upon walkability in a central business district.

Mulley, C., Tsai, C.H.P. and Ma, L., 2015, September. Does residential property price benefit from light rail in Sydney?. In Australasian Transport Research Forum (ATRF), 37th, 2015, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Mysydney.nsw.gov.au. (2012). Sydney’s Light Rail Future: Expanding public transport, revitalising our city. [online] Available at: https://mysydney.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/user-files/uploads/light-rail-future-web.pdf [Accessed 20 Aug. 2016].

Ney, S.M. and Gray, D., 2014. Western Sydney Light Rail-connecting the people of Western Sydney to the future. CORE 2014: Rail Transport For A Vital Economy, p.111.

Olesen, M. and Lassen, C., 2016. Rationalities and materialities of light rail scapes. Journal of Transport Geography.

Peter, N., Jeffrey, K. and Garry, G., 2013. Peak car use and the rise of global rail: why this is happening and what it means for large and small cities. Journal of Transportation Technologies, 2013.