Light Rail Overview

Light rail for Canberra had been mooted for several years before becoming official with the Parliamentary Agreement between the Greens and the Labor Party, after the 2012 election, as a condition of Greens support for Labor to form government. The Agreement provided for construction of Stage 1 of light rail, between Gungahlin town centre and Civic, to be started before the 2016 election.

Without the Greens having gained the balance of power and exercising it, light rail, most likely, would never have happened in Canberra.

Stage 1 was duly commissioned in April 2019.

Stage 2, from Civic to Woden, was announced as an eleventh-hour election promise by Labor during the ACT election of 2016.

Stage 2A, from Civic to Regatta Point, has since been approved by the ACT Government and is due for completion in 2024. Stage 2B, from Regatta Point to Woden, after crossing the lake, is currently subject to various studies and inquiries by respective authorities, eg the National Capital Authority.

From 2014, through to the October 2018 election, CanTheTram Inc, was the principal anti-tram lobby in Canberra.

Smart Canberra Transport (SCT) was formed as the successor to CanTheTram Inc, to continue analysis and comment on the on-going light rail project. Its primary purpose has been to analyse and report as a critic of Canberra’s light rail project, the history of which is recorded in 82 fortnightly newsletters, issued over four years, between the 2016 and 2020 ACT elections. SCT and ALSC will continue to analyse and comment on the light rail project.

 

Archived Newsletters

Smart Canberra Transport produced 82 newsletters between June 2017 and October 2020. These newsletters are accessible via the National Library of Australia’s Trove collection – click here to view

To assist readers, the register of the 82 newsletters, giving summaries of content, is included here for quick reference.

Articles

Critique of Capital Metro Stage 1 Business Case

This document is a detailed critique of the Business Case for Capital Metro Stage 1 that the ACT Government released on 31 October 2014, concurrently with the request for Expression of Interest to potential suppliers of the tramway system.

In general, the Business Case was a highly confusing document, riddled with inconsistencies and errors and poorly organised in content.  It was useless to anyone other than the Government. 

Light Rail – CTT Submission to Audit Office

In September 2015, CanTheTram Inc (CTT) tendered a detailed submission to the ACT Audit Office in response to its intention of to conduct a review of the Capital Metro Stage 1 project. 

The Audit Office published its report in 2016.  Principal findings of the report were: that the real Benefit to Cost Ratio (BEF) was only 0.49 and not over unity, as claimed by the government; and that the project would cost a nominal $1.78 billion for construction and 20 years of operation.  The report was effectively ignored by the Government.

CTT had been active since July 2014, in investigation and analyses of the shortcomings of this project, as pursued by the ACT Government, through its Capital Metro Agency (CMA).

The submission provides information and comment relevant to:

  • whether the ACT Government has met its statutory responsibilities in the procurement to date of the Capital Metro Stage 1 project, in accordance with the Government Procurement Act 2001; and
  • the Role of the ACT Audit Office in assuring provisions of the Act, in respect of its audit of the project.

A Case Against Capital Metro Stage 1 – What Every Canberra Voter and Taxpayer Should Know

These extracts are from a paper of October 2014, as being still relevant today, in the context of the pending Light Rail Stages 2A and 2B, which together, would be very much more expensive than Stage 1. The main purpose of the paper was to advise what every Canberra voter and taxpayer should know about Capital Metro Stage 1 and what neither the ACT Government nor the Capital Metro Agency (CMA) had yet told them about this most expensive ever of ACT Government projects. 

Parliamentary Agreement for 8th Legislative Assembly

Light rail in Canberra is a result of the 2012 ACT election at which seat distribution was: 12 Labor, 12 Liberal and one Greens.  The Greens had lost three of its four seats but now held the balance of power.  The Labor Party sold its soul to remain in power and negotiated the Parliamentary Agreement for the 8th Legislative Assembly of 2Dec12.  Among many other requirements demanded by the Greens, the government had to agree to starting construction of Light Rail Stage 1 before the 2016 election.  Construction was so started and Stage 1 was commissioned in April 2019.