New Sydney Light Rail - hit with the pensioners and dads with kids

The extension to Dulwich Hill of Sydney's only Light Rail line is now nearly a month old and today I experienced it first hand for the first time today.  Not that I was not interested enough to come sooner, but rather I live and work nowhere near this line so this was the first chance I had to 'joy ride' the extension.

With my kids in tow (its school holidays in New South Wales this week) we travelled from Darling Harbour to Dulwich Hill.  Nice smooth ride and at faster speeds than I had expected and which had been reported (although nothing compared to the acceleration and speed of Amsterdam's street trams).  Both trips were in two of the seven Variotrams originally built in Dandenong by Adtranz.  We would have liked to have at least one ride in one of the four Urbos 2 vehicles (on loan from Spain) which were introduced when the Dulwich Hill extension opened - but we couldn't wait another 12 minute interval for another return tram.

We are not sure what it is like in peak hour, but the two trips we took were relatively full with all seats taken for most of the journey.  Generally it was full with joy riders like Dads and Grandads with their kids on School Holidays and groups of Senior Citizens enjoying a nice day out.  It will take time to get the 'commuters' to start using the line regularly.  On our tram Transdev had a PR rep and photographer taking 'stock shots' of the line - obviously it is still new for them as well.

I agreed with some commentators that the line is not perfect.  For me, the interchange with the suburban rail line at Dulwich Hill was not as 'connected' as one would have expected with the newly build light rail station.  The absence of the Opal Card in a brand new system was unusual to say the least - assume something to do with the contact with Transdev, the operator of the Light Rail System.

All in all this is a great addition to the reborn Sydney tram network (Sydney once boasted one of the Western World's largest tram networks until it was finally closed in 1961).  Of course its better than keeping an abandoned goods rail line unused running right through the inner western suburbs of Australia's largest city.

Editiors Photo of the new Symbol for Sydney's Light Rail Network (T has been used for Trains).