NSW Transport Minister Rob stokes reveals Sydney inner west light rail will shut down for 18 months

BREAKING NEWS: Chaos as Sydney’s ENTIRE inner west light rail line will be shut down for up to 18 MONTHS due to cracks in tram carriages

  • NSW Transport decommissions inner west light rail line for up to 18 months 
  • Cracks up to 30cm long were discovered on wheel arches of 12 Sydney trams 
  • Bus services will replace trams on L1 line from Central Station and Dulwich Hill
  • L2 & L3 lines from Randwick & Kingsford to Circular Quay continue to operate


The entire Sydney inner west light rail line will be taken offline for up to 18 months due to cracks in the wheels of trams.

The NSW Government made the announcement on Friday afternoon with a spokesman saying the year-and-a-half period is the ‘worst case scenario’. 

Minister for Transport and Roads Rob Stokes said the cracks found on tram carriages were ‘more significant than first thought’.

The entire Sydney inner west light rail line will be taken offline for up to 18 months while cracks in the wheels of up to 12 trams are repaired 

‘The Inner West light rail will be decommissioned for up to 18 months while the issues identified are rectified,’ he said. 

Cracks were identified in all 12 trams that operate from the city to Dulwich Hill.

The George Street light rail L2 and L3 lines from Randwick and Kingsford to Circular Quay will continue to run. 

Replacement bus services will continue to be used to transport thousands of commuters on the L1 line between Central Station and Dulwich Hill.

‘That replacement service has been operating effectively carrying 5,000 passengers per day,’ Mr Stokes said. 

Mr Stokes reassured customers he would make it ‘as cheap as possible’ for commuters who use the inner west line while repairs are underway. 

‘I’ve asked Transport for NSW to look at what we can do to recognise that this is obviously frustrating for patrons,’ he said. 

Mr Stokes said the cracking that was found during routine maintenance by Transport for NSW is likely a design flaw that will have global implications.

‘A lot of countries will be looking at what happens here with keen interest,’ Mr Stokes said.

He said he was advising global operators to ‘let them know this same design flaw is likely to be a challenge for their systems as well’.

Replacement bus services for the L1 line between Central Station and Dulwich Hill operate, transporting up to 5,000 passengers a day (pictured, light rail replacement services)

Replacement bus services for the L1 line between Central Station and Dulwich Hill operate, transporting up to 5,000 passengers a day (pictured, light rail replacement services)

Greens MP Jamie Parker criticised the shutdown on social media – labelling it a ‘light rail fail’.

‘This is exactly what happens when you privatise a network and run it to profit a corporation – not serve a community,’ he said. 

‘We’ve been calling on the government to add vehicles to this fleet for years.

‘They still have no spare vehicles and have built Sydney’s light rail network so trams on one line don’t work on another.’

Mr Parker said he will be in contact with Minister Stokes to seek further answers.  

Cracks were identified in all 12 trams that operate from the city from to Dulwich Hill (pictured, NSW Transport light rail tram)

Cracks were identified in all 12 trams that operate from the city from to Dulwich Hill (pictured, NSW Transport light rail tram)

Transport for NSW chief operations officer Howard Collins visited the Lilyfield depot on Friday morning to inspect ‘and understand what we’ve discovered’. 

Cracks up to 30cm long were reportedly found across tram wheel arches. 

Mr Collins said the trams were not unsafe but ‘if the cracks propagate further it could be an issue’ for the seven-year-old trams, and ‘it will be ‘no quick fix’.

‘We want to fill a workshop with these trams with very competent engineers from Australia who can retrofit, strengthen and sort out these cracks permanently,’ Mr Collins said.

Labor transport spokeswoman Jo Haylen said ‘the government’s transport procurement policies are in tatters’ now that ‘every single overseas-built tram the government bought has had to be decommissioned’.

‘They bought trains that don’t fit the tracks, ferries that can’t fit under bridges or operate at night, and an entire fleet of trams that simply don’t work,’ Ms Haylen said.

She said thousands of passengers would experience delays and unreliable services until the trams were fixed, and the discovery of the cracks came just as people were beginning to return to work.

Australia should start building infrastructure again to get a quality product and value for money, Ms Haylen said.

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