Trams on Sydney’s new $2.1 billion light rail line will need greater priority over motorists at traffic lights in the inner city if passengers are to avoid longer delays to their trips, an internal report shows.
The confidential report commissioned by Transport for NSW estimates passengers will spend between seven and nine minutes waiting on the 67-metre trams at red lights along the line between the CBD and the city's south-east during the morning and evening peaks.
"The traffic signal delay results indicate that the locations of highest delays are reasonably consistent for both the AM and PM peak periods with the majority of delays encountered by light rail occurring in the southern CBD and Surry Hills," the report said.
The time that trams spend waiting at intersections for red lights to change will be one of the major causes of delays to trips.
The report by GTA Consultants in late 2016 – obtained under Freedom of Information laws by a community group – identified intersections such as Devonshire and Crown streets in Surry Hills, Devonshire and Chalmers streets near Central Station, and Alison and Darley roads at Randwick as places where delays will occur.
It said the results highlighted the need for further refinements to signals along the rail line to reduce delays, and target intersections such as Devonshire-Chalmers streets.
Planning documents estimate end-to-end journeys between Circular Quay and the city's south-east will take 34 to 38 minutes, which Transport for NSW still considers "indicative".
The trip times will have implications for the number of passengers that can be carried each day along the line, and how many extra trams can be added over the coming years to meet growing demand from people travelling to and from destinations such as the University of NSW's campus at Kensington.
The time estimates in the report are based on the duration of red lights and do not take account of additional delays caused by trams reducing speed as they approach intersections.
Construction of the new 12-kilometre line from the CBD to Randwick and Kensington has been dogged by repeated delays and cost blowouts, and forced the closure or relocation of some small businesses along the route.
The consultants' report on the line estimated the longest signal delays – more than nine minutes – for trams travelling from Kingsford to the CBD during the morning and evening peaks. The delays at traffic lights to and from Randwick were about eight minutes.
Action for Public Transport secretary Jim Donovan said tram trips would be slower and less comfortable for passengers unless planning started now to ensure priority was granted to light rail.
"The new CBD and south-east light rail is being promoted as 'reliable' but it won't be reliable without signal priority, and it certainly won't be attractive compared to existing bus travel times," he said.
"Transport for NSW should announce what priority, if any, will apply to the new trams at traffic signals."
Transport for NSW said detailed designs for intersections, and plans for traffic signals and speed zones were still being finalised.
"We need to balance the needs of the new light rail with existing road users, and ongoing traffic modelling will ensure that we get that balance right, taking into consideration the current network demands," the lead transport agency said. "The report released is based on a model developed in 2013, as such it does not reflect the current network and traffic volume."
The slowest stretch for trams on the existing 12.8-km inner west light rail line is between Central Station and Darling Drive in the CBD's south because of the need to pass multiple sets of lights such as those at the intersection of George and Hay streets.
While offering faster trips for light rail passengers, prioritising trams at intersections would likely result in longer travel times for motorists passing through intersections.
The GTA Consultants' report said road traffic in the CBD ‘‘appears to operate satisfactorily’’ during the morning peak but the evening peak was the critical period ‘‘where managing congestion would be a greater challenge’’.
Problem areas during the evening peak are the intersections of Cleveland and Elizabeth streets, Eddy Avenue and Elizabeth and Foveaux streets.
The Sydney Morning Herald
