In the face of a massive cost blowout, the NSW government is rethinking its Sydney Metro West rail project linking Sydney’s CBD with Parramatta because of a massive cost blow out from $10 billion to $20 b. But it’s not the only capital city infrastructure project under review.
In Melbourne, the mostly underground Airport Rail has also been postponed because of similar costs concerns. In Perth, the mostly underground Airport Rail cost $8 billion for a line of just eight kilometres. All of these projects need rethinking despite the continuing need for more rail in our growing cities.
The main cost of most of these projects is building underground and overground, instead of running a line on the surface and facing up to the politics of disrupting land users.
Tunnelling might solve the problem of people who own tunnelling machines but it’s way more expensive
Everyone has an agenda and wants to pitch their version of the best project to government, for example, tunneling companies which suggest its cheaper and easier to build underground than having an impact on streets and buildings. But the truth is, tunnelling can add at least 10 times to the cost.
The emergence of such rail projects around the world has been dubbed the “second rail revolution”. It started after the recognition that cities needed to get away from huge road projects that were destroying the very urban fabric they were meant to be supporting. Rail was rediscovered in the 21st century after 50 years of decline and continues globally to grow as a major part of urban economies.
The value of agglomeration
The reason for rail’s value and popularity lies in agglomeration economies that occur when people meet to work, play and visit in urban spaces made attractive through walkability. In the US, a recent study has shown that only 1.2 per cent of urban space is walkable (probably the lowest proportion in the world) but this urban fabric creates 20 per cent of US GDP.
New research at Curtin University shows that a combination of good urban rail and activated places around stations can create great cities.
Is there another way?
Competitive cities need good urban rail and projects such as the newly completed Crossrail in London that will join rail lines across the city, dramatically shortening commutes.
Hopefully, Brisbane’s Cross River Rail project and MetroNet in Perth will yield similar results. But can we avoid such huge, costly projects that involve long distance tunnels cutting through suburban areas?
Trackless trams are promising
Trackless trams might just be the answer. At Curtin University, we have been researching this technology for seven years. It is an innovation that combines six smart technologies from high-speed rail and transforms a bus into a rail-like vehicle, giving it both high capacity and a ride quality that can compete with cars and buses.
These trams are battery-electric vehicles running on guided tracks using either magnetic or light-based sensors. They can carry the equivalent of six lanes of traffic at 70 km per hour along main roads at a tenth of the cost of light rail and probably over 100 times cheaper than underground rail.
Mid-tier transit projects such as trackless trams are more complicated to plan because of the impact on local government, local land owners and local communities.
However, although it is not a simple engineering solution of concrete and steel, it won’t cost the earth.
If we are looking at reduced capital for such projects surely we can afford a bit more messy urbanism?
Trackless trams for Australian cities will trial in Perth
Last week in China I rode a trackless tram being built for Australian cities that will arrive in Perth late August for final trialling. These digital-track trams are running in many Chinese cities and there is great interest in them after our studies in all Australian cities.
The first study on what a trackless tram could do was on Paramatta Road nearly 10 years ago. It showed that a fast service along this road could provide a powerful solution to Australia’s first main road that has become a traffic slum.
The project was postponed until after the underground options of the West Connex motorway and Metro West rail were built, both of them underground, ridiculously expensive and, in the case of West Connex, unlikely to solve traffic congestion.
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The ill-considered Perth and Melbourne Airport rail projects are also salutary lessons. In Perth and Melbourne there are main roads or freeways where one lane could be used for a trackless tram that would carry the equivalent of six lanes of traffic at a speed that beats most traffic and would provide the certainty and opportunities for urban economies as well as attracting urban development around stations.
If we are to review Sydney’s Metro West and the Melbourne Airport rail line, let’s take the chance to consider trackless trams. They are on their way and will soon have a strong following.
