THE federal and ACT governments have awarded a major light rail contract with Canberra Metro that will create five new light rail vehicles (LRVs), make modifications to Canberra’s existing light rail fleet and build an expanded depot.

Under the new contract totalling $181.2 million, five new LRVs from manufacturer CAF will be progressively delivered from 2024, and the existing light rail fleet of 14 vehicles will be retrofitted with onboard batteries, so all vehicles can operate on the wire-free extension to Commonwealth Park and on the future Stage 2B extension to Woden.

It comes as stage 2A of the light rail project – co-funded by the Australian and ACT governments – gets the green light, with the commencement of main construction works to raise London Circuit soon to start.

It will be followed by the submission of an environmental assessment and works approval application for the Stage 2A project, so construction of the light rail line can commence soon after raising the London Circuit is complete. It will extend the line by 1.7 kilometres from Civic to Commonwealth Park.

The five new LRVs developed by CAF will allow existing vehicles to be temporarily moved out of service, to retrofit them with batteries, without impacting current light rail services.

“Moving to retrofit all existing LRVs with onboard energy systems for wire-free running shows our commitment to delivering light rail, not only to Commonwealth Park, but right through the Parliamentary Triangle to Woden,” said City Services Minister Chris Steel.

“We need to order new LRVs now, and upgrade our existing fleet and depot, to ensure we have enough vehicles manufactured, delivered, tested and ready to start services to Commonwealth Park when construction of the track is completed.”

Under the new contract, the light rail depot at Mitchell will also be expanded for the ongoing maintenance of the larger fleet of LRVs, with work expected to be completed in mid 2024.

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