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Disclaimer
This wiki does not provide timetable information. Refer to the Transport NSW website instead: https://transportnsw.info/trip |
The L2/L3 City & Southeast is a light rail line that links the Sydney CBD to Randwick and Kingsford in the eastern suburbs. It is also known as the CSELR (City and South East Light Rail).
The line runs from Circular Quay to Moore Park wherein it splits into two branches, with 4 stops towards Randwick and 5 towards Kingsford. In total, it has 12km of track and 19 stops. It is run by a fleet of 60 Alstom Citadis 305 Light Rail Vehicles (LRV).
The L2 line, from Circular Quay to Randwick, began operations on 14th December 2019. The L3 line to Juniors Kingsford opened on 3rd April 2020.
There was free travel on the first weekend of service (14th-15th December 2019).
Services[]
A fleet of 60 Alstom Citadis 305 LRVs, based at a stabling yard near Royal Randwick, run on the line. These trams operate in a 10-car formation, consisting of two 5-car sets semi-permanently coupled to each other. This is to increase onboard capacity, accommodating higher patronage for the route’s major destinations, such as the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the Moore Park precinct, which includes Sydney Cricket Ground and the Entertainment Quarter. It is the only light rail line to use the Citadis fleet, as all other lines use Urbos 3 units.
Much like the Sydney Metro, the City and Southeast Line uses a “turn-up-and-go” format, with each branch running at a frequency of 9-12 minutes. Prior to the L3 opening, the gaps in service in the core section were filled by additional L2 services between Central and Circular Quay.
There are also ocasionally shuttle services which display as LX. These run various routes depending on requirements:
- Central to Moore Park (during special events at Moore Park and at school times to serve Sydney Boys/Girls High Schools)
- Circular Quay to Moore Park (to serve the temporary car park at Moore Park that was opened during COVID)
- Central to Royal Randwick (during special events at the racecourse)
Bus Network[]
Significant bus changes were made in 2015 at the start of construction. This involved rerouting all buses away from George St, with most Inner West routes moved to Elizabeth/Castlereagh St. Termini were also changed for most routes. Several routes were joined together so that they no longer terminated in the City due to lack of parking space.
It was planned that another significant change would occur when the line opened to reduce the number of buses duplicating the light rail route. However, for various reasons, this did not occur. Draft changes were finally revealed in May 2021. After community consultation, the changes took effect on 5 December 2021. Some routes following the line were discontinued (e.g. 393), while others were diverted away from the line north of UNSW (e.g. 392). A small number of routes were left unchanged due to their popularity (e.g. 373, 396). All the peak hour express routes were also kept as the line does not have sufficient capacity during peak hour.
Route[]
From Circular Quay Station:
- George St
- Rawson Place
- Eddy Avenue
- Chalmers St
- Devonshire St
- Tunnel under Moore Park
- Moore Park Busway
After Moore Park, the route split into two branches. The Randwick branch runs via Alison Rd, Wansey Rd and High St. The Kingsford branch turns into Anzac Parade and continues down to Kingsford.
The state government is currently investigating an extension south from Kingsford to La Perouse, using the former tram median on Anzac Parade.[1]
Stations[]
Map of the L2/L3 light rail network
| Station | Planning Name | Terminating Facilites | Transfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circular Quay | 3 platforms & crossovers | Circular Quay station and Sydney Ferries services | |
| Bridge Street | Grosvenor St | ||
| Wynyard | Manual Crossover | Wynyard station | |
| QVB | |||
| Town Hall | Crossover | Town Hall station | |
| Chinatown | |||
| Haymarket | Rawson Pl | Haymarket Bus interchange | |
| Central Chalmers Street | Central Station | 3 platforms & crossovers | Central station, Central Light Rail station, and Bus services |
| Surry Hills | |||
| Moore Park | Crossovers to siding |
| Station | Planning Name | Transfer |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Randwick | Alison Rd | |
| Wansey Road | ||
| UNSW High Street | ||
| Randwick | Randwick Bus interchange |
| Station | Planning Name | Transfer |
|---|---|---|
| ES Marks | Carlton St | |
| Kensington | Todman Av | |
| UNSW Anzac Parade | ||
| Kingsford | Strachan St | |
| Juniors Kingsford | Kingsford | Kingsford Bus interchange |
Infrastructure[]
Track[]
The entire line is made up of standard (1435mm) gauge track embedded in concrete/ashphalt. Unlike the L1 line, the L2/3 is built to tramway standard and not railway standard.
The line is entirely double track. There are various terminating facilities on the line, as shown in the table above.
Power Supply[]
North of Town Hall, an Alstom proprietry system - APS (Alimentation Par le Sol, literally "feeding via the ground") is used to supply power to the trams. Power is supplied to the tram through a third rail in between the two running rails. To ensure public safety, the power rail can only be turned on by antennas underneath the tram. The tram then picks up this power using current collection shoes underneath the tram.
South of Town Hall, the traditional system of overhead wires and pantographs is used.
Signalling[]
There are two types of signals on the line. Both can detect the presence of trams through a transponder at the front of every tram.
A signal at Randwick displaying the turnout aspect
The first are block signals, which prevent two trams from colliding. The table below shows the different aspects they can display.
| Aspect | Meaning |
|---|---|
| White Vertical Bar | Proceed |
| Orange Diagonal Bar | Points set to diverge in indicated direction |
| Red Horizontal Bar | Stop |
| Red Horizontal Bar
with Blue A underneath |
Stop
Tram has been detected and signal will change when possible |
The other type are traffic signals, which are used at intersections to prevent trams, cars and pedestrians from colliding, and are similar to traffic signals for cars. The table below shows the different aspects they can display. Note that traffic signals do not display a white T unless a tram is detected, even if the intersection is clear. This is why trams will sometimes slow down or stop on approach to intersections, and then speed up again.
| Aspect | Meaning |
|---|---|
| White T | Proceed |
| Amber T | Stop if possible |
| Red T | Stop |
| Red T
with White Triangle |
Stop
Tram has been detected and signal will change to proceed in within 7 seconds (The triangle is only shown on the signal on the approach side of the intersection) |
Promotional Material[]
