As local planning initiatives go light rail would have to be one
of the biggest. Canberra is not a large city but has a lot of sprawl its
footprint is about the size of Greater London and with a growing population
transport is a big issue. Most Canberrans commute in cars, public transport
isn't frequently used this is because the only public transport which exists is
buses and although ACTION does do a good job with regular buses to and from
major centres and cheap fares it’s not enough. Buses are slow unreliable and
put a lot of admissions into the air. So Canberra really has to ask the
question does it want to be a liveable city in the future or not? All large
cities around the world need functioning public transport to function and Canberra
should really follow suit. I'm not talking Light Rail, no. I'm talking a large
scale fast metro rail system linking all of Canberra as far as Yass, Cooma, Goulburn,
Bungendore and possibly even as far as the coast and linked with high speed
rail for Australia Sydney, Wollongong, Coffs coast, Albury, Melbourne and
everywhere else in Australia. However I do realize that’s a long way off but we
have to start somewhere.
So let’s talk about a Metro rail system
for Canberra. Canberra seems to hate rail, no current light rail system and the
only railway station is the seldom used Canberra railway station on the
outskirts of Kingston which you have to go to Yass with to get to Melbourne and
it takes 4 hours to the outskirts of Sydney. Although Canberra seems to have
this vendetta against trains its spread out region with a modest population would
make it well suited for a large scale fast metro system and it will be easier
to start putting in now then later when the population is so large that you
need it but its unfeasible to put in; NOW’s the time to do it. So how would
this rail system work? Whether it’s an above ground rail system or underground or
a combination of the two is irrelevant as both could work however underground
would be better and possibly cheaper as it affects less of the surface of Canberra,
it’s also easier to add to. Canberra’s lay out is good for a metro rail system
as it’s a multi nucleus city so it already has lots of hubs which people
commute between and would make obvious rail spots and then on the surface in
that area you can be linked by bus and light rail. These spots are Belconnen, Gungahlin,
Dickson, Civic/Central, Russel, Airport, Kingston, Queanbeyan, Woden, (Hospital),
Weston Creek, Kambah and Tuggeranong should all be stops in the initial plan. With
the possible expansion to outlying areas like Cooma, Yass, Goulburn, Bungendore
with stops in between.
The role out
I think the rollout should begin in Canberra’s north. Not because
I’m biased I live in Queanbeyan so I’m obviously not; More because Canberra’s
north has most of Canberra’s population and a firstly increasing population with
all of Canberra’s universities. So the first section built I think should be
civic/central to Belconnen, and to Gungahlin with a stop in Dickson, and a link
between Belconnen and Gungahlin. Then next should be south connecting all
canberras major hubs. So Civic/Central to Woden stopping at the Hospital and
then a link south from Woden to Tuggeranong stopping at Kambah and also a link
west from Woden to Weston Creek. Then a line east starting at Civic/Central
stopping at Russel, the Airport, Kingston and then finishing up at Queanbeyan. Then
you could expand the rail network to regional areas.
I will post more things about a rail network for Canberra and a
high speed rail for Australia but would love to hear your comments.
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