Ground has broken on the next stage of a project that is reshaping Australia’s capital city.

Construction has commenced on Stage 2A of the Canberra Light Rail Project.

(top image source: ACT Government)

The project will extend the Canberra Light Rail network by 1.7 kilometres in a southward direction from the current stop at Alinga Street in the city centre to reach Commonwealth Park.

Three new stops will be added at Edinburgh Avenue, City South and Commonwealth Park.

The Edinburgh Avenue stop is expected to be one of the busiest stops on the line. It will help commuters to access City West, the Australian National University and the New Acton precinct.

The new rail connection will unlock housing and commercial opportunities and will bring Canberra’s CBD closer to the lake.

Whilst a direct route through City Hill was considered, the new line will instead go around London Circuit.

This will help to avoid impact upon the heritage listed City Hill, will cater for a larger catchment of users and will enable the new stop at Edinburgh that will service some of the busiest parts of the city as mentioned above.

(Route map for Stage 2A of Canberra Light Rail. Image: ACT Government.)

Set to cater for up to 39,000 passengers per day upon completion, the first two stages of the Canberra Light Rail Project will form a north-south spine and will connect Gungahlin in the city’s north to Woden Vallen in the south.

The first stage connecting the north to the city centre opened in 2019.

Once Stage 2A of the project is completed in 2027, light rail services along the spine will connect Gungahlin and North Canberra to City West, the ANU, New Acton, Commonwealth Park and Lake Burley Griffin.

Beyond this, a further Stage 2B project to further extend the line out to Woden is being considered.

The Stage 2A project is being delivered by the Canberra Metro Consortium. This includes CPB Contractors, John Holland, Pacific Partnerships, UGL, abdrn and CAF.

It is being jointly funded by the ACT and Commonwealth Governments.

All up, around 1,000 jobs will be created during construction.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr welcomed the commencement of construction.

“Light rail is a long-term asset for Canberra,” Barr said.

“It will service our city for decades to come.”

 

Enjoying Sourceable articles? Subscribe for Free and receive daily updates of all articles which are published on our site

 

Want to grow your sales, reach more new clients and expand your client base across Australia’s design and construction sector?

Advertise on Sourceable and have your business seen by the thousands of architects, engineers, builders/construction contractors, subcontractors/trade contractors, property developers and building industry suppliers who read our stories across the civil, commercial and residential construction sector