Richard's Tram Blog: May 2026

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

PARAMATTA, AUSTRALIA - LINE 4 - OWEN J BRISON

PHOTOS TO FOLLOW**

Some views from 2nd. April 2025 of the Parramatta Light Rail, L4, which had opened for service in December 2024. It is about 12 km in length and runs between Westmead and Carlingford. Westmead is the location of a major hospital; Carlingford seems to have been chosen so that the line could take advantage of part of the trackbed of a former heavy rail suburban branch line. Parramatta is considered Sydney's second CBD, about 24 km west of the centre of the City.

L4 is worked by 7-section battery-and-pantograph CAF cars, numbered 2161 - 2173 leaving a gap after the L1 cars (see below). The cars have a short number in the windscreen, with "10" designating 2170 and so on. The attached photos all show the centre of Paramatta with no overhead; outer sections have normal overhead.

L1 was the first new tram service in Sydney since the classical system closed in 1962. It runs from Central Station westwards to Dulwich Hill and dates from 1997. It mainly uses former goods lines and started with Variotrams 2101 - 2107 but now has 5-section CAF Urbos cars, supplemented by a few of the Alstom Citadis cars from L2/3. I think the L1 fleet numbers ran on, (with a gap?), from the original Sydney trams. The current L1 fleet is numbered 2112 and 2114 - 2124 inclusive. Nos 2108 - 2111 were CAFs hired in temporarily and I presume they returned to Spain; I got no photos of them.

L2/L3 refer to the two branches of the City to South East system, dating from late 2019. The cars are Alstom Citadis; they run in coupled pairs on L2/3, but single for those borrowed by L1. The Alstom cars are numbered in their own system, from 001. From Circular Quay to Town Hall the system uses the Alstom APS ground contact system, and pantographs south of there. They can run on batteries if they come across a dead section of the APS.

Photos of L4:

6260: 2170 ("10") turning from Macquarie St. into Church St.

6280: 2165 ("5") in Church St.

6286: 2165 turning from Church St. into Macquarie St.

6323: 2172 ("12") in Macquarie St.

PARAMATTA, AUSTRALIA 2. - LINE 2/3 INNER CITY AND SOUTH EAST LIGHT RAIL - Owen J Brison

L2/3. This system, from Circular Quay to the south eastern suburbs, was opened on 14th. Dec., 2019. It uses 5-section Alstom Citadis cars in coupled pairs and runs along George St., one of the principal city streets. It uses the Alstom APS ground pickup from the Quay to Town Hall, with pantographs from there south.

IMG_1165: Cars 002 (leading) and 001 approaching Town Hall from the south, with pantographs up, on opening day, 14/12/2019. Note the crosssover: cars could reverse here if necessary.

IMG_1753. Cars 015 and 016 northbound, from the steps of the Town Hall. The pantographs are already down. 27 Dec 2019-

IMG_1785 shows a Citadis of L2/3 on George St. and an Urbos of L1 on Hay St. where the two systems cross: there is a connection here (used for car transfers, not public service). 27 Dec 2019.

IMG_5871 and _5873 were taken in George St., looking north and south respectively, near Dymocks bookshop, and show the APS contact rail.

PARAMATTA, AUSTRALIA 1. - LINE 1 INNER WEST LIGHT RAIL - Owen J Brison

INNER WEST LINE 1

This was the first new tram service in Sydney since the original system closed in 1962. It opened in 1997 and was extended so that it now runs from Central station to Dulwich Hill. It takes advantage of former heavy rail goods lines. The first cars were Variotrams, later replaced by 5-section CAF Urbos units. A handful of Alstom Citadis cars from L2/3, running as single units, supplement the CAFs: see IMG_5967 and _6009.

At Central, L1 uses the Colonnade previously used by the "classic" tram system: see IMG_2527 and _6009. This is on the same level as the main concourse of Central Railway Station. DSC_0198 shows a car about to enter the Colonnade while IMG_2534 shows one leaving.

IMG_4737 and _4738 show Variotram 2107 descending from the Colonnade (with the station clocktower visible in the former): this car is now in the Loftus museum.