MAJOR PROJECTS
Canberra’s light rail extension split in two ACT transport minister Chris Steel says the division of the next stage of Canberra’s light rail line into two parts is appropriate considering the major differences in approvals needed for each section.
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TEEL SAID ON JULY 5 THE ACT Labor Government remained committed to extending light rail south to Woden, despite opting to split the approvals process for the extension into two discrete parts. The ACT government and collaborator Canberra Metro completed the first of the project’s two planned stages — a northerly link from Canberra’s city centre (Alinga Street) to Gungahlin — in April at a cost of $675 million. Stage 2 of the project, until now posed as a single project, has been estimated to cost much more however, with initial estimates pegged at $1.3-1.6 billion. Under the newly announced plans, the line extending south from the recently-opened Gungahlin-Civic light rail line will be split into Stage 2A, from Civic to Commonwealth Park, and Stage 2B, which will take it over Lake Burley Griffin, around Parliament House and through to Woden. Steel said the ACT will lodge the separate plans for referral under the Commonwealth’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. He said progressing separate referrals through the EPBC process is appropriate “given the very different planning, heritage, and environmental considerations in different parts of the corridor”. The ACT government has been going back and forth in negotiations with the National Capital Authority over a plan both sides can agree to for the part of the rail line now considered Stage 2B. Questions remain over the infrastructure which will be allowed near Parliament House, and whether a new bridge would need to be built or if the existing Commonwealth Avenue Bridge is suitable. “The route passing through the Parliamentary Zone via State Circle East is included for assessment in a separate Commonwealth Park to Woden EPBC submission,” Steel said. “It contains more complex considerations, such as the approach to Commonwealth Avenue Bridge and crossing the lake towards Parliament
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ISSUE 5 2019 | RAIL EXPRESS
House. It is likely these matters will take longer to resolve with the Commonwealth.” Meanwhile, it is hoped the division will allow the territory government to get on with at least Stage 2A of the project soon. “We hope through this approvals process, we
The Canberra light rail line will split at Commonwealth Park.
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