Right-hand turn for city tramway still on track, SA Public Transport Minister Stephan Knoll insists
TRANSPORT Minister Stephan Knoll says a right-hand tram turn from King William St onto North Tce is still being vigorously pursued by the State Government.
TRANSPORT Minister Stephan Knoll says a right-hand tram turn from King William St onto North Tce is still being vigorously pursued by the State Government.
But he has admitted the future of the project could depend on the findings of an engineering report, due to be presented to the State Government in October.
On FIVEaa radio this morning Mr Knoll said the State Government was waiting for engineering advice to help it determine next steps for the problem-plagued tram extension.
“I think it would be silly of us to not heed the engineering advice that we receive,” Mr Knoll said.
“Certainly the decision that we took in Opposition as an election commitment, we want to move forward with that, but we’re not silly enough to ignore the experts.
“We’ll wait to hear that advice.
“We don’t know what this engineering advice is going to turn up and I don’t want to presuppose what they might say.”
The Minister’s comments came after a fault on current line on Monday night caused a tram to become stuck night near the North Tce and King William St intersection.
Labor transport and infrastructure spokesman Tom Koutsantonis said the State Government had to tell the public whether every fault found on the extension had been fixed.
“How much more inconvenience do the public have to put up with before someone
else is put in charge of this upgrade?” Mr Koutsantonis said.
Last week Mr Knoll announced that a construction fault from January, that led to a German expert flying into identify and fix it, had been resolved and driver training would start this week. A start date for passenger services is still not known.