No repair timetable in sight for broken Inner West light rail

Passengers can now catch ferries from the inner west to the CBD while they wait for the troubled inner west light rail to be repaired.

Passengers can now catch ferries from the inner west to the CBD while they wait for the troubled inner west light rail to be repaired.

Transport Minister Rob Stokes said the ferries would not be available at a discounted rate unlike the replacement buses.

“We were very clear that the bus service is a direct replacement service. The ferry service is a new service so there is no intention of that being a half price service,” he said.

Ferries will replace the broken light rail. Picture: Damian Shaw

“It’s also because it’s not part of the Opal network. It will be by contactless payment. It's the intention the ferry service will be a permanent service (after the trams are repaired).”

But Mr Stokes still had no concrete answers on when the repairs will start and end on the trams.

“It’s too early to give a precise update on the timeline there,” he said.

“We are working very hard toward that permanent timeline but we aren’t able to share those details yet.”

The ferries will be full price unlike the buses. Picture: Richard Dobson

Transport for NSW operations chief Howard Collins said work on the light rail will continue through out the holiday period.

“This is a focus. A lot of the engineers across the public transport area actually work harder during this period than many others because it's the them when numbers are down across transport.”

The government is looking to repair the trams locally with Lilyfield and Pyrmont the most likely sites.