Final stage of Sydney's CBD light rail opens

The final stage of Sydney’s controversial CBD light rail has quietly opened without the usual pageantry a multi-billion dollar project completion would attract.

The second segment of the $2.9 billion light rail, branching off from Anzac Parade to Kingsford, began operating at 5am on Friday morning, four months after trams started running between Circular Quay and Randwick.

A light rail employee wearing a face mask in Sydney.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Due to open before the 2019 state election, the completion comes a year later than the NSW government first forecast, and almost twice the original cost following several blowouts and contractor disputes.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance wasn’t on hand for the first L3 tram to leave Juniors Kingsford given the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in place across the country.

He said the service was opening for essential workers to get to their jobs.

“We need everyone to stay at home, it's not a time to be getting on the light rail for fun,” Mr Constance said.

“I would like to thank the tram drivers and workers who will ensure this light rail service runs, providing a direct link to the city from Kingsford as well as connections to the L2 Randwick line which services the Randwick health precinct.”

Crowds surround a tram at the Town Hall stop on opening day in December.Credit: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty

In a pre-recorded message issued to media on Friday, Mr Constance thanked local residents and businesses he said had “endured so much” during the construction.

“It’s now behind us and it's a great project,” he added.

Originally slated to cost $1.6 billion in 2014, problems with the light rail haunted the Berejiklian government for well over a year.

The price first surged to $2.1 due to mispricings and omissions in the business case and before it blew out to $2.7 billion in mid-2019 after the government settled legal claims with the consortium delivering the project and its Spanish construction contractor.

By November last year, the government had added another $200 million to the cost, with $80 million set aside for contingency costs and $120 million in financial support for small businesses which struggled during construction of the project.

At the time, Mr Constance conceded the build had been “difficult,” but said the government had taken "the busiest street in the nation and ripped it up to transform it into the open, inviting boulevard”.

Stretching 67 metres, each coupled tram set can transport up to 450 passengers, equivalent to up to nine standard buses.

The first section of the service has been criticised for relatively slow running speeds during its first few months of operation, but Transport for NSW says times will continue to improve as the service beds in.

The new service will operate every 8-12 minutes from 5am to 1am as it beds in. The rest of the Sydney public transport system is still running at normal capacity to assist social distancing measures.