CBD and South East Light Rail

[Semi-Retired Foamer]

Hi all,
         I am trying to compile the current fleet listing for the CBD and South East Light Rail line (L2 and L3).
  Does anyone know if all 60 vehicles are currently considered to be in service?

  I've been able to confirm all but 01, 15, 16, 19, 21, 29, 30, 31, 43, 44, 57, 58.
  Though I suspect most of those I probably just haven't came across yes.

Can anyone help?

Thanks 

Brad

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[Matthew Geier]

The original Urbos 3 are having ongoing issues, and at least 4 Citadis are out with water damage from a flood on Anzac Pde, a handful of others have various faults that are keeping them off the road.

Frequently, the LX school shuttles get cancelled due to a lack of rollingstock.

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[TP]

Time to call in PTV who have had prior experience at both sacking Transdev and procuring decent trams.

Tony P

[TP]

Recent comments I've read about service quality and rolling stock shortages due to vehicle failures on the light rail on this and other forums lead me to look at the reliability statistics again. Hitherto, without looking too closely, I've seen that light rail reliability has been, on the surface, reasonably good - better than buses and suburban trains, but not up to the level of metro and ferries.

However, a closer look reveals some surprising qualifications on this.

https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/data-and-research/passenger-travel/sydney-light-rail-performance-reports

Like other modes except metro, which is held to an exact standard, light rail gets a statistical leg-up with a 4 minute tolerance on time and the general target is 97% of services running on time within that definition. Not much of a standard for a mode that runs in its own exclusive lanes, but there we go.

Within those parameters, we see that:

L1 consistently fails to meet its on-time running targets, though I figure that it's "saved" from contractual questioning by the 4 minute tolerance. This is a line that, not only has its own street lanes, but is a grade-separated "railway" for the majority of its length and has a generous stipulated journey time of 37 to 38 minutes, which is about 5 minutes more than the journey should need for that length and number of stops. Ye gods, what does it take to lose punctuality in that operating environment? I think it takes Transdev, which has been operating L1 in the same lackadaisical way for 25 years.

L2/L3, on the other hand, has consistent 99% punctuality, which sounds absolutely marvellous until you read the fine print that shows that it has been allocated 37-40 minutes to complete the journey, which is 10-15 minutes longer than the journey should take if it is run competently (indeed the timetable says about 32 minutes). Quite obvious shifting of the goalposts by TfNSW there, to protect the contractor, not the customers whose interests they are supposed to be acting in.

L4 is a good laugh. It started off with about 98% reliability and then in August 2025 reliability dropped off a cliff. Turn to the small print and we see shifting goalposts again. Until April 2025, it was given 35 minutes to complete the journey, then till July 32 minutes and then from July 29 minutes, a trip easy to accomplish for the length, number of stops and part of it being grade-separated "railway". This time, in fairness, TfNSW shifted the goalposts to raise the performance expectation, favouring the customer, but the operator hasn't been able to follow through.

It's impossible to get internal information about what's happening, but from the rate of vehicle downtime, an engineering assessment might be that they're finding that those fixed bogie trams are taking a costly toll on both themselves and the tracks and have to be slowed right down on curves (of which there are plenty on L4), thus extending journey times. There could be other competence issues of course, we don't know.

Generally, a potentially great system, let down by poor execution. It hasn't done L2/L3 patronage any harm though as it's booming. L1 patronage still hasn't fully recovered after covid and Parramatta is looking encouraging, but too early to reach firm conclusions, especially as some supporting projects in Parramatta, notably the metro, are yet to be completed. Above all, we should bear in mind that the decision to replace bus routes with light rail is still a good one as the trams routes carry much more patronage and have much more capacity than pretty much any bus route in Sydney.

Tony P

[Matthew Geier]

At the risk of offending people I know who work there, Parramatta is
best described as a 'clown show'.

It would appear rolling-stock availability is terrible - with long waits
for spare parts to repair accident damage.

It's looking like CAF budgeted a certain amount for spares and is
sticking to it, no matter what.

L4 has had more traffic accidents in 12 months than L2/L3 has had in 5
years.

They have also had a significant amount of petty vandalism, with
internal and external panels pulled off. One 'fun' trick is the 'coupler
riders' they stand on the fiberglass cowling and hang on to windscreen
wipers, the cowling breaks under the weight and as they fall they yank
the windscreen wiper off. That car is them out of service till both
items are replaced.

[TP]

That's a shame. However, an incentive for CAF (as a partner in the consortium) is that if they don't provide the contracted service level, they will be fined. 

Tony P

[Matthew Geier]

They have better lawyers than TfNSW. They are probably claiming that the vandalism and the large number of traffic accidents are 'Force majeure'.