Canberra’s light rail vehicles go wire-free

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Jeremy Wainwright

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Jul 9, 2026, 9:02:17 PMJul 9
to 'Roderick Smith' via TramsDownUnder
ACT Government puff:
Canberra’s light rail vehicles go wire-free
A man in a hard hat and high-visibility clothing works with wires in a light rail vehicle.
Canberra's light rail fleet has been retrofitted to operate with on-board energy storage systems.
02 July 2026

In brief:
  • All light rail vehicles have been fitted with onboard energy storage systems to enable wire-free travel.
  • The upgrade will enable battery-powered, wire-free travel between the Alinga Street and Commonwealth Park stops.
Canberra’s light rail fleet has received upgrades to enable wire-free travel.
Fourteen existing light rail vehicles have been retrofitted with on-board energy storage systems (OESS).
Each vehicle was taken out of service, fitted with batteries, and tested before returning to operations.
Extensive testing and trials have shown that the vehicles can operate safely and smoothly in all conditions.
Under Light Rail Stage 2A, vehicles will travel wire-free between the Alinga Street and Commonwealth Park stops.
Why upgrade to wire-free vehicles?
The new technology will reduce the impacts on sensitive national areas and maintain beautiful city views, by removing the need and space for lineside poles and wires.
There are also engineering benefits, such as a narrower track area, and less disruption to street space.
How does the new OESS work?
Each OESS has:
  • batteries
  • control electronics
  • a thermal management system.
The thermal management system helps maintain optimum battery temperature in our city’s varied climate.
The OESS charges when the vehicles operate on wired sections of track.
It then uses that energy to power the vehicle on wire-free sections, where it will also capture energy through regenerative braking.
Delivered by a local workforce
The upgrades were delivered entirely within the ACT. This marks the first time the technology has been retrofit onto Light Rail Vehicles within Australia.
Building specialist skills in Canberra’s workforce strengthens our economy and boosts capability for future stages of Light Rail.
To keep up to date on the project, visit the Light Rail to Woden website.

Matthew Geier

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Jul 10, 2026, 3:14:02 AMJul 10
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Look forward to service reductions when the battery packs flake out and trams can't traverse the wire-free sections.


Newcastle running about half the fleet. Parramatta has significant number of cars out too. Admittedly not all of these out of service cars have 'OESS' system faults, but it is a contributor to low availability.

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Brian Blunt

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Jul 10, 2026, 5:47:06 AMJul 10
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Presumably there will be recharging facilities at the terminus?



On 10 Jul 2026, at 17:14, 'Matthew Geier' via TramsDownUnder <tramsdo...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



Malcolm Rowe

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Jul 10, 2026, 6:39:52 AMJul 10
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There will be recharging facilities every where except on the shot section without overhead. 

From Mal in transit

From: 'Brian Blunt' via TramsDownUnder <tramsdo...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, 10 July 2026 19:28:44
To: tramsdo...@googlegroups.com <tramsdo...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Canberra’s light rail vehicles go wire-free
 

Greg Sutherland

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Jul 10, 2026, 7:20:26 AMJul 10
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Not much use if the battery is fried by being continually used beyond its design capacity.  Refer to fires on the Sydney LRVs.

Greg
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