The Territory’s light rail vehicle fleet risks cracking, says Canberra Liberals MLA Mark Parton, Shadow Minister for Transport. Mr Parton will move in the Legislative Assembly today that the ACT Government report back on how it will handle these risks.

Mr Parton’s motion follows last week’s news that the NSW Inner West Light Rail line has been decommissioned for 18 months because of structural issues with the CAF Urbos 3 light rail vehicles – the same used in the ACT.

Mr Parton said the ACT Government also needs to advise on its contingency plans in the event the ACT light rail fleet cracks, as has occurred in NSW and overseas – including Belgrade, Birmingham, and Besançon.

“With the ACT potentially facing similar problems with these light rail vehicles, the Labor-Greens Government must provide the necessary information, including what led the procurement evaluation body to recommend this particular vehicle,” Mr Parton said.

“Given the mounting evidence from around the world, and what’s happened in Sydney, surely it is necessary for the government to take a closer look and report back to the assembly and the Canberra community.

“Retrofitting two eight tonne batteries each above the wheel arches on the roof of every vehicle is also surely going to exacerbate the problem.”

Mr Parton said if Canberra’s light rail vehicles suffer the same fate as those around the world, the ACT Government must have strategies to mitigate or eliminate the severe consequences.

“All we are asking is that this government take some common-sense precautionary steps to make sure that these light rail vehicles are not susceptible to cracking, which will have a disastrous impact on transport in the ACT.

“We do need a contingency plan in the event that a deeper level of precautionary assessment or modifications are needed – or worse still, we find we have a problem similar to NSW,” Mr Parton concluded.

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