The Legislative Assembly reached tripartite agreement yesterday on checking Canberra’s light rail vehicles for cracks after the recent immobilisation of Sydney’s fleet, made up of the same sort the ACT uses. But ACT Transport Minister Chris Steel also accused the bill’s mover, Liberal MLA Mark Parton, of trying to undermine the system by raising the issue.

Last week, it was announced the NSW Inner West Light Rail line would be decommissioned for 18 months because of cracking in the wheel arches. The CAF Urbos 3 light rail vehicles – the same used in the ACT, although Sydney’s are four or five years older – were affected by cracking in the wheel arches.

“If cracks are evident, their rectification requires quite complex engineering with no quick fix or easy solution,” said Mr Parton, the Shadow Transport Minister.

From discussions with the NSW Transport Minister’s office, Mr Parton said he learnt “the exercise to find the wheel arch cracks was massive”. The vehicle floor had to be removed, and the engineers had to strip back a thick coat of noise pollution paint before they could see the cracks.

“We now have enough warning to do something about a thorough examination of our vehicles,” Mr Parton said. “If nothing else, the timing of the purchase of our vehicles as opposed to the ones in Sydney in theory gives us potentially a little time.”

The Liberal MLA called for the ACT Government to report back to the Assembly on the risks for the light vehicle fleet by the second sitting week of 2022, and to advise the Assembly on the contingency planning it would undertake in the event the fault experienced in NSW and other countries emerged in the ACT light rail vehicle fleet.

Mr Parton noted that concerns with the CAF vehicles went back to 2014, several years before the ACT Government purchased them. (Light rail fleets had cracked in Belgrade, Birmingham, and Besançon, he pointed out earlier in the week.)

“The consequences aren’t flash if our light rail vehicles end up being taken out of service,” he said. “We’d be the laughingstock of Australia.”

Mr Parton was concerned modifications for Light Rail Stage Two would put more pressure on the vehicles. To navigate the Parliamentary Triangle track wire-free, Canberra’s light rail vehicles will be retrofitted with two 8-tonne batteries on the roof.

“It may very well be the case that our vehicles are alright, and they don’t have a problem, or at least, they don’t have one yet,” Mr Parton said. “But the statistics look uncomfortably like they are running against us. So, let us at the very least exercise a degree of prudence.”

ACT Government’s response

Mr Steel said no issues had been identified, but he would report back to the Legislative Assembly by the end of the year – even earlier than Mr Parton had proposed.

“The light rail is really important for Canberra’s future, and it means we take its safety and reliability extremely seriously,” Mr Steel said.

“The government’s taken rapid and practical steps to understand whether there is a problem here, confirm that our fleet is safe and able to continue operating, and put the right processes in place for ongoing proactive monitoring as light rail services keep running.”

Canberra Metro, the operator and maintainer of the ACT light rail line, had inspected its fleet of 14 CAF Urbos 3 light rail vehicles following reports of problems with Sydney’s fleet, Mr Steel said.

“This has not detected any cracking to date,” he said. Nor were any issues found in Newcastle’s fleet, which also used CAF Urbos 3 vehicles.

Canberra and Newcastle’s vehicles were newer than Sydney’s, Mr Steel said; Sydney’s inner west network is made of track types, including inslab and ballast, that are not used in Canberra.

The Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator was actively investigating the situation in NSW, and had not raised any concerns about the Canberra fleet, Mr Steel continued. Transport Canberra and City Services were working closely with Canberra Metro and the NSW government to understand progress on the rectification for the inner west fleet, and any insights from the situation.

Canberra Metro inspects and maintains the light rail fleet to ensure all LRVs are safe to operate, and there was no risk to customers’ safety, Mr Steel stated. Canberra’s light rail system was subject to ongoing monitoring and reporting to ensure that Canberra Metro fully complied with more than 10 key acts, regulations, and standards, as well as ONRSR operating guidelines, he said.

If problems emerged with Canberra’s light rail vehicles, Mr Steel said, that would be a matter for Canberra Metro to resolve under its contract.

If light rail vehicles could not operate, the ACT Government would offer full bus replacement services, as occurred during the construction of the Sandford Street light rail stop.

Making mischief

Mr Parton said he welcomed Mr Steel’s goodwill in moving the reporting date forward from early 2022 to the end of the year.

However, Mr Steel also accused Mr Parton and the Canberra Liberals of “a concerted campaign to undermine light rail, because they never want to see Light Rail Stage Two actually get built to Woden”.

“Like any good shock jock, [Mr Parton] cares far more about drumming up anger and uncertainty than he does about the actual facts in relation to our light rail system,” Mr Steel said.

“In the hushed tones and wild eyes of an internet conspiracy video, Mr Parton stood beside the light rail tracks and suggested to Canberrans that there would be cost blowouts and service cancellations galore because of the issues identified in New South Wales – except he knew full well that there is no current evidence of any issue in the ACT in relation to our light rail system, because my office told him so, last Friday afternoon.”

Two hours after the NSW press conference, Mr Parton said, Mr Steel’s office had “assured [him] everything was hunky-dory”.

“Given the extreme nature of the NSW exercise to actually find the problem, how could you possibly say with any degree of certainty that the same issue does not exist here within two hours of that press conference?”

Safety issues had manifested themselves in four or five other jurisdictions, Mr Parton said.

“How ridiculous to suggest that me raising that safety issue is somehow out of order and making mischief.

“The NSW Minister for Transport, in his press conference on Friday, very clearly indicated that this was a structural issue, a basic design flaw, and that it was likely to include Canberra.

“As the Shadow Minister for Transport, it’s my job to scrutinise transport-related matters. That is exactly what I will continue to do, and if Mr Steel doesn’t like that, well, then that’s his problem.”