Page 3547 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 18 September 2019
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Stage 2A will add three new stops to the light rail network: city west, city south and Commonwealth Park. To do this, the government will be undertaking a separate but complementary project to raise London Circuit, providing a new gateway for the CBD. The raising of London Circuit will enable better cycling, walking and public transport links between the city and the Acton waterfront.
We are investing in light rail now to deliver the transport network that Canberrans want and help to avoid the congestion problems faced by other cities. We are building on the success and benefits that we have seen with stage 1 of light rail and we are determined to see these benefits extended to other parts of Canberra.
MS CODY: Minister, what are the benefits of extending light rail to Commonwealth Park?
MR STEEL: I thank Ms Cody for her supplementary. The ACT government is determined to extend the benefits of light rail to other parts of our city, including Woden. The first stage of the extension of the line from the city to Commonwealth Park is a 1.7 kilometre extension of our light rail line, with three new stops. Because this is an extension to the line, this will provide access for passengers from Dickson to city west, Gungahlin to Commonwealth Park and everywhere in between.
The extension will provide access to residences, businesses, entertainment precincts, the Australian National University and events and attractions. We expect that the city west stop will be one of the busiest and best used on the network, providing access to the ANU as well as the courts precinct, businesses and residential areas in the city west area.
The Commonwealth Park stop offers an exciting opportunity to provide mass transit access to people attending many events at Commonwealth Park and around Lake Burley Griffin, from Floriade through to Spilt Milk. For visitors, it will provide access to our visitor information point at Regatta Point before they explore the rest of our city.
The government will continue to progress stage 2B to extend light rail across the lake to the employment hubs of Barton and Deakin and through to Woden to deliver the benefits that we have seen with stage 1 to the south side.
MS LE COUTEUR: Minister, how long do you expect it will take on the light rail from Woden to the city?
MR STEEL: I thank Ms Le Couteur for her question. While the business case was approved for stage 2A, we need to work with the commonwealth to lock down elements of stage 2B. That process is happening in parallel to the work we are doing on stage 2A, which will start as early as 2020. It is subject to approvals. One of the key elements we have committed to under stage 2A is looking at how we can work with the commonwealth to deliver a wide network. We know the benefits a wide network would provide in terms of reliability, certainty and cost—
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