Introduction
In September 2003 a tram briefly ran in Canberra for the first time, so I went for a ride and took some photos. This was a refurbished Melbourne Tram (249). It ran on a short section of track beside Parkes Way for two weeks during the Floriade flower festival. The steel sleepers were simply laid on the grass and the tracks fixed to that. Power was supplied using two temporary electricity poles.
Canberra's architects, Walter Burley and Marion Mahony Griffin, planned for Canberra to have trams. But by the time the city has grown enough to need them cars and busses had become fashionable.
Federation Line
The 2003 Tram was part of a project called the "Federation Line" which proposed to run a vintage tram between Canberra's museums. The web site for the project is no longer available, but I retrieved a copy from the Internet Archive.
The Federation Line is planned to be a new and appealing way of making Canberra's major museum attractions more accessible to visitors - by linking them by a 'living museum', a vintage electric tramway.
The tramway will run from the new National Museum of Australia to the Australian War Memorial. Seven kilometres long, the route will include numerous visitor attractions as well as the business, entertainment and accommodation heart of the national capital. ...
The proposal for the tramway has been developed and assessed through a range of engineering, financial, economic, social and environmental studies.
Engineering studies have identified a preferred route and confirmed its operational feasibility, including its effect on the road network.
Assessment of costs and revenues indicates that the project will be financially viable. It will not require an ongoing subsidy; on the contrary, the tramway is expected to attract sufficient patronage and revenue to generate an operating profit. It is assumed that the project is funded on a basis which does not require the full servicing of capital costs.
A benefit-cost assessment of the project has found that it has a positive benefit-cost ratio, and that it will bring substantial net economic benefits to the community.
Studies have been undertaken to examine the potential environmental impacts of the tramway.
From: "Federation Line", Sep 20, 2004, no longer online, copy from the Internet Archive
Part of a Transport Strategy
The tram project could be completed for Canberra's centenary celebrations in 2013. The tram could be integrated into a public transport plan using an Electric Highway and Hybrid Fast Train to Sydney Airport.