Today we have been to Newcastle because I needed to buy a new office chair. One of the wheels broke off my chair a few days ago. While we were there we wandered around the centre of Newcastle.
This is the first time I have seen the new light rail in action.
On the 26 December 2014 the railway line between Wickham, Civic and Newcastle East stations closed and it has taken until 17 February of this year for the light rail replacing the railway to be completed and up and running.
The distance between Wickham and Newcastle East is 2.7 km and the light rail has cost $290 million.
Why do railways cost so much? Ours are the same, millions spent repairing, doing up & now this new one HS2 which is going to be a mind blowing price! Hope it’s all worth it! Great looking train & essential to traveling about with less cars on the road. You have plenty of space though so lots of room for carparks etc!
@julzmaioro I think it will be a while before it pays off. Tickets cost $2.20 for adults or $1.10 for concession, so it could be a while before it breaks even for the $290 million the light rail has cost.
@pcoulson I doubt it is worth the money it has cost to build it considering it only covers 2.7 km of the CBD
@markp If the tracks are made of gold somebody had dug it up by the time we saw it.
@happypat Hello Pat, hope you are okay and less stressed, I will email you when I get chance, but my feet aren't touching the ground at the moment. The tram does look rather swish doesn't it but I doubt it will improve things in the centre of Newcastle as the rail only covers 2.7 km of the CBD.
@lesip It ought to be fancy considering the cost. Hope Newcastle doesn't have another earthquake or it could all be in vain.
It does make you wonder sometimes how a project like this could be so expensive. I hope it pays off for you. Generally it never works that way here. They force a change saying its an improvement when in reality it's not better and sometimes makes things worse! Good shot!
Holey Moley!!!! Why in the heck does it cost so blooming much to lay some track???? I can never work out why infrastructure costs seem to be so astronomic nowadays. Machinery and automation etc, etc was supposed to make stuff cheaper, at least in relative terms.
A nice bright red though.
@annied @nicolecampbell @hrs @ludwigsdiana @pusspup @tonygig @radiogirl I doubt it has made much difference to the flow of traffic in the middle of town.
@pcoulson I doubt it is worth the money it has cost to build it considering it only covers 2.7 km of the CBD
@markp If the tracks are made of gold somebody had dug it up by the time we saw it.
@happypat Hello Pat, hope you are okay and less stressed, I will email you when I get chance, but my feet aren't touching the ground at the moment. The tram does look rather swish doesn't it but I doubt it will improve things in the centre of Newcastle as the rail only covers 2.7 km of the CBD.
@lesip It ought to be fancy considering the cost. Hope Newcastle doesn't have another earthquake or it could all be in vain.