News & Discussion: Trams

[crawf]

*Progress*

Oh wow I sound like m.........

[rubberman]

LOL at that 'motivational' poster.

However, I am outraged, outraged I tells ya - you have left out the St Kilda Tramway.

(Although, they too have reduced the length of track due to the difficulty of maintaining the whole length of line).

[ChillyPhilly]

Gladly, I didn't make it!

[Vee]

I recently travelled on the tram to the Entertainment Centre. Love the tram extension.
I was taken aback by the neglected appearance of the plantings alongside the track beyond West Terrace, especially towards and opposite the E.C.

The plantings were choked with weeds, providing a harbour for rubbish to collect. It's the only downfall of the journey - not a good look for our visitors.

Which Council or Department is responsible for maintaining the plantings (as opposed to the track maintenance?) I hope some TLC can be applied in the near future.

[UrbanSG]

I agree Vee. This issue is a pet hate of mine as it seems to happen on a lot of major projects. The government goes to all the expense of providing decent landscaping, then it doesn't get maintained. It only seems to get looked after at the last minute once it's almost all dead. Then they have to spend more money replanting again.

It's as though there is a huge breakdown in communication between the Government and Councils once projects have been finished. Surely some of these people drive along these roads and can see for themselves it needs to be fixed.

The tramline extension landscaping has been like that for almost a year now. Surely it's not that hard for them to do some weeding FFS!

[Wayno]

Which Council or Department is responsible for maintaining the plantings (as opposed to the track maintenance?) I hope some TLC can be applied in the near future.

That would be the Charles Sturt council. Council boundaries are available here.

Would be great if you wrote to the council, and also to the elected councilors. They'll fix it if they think your vote is for sale

[claybro]

Part of the problem is someone has sold the idea that native scrubby grasses are maintenance free. They prove not really to be low maintenance at all, and unless kept watered, as is their natural habit, die off, look unsightly and let the weeds grow. In a similar way, after years of the median on Greenhill Road being well watered and maintained, suddenly, during the drought, Adelaide city council and Unley council got into a fight over who should water the median.(obviously elfs had watered it for the previous decades ) most of the trees, decades old, died due to lack of water. The grass, no longer green became a dust bowl. Ironicaly they have now replaced the dead trees with supposedly drought tolerant natives, but also instaled irrigation to keep them watered!!. Lets hope this time they keep up the maintenance lest a large eucalypt dries out and drops a massive limb on a passing car as they are prone to do.

[jk1237]

I know its all the rage but I dont like the native scrubby grass look. Theres a former drain that runs through Unley that they have turned into a great bicycle/walking track but the scrubby grass look is completely out of place with the Parkside/Unley/Fullarton streetscape IMO

[Nathan]

I know its all the rage but I dont like the native scrubby grass look. Theres a former drain that runs through Unley that they have turned into a great bicycle/walking track but the scrubby grass look is completely out of place with the Parkside/Unley/Fullarton streetscape IMO

I'm with you. It just looks dry and messy.

[[Shuz]]

Hear, hear.

[Waewick]

so what are the chances of the Tram ever going down Unley Rd or similar (you know, the most densely populated inner city area)

[claybro]

Would preferr they finished to "coast to coast" light rail first, it is an important link in upgrading the Port and Semaphore, and even making the high density West Lakes more accessable. On the department site, under transport it still has the heading Coast to Coast light rail, but then unfortunately goes on to say the extension was finished in 2010. If they consider it finished, they should stop calling it coast to coast, unless Hindmarsh is going to be on the coast.

[medo]

..... unless Hindmarsh is going to be on the coast.

Yes, according to some sea rise projections it might happen.

But, seriously I think the priority should be the city tram circle and eventually the underground rail line for all positive reasons we have already discussed here and then we should think about extending the tram lines into the suburbs... maybe to North Adelaide at the first place. At this stage I don't think that any other lines will have enough population density to justify the huge costs of building the tram line. I do understand that a tram line might initiate some density... but with cars as a main transport for the most of us it will be hard to have enough patronage...

Medo

[Hooligan]

Would preferr they finished to "coast to coast" light rail first, it is an important link in upgrading the Port and Semaphore, and even making the high density West Lakes more accessable. On the department site, under transport it still has the heading Coast to Coast light rail, but then unfortunately goes on to say the extension was finished in 2010. If they consider it finished, they should stop calling it coast to coast, unless Hindmarsh is going to be on the coast.

well when i caught a train yesterday on the back of my metro ticket it said about new destinations being trains to Seaford and trams to West Lakes, Port Adelaide and Semaphore so i guess it's still happening?

Also, wasn't the time frame like 2018 anyway?

[Nort]

Would preferr they finished to "coast to coast" light rail first, it is an important link in upgrading the Port and Semaphore, and even making the high density West Lakes more accessable. On the department site, under transport it still has the heading Coast to Coast light rail, but then unfortunately goes on to say the extension was finished in 2010. If they consider it finished, they should stop calling it coast to coast, unless Hindmarsh is going to be on the coast.

well when i caught a train yesterday on the back of my metro ticket it said about new destinations being trains to Seaford and trams to West Lakes, Port Adelaide and Semaphore so i guess it's still happening?

Also, wasn't the time frame like 2018 anyway?

Some of the tickets also talk about the whole network being electrified, I wouldn't pay too much attention to them.