Skip to main content

Keolis Downer opens light rail in Newcastle, Australia

Keolis Downer has started operating a light rail service in the Australian city of Newcastle, which will serve as part of a multimodal transport network. The Australian subsidiary of Keolis was awarded the multimodal contract in 2016. It covers the operations and maintenance of the light rail service as well as buses and ferries for a ten-year period. In 2017, the company started operating the bus and ferry services and a year later introduced a real-time, on-demand transport service, powered by Via, a
February 22, 2019 Read time: 1 min

6546 Keolis Downer has started operating a light rail service in the Australian city of Newcastle, which will serve as part of a multimodal transport network.

The Australian subsidiary of Keolis was awarded the multimodal contract in 2016. It covers the operations and maintenance of the light rail service as well as buses and ferries for a ten-year period. In 2017, the company started operating the bus and ferry services and a year later introduced a real-time, on-demand transport service, powered by Via, a developer of shared ride technology.

Keolis Downer says it has now completed the light rail and is operating the service on behalf of Transport for New South Wales.

The 2.7km long network features six stations and runs between Wickham and Pacific Park while also connecting with existing bus and ferry services.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ParkMobile and Reach Now to develop smart mobility solutions
    June 19, 2019
    ParkMobile has joined forces with BMW subsidiary Reach Now to build integrated smart city solutions aimed at improving parking, transit and multimodal transportation. Users could pay for parking in a transit lot via the ParkMobile app and then use Reach Now to buy a ticket to ride a train, bus or ferry. Nat Parker, CEO of Reach Now, says the partners will create “smarter mobility solutions that help drive more intelligence for cities and help consumers get from point A to B”. The partnership betw
  • Varying acceptance of tolling in Africa
    January 6, 2016
    Tolling technology is now at an advanced state but governments have a key role in ensuring the success of schemes as is evident in Africa. Shem Oirere reports. According to the African Development Bank, the continent has an estimated $46bn of infrastructure financing deficit. The bank says sub-Saharan Africa requires $93bn annually to meet its infrastructure development needs - but only half of the financing is available.
  • Varying acceptance of tolling in Africa
    January 6, 2016
    Tolling technology is now at an advanced state but governments have a key role in ensuring the success of schemes as is evident in Africa. Shem Oirere reports. According to the African Development Bank, the continent has an estimated $46bn of infrastructure financing deficit. The bank says sub-Saharan Africa requires $93bn annually to meet its infrastructure development needs - but only half of the financing is available.
  • Transit takes on demanding role
    April 2, 2021
    Community transport - or paratransit - has historically formed the basis of demand-responsive operations. But with new routing technologies, David Crawford sees wider potential