Sydney Monorail
Encyclopedia
Monorail
A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...
in the city of Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, that connects Darling Harbour
Darling Harbour, New South Wales
Darling Harbour is a locality of the city centre of Sydney, Australia. It is a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. The locality extends northwards from Chinatown, along both sides of Cockle Bay to King Street...
, Chinatown
Chinatown, Sydney
Sydney's Chinatown is an urban locality in the southern part of the Sydney central business district, in New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Haymarket, between Central Station and Darling Harbour...
and the Sydney central business and shopping districts
Sydney central business district
The Sydney central business district is the main commercial centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It extends southwards for about 3 kilometres from Sydney Cove, the point of first European settlement. Its north–south axis runs from Circular Quay in the north to Central railway station in...
. There are eight stations on 3.6 km of track, with four trains operating simultaneously. Major attractions and facilities such as the Powerhouse Museum
Powerhouse Museum
The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney, the other being the historic Sydney Observatory...
, Sydney Aquarium
Sydney Aquarium
Sydney Aquarium is a public aquarium located in the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the eastern side of Darling Harbour to the north of the Pyrmont Bridge...
and Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre
Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre
The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, is located in Sydney's Darling Harbour near the Central Business District. The building is adjacent to Cockle Bay, Tumbalong Park and the Harbourside shopping centre....
are served.
History
What was initially known as the Darling Harbour Monorail was first conceived in the mid 1980s as part of the redevelopment of 50 hectares of land at Darling HarbourDarling Harbour, New South Wales
Darling Harbour is a locality of the city centre of Sydney, Australia. It is a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. The locality extends northwards from Chinatown, along both sides of Cockle Bay to King Street...
, providing a passenger link with the Sydney CBD. The operators TNT Harbourlink (part of transport group TNT
TNT N.V.
TNT N.V., more commonly known as TNT, is an international express and mail delivery services company with headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands. In the Netherlands, TNT operates the national postal service under the name TNT Post. The group also offers postal services in eight other European...
) hoped to have the monorail ready by the Australian Bicentenary
Australian Bicentenary
The bicentenary of Australia was celebrated in 1970 on the 200th anniversary of Captain James Cook landing and claiming the land, and again in 1988 to celebrate 200 years of permanent European settlement.-1970:...
celebrations of 26 January 1988, but the opening did not take place until 21 July 1988. Nevertheless, the complete design and construction period of 26 months was an extraordinarily short one. Test services commenced in May 1988.
The original operation hours were to be 6:00am to midnight, but after two years of operation patronage counts were half those expected, and planned stations at Market Street (to be named Casino, as part of the gaming venue planned to be built on the site) and Harbour Street (to be named Gardenside) were not built for some time.
The monorail is now operated for Metro Transport Sydney by Veolia
Veolia Transport NSW
Veolia Transport NSW is a division of the global Veolia company that operates the Metro Light Rail, the Metro Monorail and commuter bus services in the southern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.-Metro Transport:...
, who also operates the Sydney Metro Light Rail
Metro Light Rail
The Metro Light Rail is the only currently operating light rail line in Sydney. The line opened on 31 August 1997, mostly along the route of an unused goods railway line, to serve the redeveloped inner-city areas of Darling Harbour, Ultimo and Pyrmont, and was extended in 2000 to serve some of...
.
Technology
Radius
In classical geometry, a radius of a circle or sphere is any line segment from its center to its perimeter. By extension, the radius of a circle or sphere is the length of any such segment, which is half the diameter. If the object does not have an obvious center, the term may refer to its...
is 20 metres and the maximum gradient
Slope
In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line describes its steepness, incline, or grade. A higher slope value indicates a steeper incline....
is 4.4% uphill and 6.5% downhill.
Power is supplied at 500 V
Volt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
AC
Alternating current
In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....
to power the train, via a sheathed conductor below the running plate of the track. A control rail is also provided for train control, and a generator is provided to clear trains from the track in emergencies. The train control and maintenance facility is located between Convention and Paddy's Market stations, where a traverser
Transfer table
A transfer table, also called a traverser , is a piece of railroad equipment. It is similar in function to a turntable, though it cannot be used to turn equipment around. The table consists of a single length of track which can be moved from side to side, in a direction perpendicular to the track...
moves trains in and out of service.
Each station stop takes 40 seconds, including the time to decelerate, board passengers, and accelerate again. A complete circuit of the route takes 12 minutes, and the total capacity of the system is 5000 passengers per hour. It was originally intended for the system to operate automatically, but after a number of breakdowns soon after opening, it was decided to retain drivers, who occupy the first car of each train.
Rolling Stock
Delivered in 1987, the trains were built by Von Roll Habegger and are built to the "Type III" standard. There are six monorail trains, which each consist of seven carriages. Trains seat 48 passengers over six carriages, with the driver in the leading car, but were designed to seat 56, using all seven carriages.The monorail trains run on rubber wheels, and each seven car train has six 37 kW
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
traction motor
Traction motor
Traction motor refers to an electric motor providing the primary rotational torque of a machine, usually for conversion into linear motion ....
s, permitting a normal operating speed of 33 km/h. The doors of each car are automatic, and the floor level is self adjusting via an automatic suspension system. Each train is 32.12 metres long, 2.06 metres wide, and 2.6 metres high.
Set 3 has been out of service for some time, possibly cannibalized for parts to keep the other five trains in service.
Set 1 is in storage following a significant collision between it and Set 4 in early 2010. The last carriage in Set 1 has been removed from the set, and used to replace the damaged last carriage in Set 4. It has been renumbered.
Stations
- Harbourside
- Convention
- Paddy's Markets (formerly named Powerhouse Museum, and originally named Haymarket)
- ChinatownChinatown, SydneySydney's Chinatown is an urban locality in the southern part of the Sydney central business district, in New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Haymarket, between Central Station and Darling Harbour...
formerly named Garden Plaza, proposed to be originally named Darling Walk, then proposal changed to Gardenside. Station was closed from 26 July 2004 until 18 December 2006.) Station operation hours reduced in 2010 to 7:00am until 9:00am, on weekdays only - World SquareWorld SquareWorld Square is a large development in the Sydney Central Business District, New South Wales, Australia. It fills an entire Sydney city block, bounded by George Street, Liverpool Street, Pitt Street and Goulburn Street....
(proposed to be originally named City South. Temporary station in operation from late 1988 until 2005 - station rebuilt and incorporated into the new adjacent building.) - Galeries VictoriaThe Galeries VictoriaThe Galeries Victoria is a shopping centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located in the heart of the Sydney central business district, bounded by George, Pitt and Park Streets...
(originally named Park Plaza, proposed to be originally named Town Hall. Temporary entrance provided from opening until 2000 - station incorporated into the new adjacent building.) - City Centre (temporary station in operation from opening until mid-1989, during construction of the City Centre Shopping Arcade. The temporary station was partially suspended above Pitt Street.)
- Darling Park (originally planned to be named Casino, but Sydney's casino was eventually built in PyrmontPyrmont, New South WalesPyrmont is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Pyrmont is located 2 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney...
.)
Maintenance and control facilities
The six monorail units are maintained in a purpose-built facility located in Pyrmont Street, Pyrmont. A traverser is used to provide monorail trains with access to the standard track.The facility also houses the Control Room (located above the maintenance area), as well as administration and staff amenities.
Criticism
The decision to build the monorail over other forms of rail (e.g. light rail) was in the eyes of many a political decision. While a light rail would have been $20 million dollars cheaper to build, service more passengers per hour and cost 40% less for a ticket the monorail system prevailed.Recent studies by a Sydney newspaper show that the Monorail is now one of the most expensive public transport systems in the world, with a $4.90 charge to travel a mere 150 metres between two stops in Pitt Street. When measured per kilometre, a journey on the monorail is more than a luxury cabin on the Orient Express from London to Venice.