Tram, train, metro

Sydney day two: I was keen to try the L2 or L3 light rail; these lines opened in 2018 and 2019 but were under construction during my previous visit in early 2018.

The trams have certainly transformed George Street, which used to be a traffic sewer awash with buses, and is now a CBD pedestrian and transit mall.

I knew the trams would be partially closed over the weekend, so Friday seemed like the day to try them. The problem is we had nowhere we wanted to go on either of these routes. So I convinced my long-suffering travelling companion to go for a joyride – along the L2 to UNSW and back.

To some it may look like just another tram, but as a Melburnian there were some interesting contrasts.

• Being a modern light rail line, there’s almost complete separation from cars
• Traffic light priority when crossing roads was not perfect, but still far better than Melbourne
• The trams on L2 and L3 are double units coupled together, the only trams in Australia that run like this. (Sydney and Adelaide used to do it.)
• Many trams had all over advertising – which seemed as bad (maybe worse) as in Melbourne
• The northern section from Town Hall to Circular Quay has no wires; trams run on power from a special slot between the tracks called APS. At Town Hall the tram’s pantographs raise and lower. Critics say it’s too clever for its own good; expensive and unreliable.
• The section just south of Central is interesting; the trams run along Devonshire Street, which was mostly closed to traffic to accommodate them. But unlike George Street, this isn’t CBD; it’s an inner suburban street.
• The distances between stops are quite long by Melbourne standards, but similar to the Port Melbourne and St Kilda light rail lines.
• Tram frequencies on the L2 and L3 match or exceed almost all of Melbourne’s trams, at all times of day. There’s no crappy 30 minute frequencies here – the most you’ll wait is 15 minutes, and most of the time it’s 10 or under.
• As I wrote in May, Sydney’s L2 and L3 tram lines have overtaken the busiest Melbourne tram routes for patronage by line and by kilometre

Once at UNSW, we got off the tram and caught one back to Central, changing from there to a train to Newtown, for a bit of shopping there.

Like many stations around Sydney, Newtown has had upgrades in recent decades to modernise it and provide step-free access. Currently 72% of stations are accessible – this is great progress in the past couple of decades. Even a 2010 network map shows accessible stations were a rarity back then.

We had lunch at an Egyptian cafe, which was delicious. I had a Charcoal Kofta Lamb Pocket that was so tasty I feel like I have to track down something similar at home in Melbourne.

We headed back into Central on the train. Interestingly we got our tickets checked by inspectors. Well, not tickets. Credit card/phone.

I’d used my iPhone. The inspector asked me to open Apple Pay with the relevant credit card showing, then tapped his reader on the phone. It took a few seconds for it to connect and verify that I had tapped. This is much the same functionality that is rolling out in Melbourne now.

We took a detour via the Metro from Central to Gadigal (just to see it), then went back to the hotel to drop off some shopping.

From the hotel we walked to the National Art School in Darlinghurst to see the Margaret Olley exhibition. It was very pleasant walking weather, and the exhibition was great (and free) and the NAS itself is a fascinating space, with numerous old sandstone buildings, just off Oxford Street.

Walking back, we stopped for an ice cream – not sure I’d do that in Melbourne in winter.

And we dropped into Kinokuniya Books in George Street. Apparently it’s the biggest retail book store in the country – and yes it’s huge. (There’s a smaller one coming to Melbourne soon.)

A stroll back to the hotel, rest and enjoy the sunset, then out again for a cheeky burger for dinner.

I decided to explore a bit more of the Metro – on my own this time. I caught it from Gadigal up to Chatswood. It was just after evening peak hour, but still busy and frequent.

At Chatswood there is a cross-platform interchange to the T1 and T9 suburban lines – the type of interchange that arguably should have been provided for Melbourne’s Metro tunnel lines.

Not that it helped tonight – both T1 and T9 were severely delayed due to power issues between Redfern and Newtown – precisely where we’d been earlier in the day.

Overhead wires come down on Sydney passenger train causing major delays

— ABC News Australia (@news.abc.net.au) 2026-08-14T08:01:57.5597457Z

I had a look around Chatswood then hopped onto another metro train back towards the city. I boarded at the front carriage with the idea of checking out the view out of the front window (something you can only do on a driverless train) but was foiled by two Sydney gunzels in that spot, chatting away.

No matter, I hopped off at Victoria Cross and had a walk around. Apparently this is one of the busiest stations, though at 8:15pm it was quieter. The next train I caught had the prime position free.

I’ll write more about the Sydney Metro in a future post.

Back to the hotel, ready for more exploring the next day.