Barely 10 days after announcing Adelaide’s new North Terrace tram extension would open on July 29, the State Government has advised passenger services will not begin on that date, due to signalling issues.
South Australian transport minister Stephan Knoll on July 23 said driver training had been halted due to signalling issues that were identified during training. Knoll said the issues were currently being investigated.
The news came just 11 days after Knoll said the new City Tram Extension would open on Sunday, July 29, months after the incoming Liberal Government inherited a project that was “nowhere near finished”.
Now Knoll is saying the signalling issues are further evidence of the former government’s incompetence.
“This is a very frustrating development in this problem-plagued project,” he said this week.
“This project has been riddled with problems from the outset and the State Government would like to apologise to South Australians for the inconvenience, uncertainty and delays this project has caused over the last 12 months.
“Testing is underway to identify the exact fault which will need to be rectified before passenger services are able to commence safely.”
Experts from Hanning & Kahl, which provided the signalling system, are being flown in to Adelaide to help rectify the issue, Knoll said.
“The State Government’s absolute priority is passenger safety and it is our responsibility to ensure that South Australians are as safe as possible when using this service,” he said.
“Every effort is being made to fix this problem and get passenger services up and running as soon as possible.
“These latest issues will also be captured by the State Government’s review of this project once complete.”