Proposed light rail bears heavy cost- report

The ACT Government says it is still considering the possibility of light rail in Canberra even though an independent report has found it would cost $2 billion.

A Government commissioned business case for the proposal has been released today and will allow the ACT to apply for Commonwealth infrastructure funding to build the railway.

The report shows that light rail could decrease congestion on Canberra's roads and reduce pollution but that it may not be worth the significant cost.

Chief Minister Jon Stanhope says the ACT could not afford to build it without Federal Government backing but that funding might not be available.

"The community cost or the cost benefit ratio on light rail is quite low relatively and it's one of the issues of course that the submission will, I think, face or suffer from an analysis at the Commonwealth level," he said.

Greens MLA Amanda Bresnan says the report also found the existing public transport system is inadequate.

She says if light rail is not viable, something else has to be done to fix the problem.

"If the bid isn't successful then we're still going to need something because obviously as it says we don't have an adequate system," she said.

"We're really going to have to build on the idea of bus rapid transit if that doesn't go ahead."

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Thu 9th April 2009 - 04:15pm