The Sydney light rail network (or Sydney Light Rail for the inner-city lines) is a light rail/tram system serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The network consists of four passenger routes, the L1 Dulwich Hill, L2 Randwick, L3 Kingsford and L4 Westmead &amp; Carlingford lines. It comprises 58 stops and a system length of approximately , making it the second largest light rail network in Australia behind the tram network in Melbourne, Victoria. 
The network is managed by Transport for NSW, with day-to-day operations contracted to Transdev. In the 2023–24 financial year, 40.59 million passenger journeys were made on the network, equating to over 110,000 journeys per day.
History.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Sydney developed an extensive tram network, which grew to be the second largest in the Southern Hemisphere and second largest in the Commonwealth after London. The increasing rate of private car ownership, the perception that trams contributed to traffic congestion and the general rundown conditions of the network due to the lack of funding after World War II led to the progressive replacement of tram services with buses, with the final section of the tram network closing on 25 February 1961.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the inner city areas of Darling Harbour and Pyrmont were the subject of an urban renewal program. In 1988 the Sydney Monorail opened, connecting Darling Harbour to the city centre. With poor integration between the monorail and other transport modes and the increasing redevelopment of the Pyrmont peninsula – including the establishment of Sydney's first legal casino – it was decided to convert a disused section of the Metropolitan Goods railway line into a light rail line. A section of track between Pyrmont and Haymarket was upgraded and a new on-street section was built to link the line to Central station. The line was set up as a public-private partnership. It opened in August 1997, running between Central Station and Wentworth Park, Pyrmont.
The private owner soon made proposals for a western extension continuing along the disused goods line, plus a new line through the city centre from Central to Circular Quay. The western extension opened in 2000, terminating at Lilyfield, but the company was unsuccessful in its attempts to develop a CBD line, which saw the development of light rail stagnate for the remainder of the decade.
By contrast, the 2010s saw major expansion and reform of light rail in Sydney including the announcement and delivery of multiple new infrastructure projects, integration of ticketing with the city's other transport modes, the introduction of new trams and the transfer of the network to full public ownership. This coincided with broader investment in urban railways across Sydney and Australia, with the state transport minister in 2020 labelling Sydney a "train city" in reference to the various rail modes in the city.
Ownership and operation.
Public-private partnership.
In March 1994, the Sydney Light Rail Company (SLRC) was formed. SLRC was awarded a 30-year concession to operate the light rail system until February 2028 when ownership would pass to the New South Wales Government. The contract gave the company significant control over the commercial arrangements relating to future extensions or interconnecting lines. Operation of the line was contracted to TNT Transit Systems, which also owned the Sydney Monorail.
The SLRC purchased TNT Transit Systems in August 1998 as part of a joint venture with CGEA Transport. This resulted in CGEA Transport taking over the light rail operating contract. CGEA Transport and its successors have operated the inner city light rail network ever since.
In early 2001, Connex (renamed from CGEA Transport in 1999) sold its share of the monorail to the SLRC, bringing the monorail and light rail under unified ownership and leading to the formation of Metro Transport Sydney.
The New South Wales Government purchased Metro Transport Sydney in March 2012, and the company was placed under the control of Transport for NSW. The purchase removed the contractual restrictions on expanding the light rail system and allowed the government to dismantle the monorail, assisting its plans to redevelop the Sydney Convention &amp; Exhibition Centre.
Government ownership.
From 1 July 2013, the Metro Light Rail brand was phased out as part of a broader rebranding and reorganisation of public transport services in New South Wales. The process of shutting down Metro Transport Sydney and transferring assets to Transport for NSW was completed in September 2014.
Following the announcement of the CBD and South East Light Rail, the government decided to group the contract covering the construction of the new line with the operation and maintenance of both lines of the inner city network. In December 2014, Transport for NSW awarded the contract to the ALTRAC Light Rail consortium. This saw Transdev Sydney, the operator under the previous contract, continue to operate and maintain the network as part of the consortium. The operating contract commenced on 1 July 2015 and runs until 2034.
After taking control of the Inner West Light Rail and announcing the CBD and South East Light Rail, the government also moved to establish a separate network centred around the Western Sydney suburb of Parramatta. Transdev was contracted to operate the Parramatta network as part of the Great River City Light Rail consortium. This contract runs for eight years from construction completion, with a possible extension of up to an additional ten years.
Operations.
Lines.
Sydney's light rail network consists of:
 ;mapframe width="550" height="300" longitude="151.1142" latitude="-33.8577" zoom="11" align="left" text="The light rail lines of Sydney: the Inner West Light Rail, CBD and South East Light Rail, and stage 1 of the Parramatta Light Rail" ;
 "type": "ExternalData",
 "service": "page",
 "title": "Inner West Light Rail.map"
 "type": "ExternalData",
 "service": "page",
 "title": "Parramatta Light Rail.map"
 "type": "ExternalData",
 "service": "page",
 "title": "CBD and South East Light Rail.map"
]
 ;/mapframe ;
L1 Dulwich Hill Line.
 ;mapframe width="220" height="220" align="right" text="L1 Dulwich Hill Line" ;
 "type": "ExternalData",
 "service": "page",
 "title": "Inner West Light Rail.map"
 "type": "ExternalData",
 "service": "page",
 "title": "Inner West Light Rail stops.map"
]
 ;/mapframe ;
The L1 Dulwich Hill Line is the network's original passenger route, which first commenced in August 1997. It operates along the Inner West Light Rail between Central Station and Dulwich Hill, stopping at 23 stops along the route. It connects Sydney's Inner West with the Pyrmont peninsula, Darling Harbour and the southern end of the city centre. 
The majority of the Inner West Light Rail line is along the alignment of a former freight railway line, with a short on-street section at the city end. The line opened between Central railway station in the city and Wentworth Park, Pyrmont on 11 August 1997, then extended west to Lilyfield in August 2000, and then southwest to Dulwich Hill in March 2014.
From late October 2021 to February 2022, services were replaced by buses after major cracks were found in all 12 Urbos 3 trams serving the line. Limited service was then restored with borrowed Citadis trams from the CBD and South East Light Rail.
L2 Randwick &amp; L3 Kingsford Lines.
 ;mapframe width="220" height="220" longitude="151.2253" latitude="-33.8917" align="right" text="L2 Randwick Line and L3 Kingsford Line" ;
[{"type":"ExternalData",
"service":"page",
"title":"CBD and South East Light Rail.map"},
"service":"page",
"title":"CBD and South East Light Rail stops.map"}]
 ;/mapframe ;
The L2 Randwick Line and L3 Kingsford Line are Sydney's newest passenger routes on the Sydney light rail network. L2 Randwick Line services commenced on 14 December 2019, while L3 Kingsford Line services commenced operations on 3 April 2020. They operate on the CBD and South East Light Rail, between Circular Quay at the northern end of the city centre to Central Station at the southern end, then continuing to the south-eastern suburbs.
CBD and South East Light Rail were built to reduce bus congestion in the CBD and provide higher capacity public transport to the Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney Cricket Ground, Randwick Racecourse and the University of New South Wales, which were previously served only by buses. In contrast to the Inner West Light Rail, the line is mostly on-street and follows a similar path to routes used by the former tramway network. Major construction began in October 2015.
L4 Westmead and Carlingford line.
 ;mapframe width="220" height="220" align="right" text="The Parramatta Light Rail. Route and stops of stage 1 and indicative route of stage 2." frameless ;
 "type": "ExternalData",
 "service": "page",
 "title": "Parramatta Light Rail stage 2.map"
 "type": "ExternalData",
 "service": "page",
 "title": "Parramatta Light Rail.map"
 "type": "ExternalData",
 "service": "page",
 "title": "Parramatta Light Rail stops.map"
]
 ;/mapframe ;
Parramatta Light Rail is the name given to two lines that converge on the Western Sydney centre of Parramatta. These lines will have no connection to the Inner West or CBD and South East lines.
The first line runs from Carlingford to Westmead via the Parramatta CBD. It includes the conversion of most of the former heavy rail Carlingford line to light rail standards. Construction began in 2018 and was opened to the public on 20 December 2024. 
The preferred route for the second line was announced in October 2017. This line branches from the first line at Rydalmere and travels through Ermington, Melrose Park, Wentworth Point and on to the Sydney Olympic Park events precinct.
Under construction.
In February 2024, Stage 2 of the Parramatta Light Rail linking Parramatta to Sydney Olympic Park via Rydalmere, Melrose Park and Wentworth Point received planning approval after the New South Wales Government invested $200 million to expedite planning processes for the project in its 2023–24 state budget.
Rolling stock.
All services on the Inner West Light Rail were previously operated by a single class of tram. A second class was introduced to operate services on the CBD and South East Light Rail. All vehicles to have operated on the system have been articulated, low floor and bi-directional. The system uses standard gauge track and 750 volt direct current electrification.
Both lines use different specifications on a range of measures including gaps between platforms and carriages, height and width of the actual track, clearances between the track corridor and its surrounds, and distance between the back wheels of the trams. As a result, Urbos 3 trams used on the Inner West Light Rail (L1 Dulwich Hill) line are unable to serve on the CBD and South East Light Rail (L2 Randwick and L3 Kingsford) lines However, Citadis 305 trams used on the CBD and South East Light Rail are able to run on the Inner West Light Rail as the vehicles are narrower. This was to allow the fleet to access the Lilyfield maintenance centre via the Inner West Light Rail. This also allowed for Citadis trams to be used for L1 Dulwich Hill services on the Inner West Light Rail.
Urbos 3 &amp; Urbos 100.
Inner West Light Rail.
Following the extension of the Inner West Light Rail to Dulwich Hill, more rolling stock was needed to support services and run alongside the Variotrams that had been providing services on the line since the first section opened in 1997. A tender for six Urbos 3s was awarded to Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) in August 2012. The first unit arrived in Sydney on 19 December 2013 and entered service on 24 July 2014. All were in service by August, allowing the leased Urbos 2s to be returned to Spain.
On 11 October 2013, the Government announced an order for six additional Urbos 3s to replace the Variotrams. All Urbos 3s from the additional order had entered service by the end of June 2015.
The Urbos 3s are approximately long and feature two double and two single doors on each side. The seats on the first batch are generally in the transverse configuration – at 90 degrees to the sides of the vehicle. The second batch replace some of the transverse seats with longitudinal seating, providing more standing room. Digital voice announcements and internal dot-matrix displays provide information about the next stop. They have a standard capacity of 206 passengers and a crush capacity of 272. The vehicles are numbered 2112, 2114–2124. 2113 was skipped due to superstition, particularly among the Chinese who travel to the Star casino by light rail, about numbers ending in 13.
In June 2021, a contract with CAF for four Urbos 100 (a variant on the Urbos 3) five-module unit was secured.
On 28 October 2021, service was suspended on the Inner West Light Rail after cracking in welds was discovered in some of the Urbos 3 vehicles during routine inspections.
Parramatta Light Rail.
Thirteen Urbos 100 carriages were procured for the first stage of the Parramatta Light Rail. Each tram is