Keolis Downer opens light rail in Newcastle, Australia

6546 Keolis Downer has started operating a light rail service in the Australian city of Newcastle, which will serve as part of a multimodal transport network.

The Australian subsidiary of Keolis was awarded the multimodal contract in 2016. It covers the operations and maintenance of the light rail service as well as buses and ferries for a ten-year period. In 2017, the company started operating the bus and ferry services and a year later introduced a real-time, on-demand transport service, powered by Via, a developer of shared ride technology.

Keolis Downer says it has now completed the light rail and is operating the service on behalf of Transport for New South Wales.

The 2.7km long network features six stations and runs between Wickham and Pacific Park while also connecting with existing bus and ferry services.