Alex Cowie wrote:

> but when was the rail laid? When did the Astholms start running? What

was the state of the before then?

The line opened in August 1997. Since then it's had one generation of
Variotrams, then a temporary generation of CAFs, then the latest generation
of CAFS, and the Citadises for about two months. There are half a dozen or
so new CAFs coming for the line as well.

Various engineers including at least one on this group told them the design
of the curve going sharply downhill and left on to flat Hay Street would be
good neither for the curve nor the CAFs, but TfNSW knows better than
anyone else on the planet how to design, build and operate a tramway. That
is why tram experts from several hundred cities have flocked to Sydney to
see why they are doing it wrongly and learn how to do it the TfNSW way.

David McL.