THREE years ago this month, I was part of a Novocastrian contingent taken to France by transport company Keolis Downer, which was keen to show how light rail had improved things in a handful of French regional cities.
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Back then, the French-Australian joint venture was yet to secure the contract to operate the Newcastle system.
But it was positioned as the front-runner from the start, and no-one was surprised when it won the job, and when the Australian partner, Downer, won a separate contract to build the system.
In France, we saw Keolis operations in Angers, Dijon, Orleans and Tours and visited the company's head office in Paris.
The question was not whether light rail worked in France - that was obvious in each city - but whether it would translate to Newcastle.
In the French situation, light rail was deployed as a way of easing congestion in the old historic centres of the towns in question.
Newcastle's problem was the virtual opposite. Light rail was promoted as a way of bringing life back into a dying CBD. There is no doubting the building boom that Newcastle has experienced in the past few years, but cutting the rail line at Wickham may well have been more of a factor in that than the decision to install light rail.
Although the four French cities we visited were described as being similar to Newcastle, they had obvious differences including higher population densities and a much greater historic use of public transport.
Importantly, none had the physical limitations of the Newcastle CBD, laid out as it is along a narrow strip with only Honeysuckle Drive/Wharf Road, Hunter Street and King Street running from east to west.
Returning from France, I wrote: "Running the light rail down the corridor would avoid disrupting Hunter Street. It would also provide a massive incentive for the owners of buildings on the northern side of Hunter Street to retrofit their ground floors to take advantage of the newly paved boulevard behind them."
That didn't happen, and time will tell whether swinging the track onto Hunter Street was the right thing to do.
The open stretches to the foreshore are great for pedestrians and cyclists but the city is more difficult to navigate now by car, which is likely to remain the dominant transport mode for years to come.
For public transport users, however, the light rail offers a smooth and silent ride that is in stark contrast with the rattle and shake of a King Street bus.
For public transport users, however, the light rail offers a smooth and silent ride that is in stark contrast with the rattle and shake of a King Street bus.
On board yesterday, I was transported back to that time in France three years ago, when I experienced light rail for the first time.
But I was also reminded of what Keolis had said about the need to have a highly coordinated public transport system that linked the light rail with other forms of transport, when and where people needed it.
.That will be the real test of light rail's role in the so-far successful revitalisation of Newcastle, once the novelty of the service wears off.
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Ian Kirkwood
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
Reporting journalist at the Newcastle Herald since 1987. Editorial writer, general reporter, industrial relations, industry and coal.
