The state's transport agency has called for proposals to install a product that would line the gap where a tram's wheels run but still allow the vehicle to pass along the line.

The advertisement on the government's eTendering website says the "solution" will help "mitigate the risk" to "cyclists, wheelchairs, baby strollers and similar pushchairs" which have wheels that can become "deflected or stuck".

The government's interest in the technology, which has been trialed overseas, comes more than a year after Newcastle cyclist Danny Egan died after crashing on the eastern end of the line.

His death prompted an independent review into the risks for cyclists interacting with the line, which resulted in a cycling ban on the 340-metre mixed-running section on Scott Street.

The review considered the gap-filling solution, but it was not one of its eight recommendations.

Centre for Road Safety executive director Bernard Carlon mooted the likely investigation of the technology last August, but said the product was not advanced enough to use.

"Some of the ones that have been raised in media are in development, rather than actually used in practice," he said.

"We're going to do a market sounding with a view to, if we are convinced the technology could work, trial some of that technology."

Newcastle state MP Tim Crakanthorp accused the government of a "backflip" after he was told in a response to parliamentary questions that the technology was "not appropriate for light tracks".

He said the delay to pursue a suitable product was "negligence".

"The action comes more than 12 months after cyclist Danny Egan lost his life on a notorious section of the track and almost 12 months after a government report found that sections of the track posed an 'intolerable' risk to cyclists," he said.

"This minister should be hanging his head in shame when his government knew over four years ago that the light rail tracks were unsafe for cyclists but did nothing.

"They resisted, and resisted, and resisted this flange-filler solution, even after a cyclist tragically died on these tracks.

"This is negligence, pure and simple, and waiting so long to do what we all knew was the appropriate solution, while continuing to put people at risk, is a stunning display of pig-headedness."

The Newcastle Herald has approached Transport Minister Andrew Constance for comment.

The state opposition's active transport spokesperson, Summer Hill MP Jo Haylen, said the delayed response demonstrated "that once again the NSW government had placed the safety of pedestrians and cyclists at the bottom of the priority pile".

"From the earliest stages of the Newcastle light rail the [Transport] Minister was warned the tracks were a risk to cyclists, wheelchair users and pedestrians with prams," Ms Haylen said.

"The minister must explain why it has taken a year since the government's own review found the Newcastle light rail posed an 'intolerable risk' to cyclists for him to take action and put a solution in place.

"I welcome any measure that improves the lives of cyclists and pedestrians, but time and time again this government considers their safety to be an inconvenient afterthought. It's not good enough."

The government's decision to proceed with the light rail project without a dedicated cycling path was widely slammed both during and after the construction of the line.

Cycling advocates have long called for an east-west cycleway through the city.

Transport for NSW deputy secretary for safety, Tara McCarthy, said agency research since the review had shown there was "no current" filler products "already in market anywhere in the world", and the tender call would allow the government to work "with industry to assess proposed solutions on their suitability and effectiveness in producing safer outcomes for all users".

"This is an issue for light rail around the world, not just in Newcastle, where cyclists, people in wheelchairs and pedestrians using prams interact with the rail," she said.

"The NSW government takes safety on our roads seriously and has already introduced additional safety measures along the Newcastle light rail track prior to the tender process taking place."