A temporary solar-powered setup meant to illuminate Erskineville Road’s rail bridge has failed, leaving pedestrians navigating the key inner-west crossing in pitch black once again.
Transport for NSW installed solar festoon lights on both sides of the 50-metre bridge in December 2025, following a public campaign in which residents carried lanterns across the unlit span. However, shorter winter days and extended cloudy or wet weather have exposed the limits of the interim measure, with the lights sometimes fading before the night is over.
Correspondence released by community group Friends of Erskineville reveals Transport for NSW confirmed the issue after site inspections. Transport said inspections found the equipment was operating as designed, although extended periods of cloudy or wet weather may leave the batteries without enough charge to run throughout the night.
The temporary system also lacks remote monitoring for its battery and solar-charge levels, leaving Transport reliant on reports and site inspections when problems arise.
Safety fears return as locals reach for phone torches
For pedestrians using the bridge between Linthorpe and Angel streets, including people heading towards Newtown’s King Street precinct, unreliable lighting has revived familiar safety concerns. Pedestrians use a narrow path beside moving traffic, while glare from vehicle headlights can make it harder to see the crossing after dark.
Residents said that conditions are dangerous, raising particular concern for older residents, people with walking aids, and wheelchair users.
The problem recalls conditions in the past, when long-term resident Zio Ledeux carried a lantern across the bridge after an earlier crossing following a doctor’s appointment left him feeling unsafe. Friends of Erskineville’s Light Up the Bridge campaign attracted 590 petition signatures, prompted a NSW parliamentary motion and received unanimous support from the City of Sydney in October 2024.
Council investigations previously ruled out installing streetlights on surrounding land, finding the bridge too long for approach lighting to provide compliant coverage without fixtures attached directly to the structure itself.
Permanent bridge lighting remains in design
Because Transport for NSW owns the bridge, any permanent fixtures fall under state jurisdiction. Officials previously cited complex constraints, including the need to ensure lighting designs do not impair the vision of train drivers operating on the heavy rail lines below.
Sydney Deputy Lord Mayor and Erskineville resident Jess Miller, who has supported the lighting campaign, described the solar-light problem as another stage in a long-running dispute. Lord Mayor Clover Moore also urged the state government to install lighting before an injury occurred.
Transport for NSW says it is developing a permanent lighting design with Sydney Trains. Reporting indicates that bridge-mounted fittings connected to the nearby electricity grid are the likely option, although Transport has not publicly confirmed the final design.
Design work remains underway, with the permanent option expected to be finalised in coming months before construction begins in early 2027. Until then, pedestrians using an area of high foot traffic remain dependent on a temporary system whose performance varies with the amount of sunlight received during the day.
Published 4-Aug-2026
