and combined with CGEA Transport to form Metro Transport Sydney. The monorail operator was renamed to Veolia Transport Sydney in 2005 as part of the global Veolia rebranding from Connex to Veolia Transport. In 2011, Veolia Transport globally merged with the old Transdev to form Veolia Transdev, and Veolia Transport Sydney became a subsidiary of Veolia Transdev (now Transdev). Government takeover & cessation The Government of New South Wales bought both the monorail and the light rail service from Metro Transport Sydney on 23 March 2012 to enable it to extend the light rail system without having to negotiate with the private owners, and to remove the monorail from the area near Haymarket required for the expanded Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre. Veolia Transport Sydney continued to operate the light rail and monorail after the government takeover. The monorail ceased operating on 30 June 2013 and all sections of track and some of the stations have been dismantled. Around 70 million passenger journeys were made on the line during its lifetime. Two carriages and 10 metres of track have been preserved at the Powerhouse Museum. Two carriages are being used as meeting rooms at Google's Pyrmont offices. Ticketing and concessions Payment for single journeys was made by tokens inserted into the turnstile. For multiple journeys, customers could purchase pre-paid cards. The first card type was based on magnetic stripe technology and called the METROCard. Shortly before the closure of the Monorail, a new contactless card was introduced called the smart. Technology The track was a steel box girder of 94 centimetres width, raised at a minimum height of 5.5 metres from ground level on steel columns 20 to 40 metres apart. The minimum curve radius was 20 metres and the maximum gradient 4.4% uphill and 6.5% downhill. Power was supplied at 500 V AC to power the train, via a sheathed conductor below the running plate of the track. A control rail was also provided for train control, and a generator provided to clear trains from the track in emergencies. The train control and maintenance facility was located between Convention and Paddy's Market stations, where a traverser moved trains in and out of service. Each station stop took 40 seconds, including the time to decelerate, board passengers, and accelerate again. A complete circuit of the route took 12 minutes. It was originally intended for the system to operate automatically, but