[Melbourne, VIC] First of new trains arrives in Melbourne

[Aussie_Rail]

Found at the Heraldsun website.

First of new trains arrives in Melbourne

Ashley Gardiner August 25, 2009 02:55pm

THE first of Melbourne's new trains has been unloaded from the docks and taken to Newport.
Following a month-long journey by sea from Italy, the train was taken by truck through the inner-west overnight.

The first task will be to fit seats into the train before a lengthy period of testing until late November.

But the majority of the train is complete, with windows, interior panels and vinyl floorings already installed.

A spokesman for Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said all components of the train, such as the brakes and power, would be tested independently to ensure it is working properly.

“Being the first train, the testing phase is even more integral to smooth roll-out of the rest of the new trains,” spokesman Stephen Moynihan said.

“Any issues identified with this first train will be rectified and then help to smooth the production and delivery of the rest of the trains on order.”

Testing would only take place overnight when regular services aren’t running.

“Once all commissioning and acceptance testing has been completed, the train will be decked out with new livery and will be ready for service,” Mr Moynihan said.

To commuters, the trains will differ little from the existing Alstom X’Trapolis trains that already run in Melbourne, but there will be technical improvements for drivers.

It was the first of 38 new trains ordered by the State Government to cope with booming train patronage.

About half the order will be progressively shipped to Melbourne, while the others will be assembled in Ballarat.

The entire fleet of the new trains will be on the tracks by 2014.

Passengers will start using the new train that arrived last night later this year.

The new X'trapolis trains have a stainless steel body, unlike the current ones. Hopefully some pictures will come about shortly.

There is also a short clip of the train being unloaded at Newport Workshops on the Heraldsun website.

 

[SouthEastern-465]

Are these the ones connex ordered before loosing the franchise because a couple of them might arrive in "Connex" livery?

 

[90019]

Will these be replacing the last of the Hitachis?

 

[Aussie_Rail]

These new trains were ordered by the Department of Transport, after releasing a tender to supply new trains. So they're not owned by Connex or anything like that.

The first couple might have Connex livery on them, but by the time all the others have arrived they will be applied in 'MTM' livery.

These trains are not expected to replace the Hitachi fleet, as they were recently renumbered because the new trains would clash. The Hitachi trains are expected to stay with us for a few more years yet.