Subject to the E being proven in service, I would have no problem with it for Sydney and Adelaide. The basic principles of the design would be suitable for both those cities. Though whether it can be extended to a 40+ metre version for Sydney I don't know; I've never seen a 4 module on that particular platform and the door spacings become an issue if you duplicate the middle module.
The problem is that Dandenong would not survive the competitive tendering process against imported trams at a much cheaper price. The issue with Dandenong is that's it's owned by one of the major overseas manufacturers and that immediately raises the question of fair competition. You can't give it a monopoly. If it was still owned by Comeng, which was able to obtain licences for the best from overseas, that would work.
The other alternative is to return to the old ways - the workshops of the operator manufactures trams. But that's not the modern "business model", as we know. So, whichever way you look at it Graham, your otherwise eminently sensible idea is stuft!
It's only politics that keeps Dandenong alive, otherwise Bombardier would have found it economical to manufacture the Gold Coast trams there.
Tony P
---InTramsDownUnder@..., tramsdownunder@...> wrote:
Perhaps the 'export potential' refers to 'inter State' trade, and we all know just how likely Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart or even Darwin are likely to even remotely consider buying anything designed and manufactured in Victoria don't we?
With the present very limited ability to produce about seven E class trams per year, how would Bombardier crank up the business at Dandenong to 70 or 170? Beyond dreaming I regret to say.
We have to live with realism on a day to day basis, be thankful for what we have got, and the very high premium price is being paid for local assembly and at least part manufacture - perhaps it is all that is likely to be had.
With manufacturing going down the gurgler rapid style, I wrote to Lynne Kosky years ago (how far back was that? when she was Transport minister?) to suggest we consider local manufacture of trams using the soon to be redundant Ford engine plant at Geelong allied to Preston Workshops and the railway shops at Newport. Ability, experience, skilled labour and opportunity in abundance, but no govermental will of any kind.
Never even got an acknowledgement, very probably written off as an impractical dreamer, and posted to 'file 13'.( the wastebasket)
Grumpy, the ever hopefui cynic.
What happened to common sense?
On 4/11/2013 3:07 PM, prescottt@... mailto:prescottt@... wrote:
* He said the tram was designed for Melbourne but the technology and engineering had export potential.*
The technology and engineering has already been exported - from Germany to Victoria!
Nice tram but what masochistic pain to get it. $6 million each! At $3.5 mill each, Prague has taken delivery of its *91st* 15T in much the same gestation period.
Sometimes it would be nice to have a dose of reality in Australian transport politics. That Dandenong plant will go down the drain eventually anyway (let alone exporting anything), so what's the long-term gain? Hardly any new trams for Melbourne over an excruciatingly long timescale at a gold-plated price. Don't want to rain on the parade though, it's good to see them there at least. But Melbourne could have had much more for much less much sooner, which is what it desperately needs.
I'd love to see local manufacturing but it's been shafted in Australia by bigger forces than a little rolling stock factory can buck - and the Canadian owners will decide one day before long that it's not worth it. Then it's back to the import option that should have been taken in the first place.
Tony P
---InTramsDownUnder@... mailto:[email protected], tramsdownunder@...> mailto:[email protected] wrote:
These hadn't happened by this morning's post.
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor
Longer and louder: New E-Class tram makes itself heard.
November 4, 2013 - 11.51 Melbourne 'Age'.
New tram makes maiden journey.
The first public passengers got to ride in a new E-class tram as it took a
trip through the city from Southbank depot.
Melbourne has unveiled its first locally made tram in two decades - and
earphone-wearing pedestrians are bound to hear it coming.
The new E-Class tram has the regular gong heard on C-Class trams, but it
also has a new horn to get the attention of distracted pedestrians, Yarra
Trams chief executive officer Clement Michel said.
"It is to tell people be careful, or danger," Mr Michel said.
The new tram made its maiden journey at about 8.30am on Monday, along part
of route 96 from the Southbank depot to the Melbourne Museum.
Two new E-Class trams, numbered 6001 and 6002, will join Yarra Trams' fleet
from 2.30pm on Monday, after the Melbourne Cup parade, taking passengers
along route 96. Five are expected to be in service by year's end, with 50
due in Melbourne by 2018.
Made in Dandenong by Bombardier, it is the first tram built in Melbourne
since 1994.
The E-Class tram is three metres longer than the next-longest tram, known as
the Bumblebee, which also travels route 96. It can take 210 passengers, but
only 64 seated. The seats are benches designed to allow parents with young
children to comfortably squeeze three to a seat, Mr Michel said. They are
also designed to be easy to remove and replace.
Gone are bum-rests along the tram walls and fold-up seats. There is now
dedicated wheelchair floor space which doubles as standing room for about 10
passengers when not used by wheelchairs.
The trams also have five double doors on each side.
Anne Gubber, a Collins Street multimedia editor, was the first passenger to
get on in front of Crown casino.
"I could tell it wasn't a normal 96 tram so I had to double-check the
number, because I didn't know what it was," Ms Gubber said.
She was impressed with the tram overall and was "excited" to be its first
passenger.
"I like seats but I know a lot of people like standing around the doorway so
I can understand the need for that sort of space. I am getting older and I
feel more steady sitting," Ms Gubber said.
Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder said that when all 50 trams were in
service they would boost the network's capacity by 10,500 passengers.
He said the tram was designed for Melbourne but the technology and
engineering had export potential.
Public Transport Victoria's chairman, Ian Dobbs, described the E-Class tram
as "a very exciting moment in the history of Melbourne's tram system". He
said the new trams would have an effect beyond route 96 and would be
particularly felt in the Royal Park hospital district.
"As this tram goes into service low-floor vehicles will cascade onto route
19 to North Coburg," Mr Dobbs said.
"People in the hospital precinct, for the first time, will get full
accessibility as these newer vehicles find their way across the system," he
said.
The new E-class
Cost: $6 million a tram
Capacity: 210
Seats: 64
Myki readers: 20
Weight: 62 tonnes (39 rhinos)
Length: 33.45 metres
Maximum speed: 80 km/h
<www.theage.com.au/victoria/longer-and-louder-new-eclass-tram-makes-itself-h http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/longer-and-louder-new-eclass-tram-makes-itself-h
eard-20131104-2wvt8.html>
Thousands flock to city for Melbourne Cup parade November 4, 2013 Melbourne
'Age' at 13.40.
Thousands of people flocked to the city to watch the Melbourne Cup parade.
The jockeys and trainers of the field of 24 horses were chauffeured down
Swanston Street from Bourke Street Mall to Federation Square.
People of all ages waited for the spectacle led by four police horses and
the City of Melbourne pipe band.
It is the 30th time the parade has been held.
<www.theage.com.au/victoria/thousands-flock-to-city-for-melbourne-cup-parade http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/thousands-flock-to-city-for-melbourne-cup-parade
-20131104-2wwan.html>