After the takeover of Bombardier by Alstom, it's really up in the air
whether the Flexity Swift (and its spare parts) will even be available in
the future as a model from the manufacturer. Several other manufacturers
offer this type of tram (including Tatra-Yug as noted above) and many of
them will be in on any future call for tenders under an open tendering
regime. Standardisation of spare parts is a great ideal but not really
practicable under open tendering.
As I've mentioned before and would express again more strongly here,
Melbourne would be absolutely stark raving nuts to order smaller trams in
the future. When a mega-city (which is what Melbourne is) is growing in
leaps and bounds, the last thing you do is reduce the capacity of its
public transport. Look at what's being done in Sydney and you get the idea
(apart from the STA's stupid one-size-fits-all bus purchase policy, soon to
be dead I hope).
Tony P
On Tuesday, 11 August 2020 at 11:28:16 UTC+10richt...@... wrote:
>
> Feel like we are going around in circles here. Any new tram would be a
>> smaller version of the E class, with parts able to be interchanged between
>> the E class and their smaller counterparts. No more buying of odd trams for
>> the fleet
>>
>
> Melbourne has learnt the hard way about keeping so many spares at the
> store at Preston Workshops, at one stage there was A1,A2,B1,B2
> C1,C2,D1,D2,E1,E2, W, Z1,Z3 parts in store. They all need different
> qualifications to drive, and maintain.
>
> The Victorian budget will be wiped out for years. The W class conversion
> into W8 has almost ended, with no additional cars being done. Downer EDI
> have been pushing on with the mid life refurbishment of the B2 class
> (almost complete) Z3 midway through and C and D class. No A class have been
> started yet but will be before years end. Expect the timeframe for these
> trams operating to be pushed out further than the projected 2030.
>
> I believe the last tram built for Melbourne will be E2.6090 until the
> state recovers.
>
> AR
>