Sydney light rail: NSW Transport staff to travel to UK to inspect cracked tram fleet
  Tony Galloway

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-transport-staff-to-travel-to-uk-to-inspect-cracked-tram-fleet-20211124-p59bu9.html https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-transport-staff-to-travel-to-uk-to-inspect-cracked-tram-fleet-20211124-p59bu9.html
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> NSW Transport staff to travel to UK to inspect cracked tram fleet

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> Tom Rabe </by/tom-rabe-h1f8u2>November 25, 2021 — 5.00am

> NSW Transport staff will travel to the United Kingdom to inspect repair work being carried out on the same model of cracked trams that have failed in Sydney as the government grapples to find a timely solution for the inner west fleet.

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> Sizeable cracks were discovered last month in all 12 trams https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/it-s-pretty-extensive-more-cracks-discovered-in-inner-west-trams-20211031-p594rr.html servicing the inner west light rail, which runs from Dulwich Hill to Central Station, forcing the closure of the line for up to 18 months.

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> Sydney’s inner west light rail will be suspended for up to 18 months after cracks were discovered in the trams.Steven Siewert

> Transport Minister Rob Stokes on Wednesday said while his priority was to cut down the time it took to repair the trams, the government still didn’t know exactly how long it would take.

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> However, Mr Stokes said he was confident that the repairs could be carried out faster than the 18 months first anticipated, with a specific timeline to be confirmed before the end of the month.

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> “My determination is to get that timeline down as far as possible. And yes, we’ve gone out with the worst case, so we’re working back from there,” he said.

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> “I’m confident that we can do it much quicker.”

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> Cracks in the Spanish-built tram fleet have occurred across the world, with the West Midlands public transport network dealing with a similar problem in England.

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> Mr Stokes said the government could benefit from learning how the repairs were tracking in Birmingham, where a fleet of the same model had also been pulled from service.

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> Transport for NSW chief operations officer Howard Collins confirmed two staff members would be travelling to Birmingham to inspect the work of the West Midlands trams.

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> “They’ll be there for a few days to look at the production line, talk to the CAF engineers and understand any issues regarding the space and workshop environment,” he said.

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> Mr Collins said the transport agency was working out how to best prepare the workshops to accommodate rolling repairs of 12 trams as fast as possible.

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> “We are preparing the operating theatre for the vehicles to come into. We want to be able to do two vehicles at a time, which we think we can do, but we need to make sure that we’ve got the right equipment, the right space, the necessary tools and qualified people.”

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> Engineers from the Spanish manufacturer CAF have also been dispatched to Sydney to find a solution, though it is expected the repairs will occur locally, Mr Stokes said.

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> “It is my expectation that the repairs will be effected in Australia by Australians and I can confirm that the particular sites that we are looking at are Lilyfield and Pyrmont,” he said.

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> Opposition transport spokeswoman Jo Haylen said the government wouldn’t need to rely on engineers being flown to Sydney from Spain, or sending their staff to the UK if the trams were built locally.

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> “The government has had to fly engineers overseas and import experts from Spain to find a fix for their shoddy overseas-built trams. We simply wouldn’t have to deal with these issues if we’d have built our inner west trams here,” she said.

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> “Passengers have the right to know how long it’ll take to get these trams back on the tracks. The minister shouldn’t provide false hope. He needs to show passengers a timeline, and then stick to it.”

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> Mr Stokes said it was still his expectation that CAF would pay for the repairs of the trams.

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