Victorian Minister for Public Transport, Jacinta Allan, launched the marked the start of manufacturing of the High Capacity Metro Train fleet, at Downer manufacturing facility in Newport. The Melbourne’s 65 new high-capacity metro trains are constructed by Evolution Rail consortium, comprising Downer, CRRC and Plenary. The project has a local content of 60 per cent, with bogie frames being built in Bendigo, traction and electrical systems made in Morwell and key electrical components and pantographs from Hallam.
Over the next six years, 455 carriages will be delivered, with the first train to be ready for testing by the end of the year. “By the middle of next year, we will see bigger and better trains on our busiest lines, carrying more passengers and delivering a more comfortable ride,” Jacinta Allan said.
Key features of the HCMT fleet include more allocated spaces for wheel chairs and mobility devices, improved real time passenger information, a greater number of hand grabs and hand rails and improved CCTV for increased passenger and driver safety.
Able to carry 20 per cent more passengers than the existing Melbourne metropolitan fleet, the new trains will enter service from mid-2019 on the Cranbourne-Pakenham lines, with the final fleet being dedicated to the Sunbury to Pakenham corridor, linked by the new Metro Tunnel.
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