Everything about Trams In Melbourne totally explained
The city of
Melbourne, the second-largest city in
Australia, is home to the largest
tram network in the world, consisting of 245 kilometres (152 miles) of track, 500 trams, and 1,813
tram stops . The trams are powered using 600V DC delivered via overhead wires and run on
standard gauge track. Operated by the private company
Yarra Trams since
privatisation in 1999, Melbourne's trams contribute greatly to the city's distinctive character and are held in great affection by the people of Melbourne.
Melbourne is the only city in Australia where motor vehicles may be required to perform a
hook turn, a manoeuvre designed to give trams priority.
History
Cable trams
In 1885 the
Melbourne Tramway and Omnibus Company was granted a 30-year monopoly franchise for the entire
cable tram network in Melbourne. No competing lines were permitted. The franchise lasted until 1916, after which the system was handed over to the government.
(External Link
) The system was so comprehensive within its area of operation, that there was no way for a competing electric tram service to get into the city centre. Electric trams, when they started in Melbourne, were for the most part acting as feeders to the cable system.
The Company began operating Melbourne's first
cable tram line in 1885. The first service ran from Spencer St/
Flinders St, to Hawthorn Bridge. Soon a
Melbourne cable tramway system was running from the city to nearby suburbs, but as the city grew the technical limits of the cable tram system became apparent, and electric trams were developed for lines to more distant suburbs.
Electric trams
The earliest electric tram in Melbourne was operated by a group of land developers from
Box Hill Station along Tram Road to
Doncaster from 1889 using equipment left over from the Great Exhibition of 1888. It came to an end in 1896. After this ultimately failed experiment, electric trams first returned in 1906, operated by the
North Melbourne Electric Tramway and Lighting Company, which operated a line from the city to
Essendon.
The
Victorian Railways also operated an early electric tram from
St Kilda to
Brighton. The Victorian Railways line came about when
Thomas Bent became Premier of the State. It was alleged that he used his position to enhance the value of his property interests in Brighton by forcing the VR to build and operate a tram service in 1906.
However, it was also said, the reluctant VR insisted that the tram be called a "Street Railway" and built it using the Victorian railway gauge instead of the proposed tramway gauge of, and connected it with the
St Kilda railway station instead of the cable tram terminus. The line was opened in two stages, from St. Kilda railway station to Middle Brighton on 7 May 1906 and to Brighton Beach terminus on 22 December 1906. The St. Kilda to Middle Brighton section was the first successful electric tramway in Melbourne.
A fire at the Elwood tram depot on 7 March 1907 destroyed the depot and all the trams. Services resumed on 17 March using four C class trams and three D class trams from Sydney, which were altered to run on VR trucks salvaged from the fire. These trams apparently sufficed until Newport Railway Workshops built 14 new trams. (The St Kilda to Brighton Beach Electric Street Railway closed on 28 February 1959 and was replaced by buses.)
Electric trams have been running continuously in Melbourne since that time. The last cable trams were replaced by electric trams in 1940, after a 55-year history.
MMTB formed
In 1920 the
Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB) took over operation of the whole tramways system from the private companies and suburban municipalities which had been operating the various lines since the 1880s. The MMTB inherited a system with many types of trams, and solved this problem by introducing the famous W-class tram, which ran for 70 years and a few can still be seen on Melbourne's tram lines.
In the "golden era" of the 1920s and 1930s, loadings were heavy, a tram conductor earned more than a schoolteacher or a policeman, and the rolling stock was well maintained. The MMTB generated further patronage by establishing the enormous
Wattle Park and the Vimy House private hospital for tramways staff.
After
World War II other Australian cities began to replace their trams with buses, and by the 1970s Melbourne was the only Australian city with a major tram network (there is one tramline in
Adelaide to
Glenelg, another single line in inner
Sydney, and also tourist tramlines in
Ballarat,
Bendigo and several other cities around Australia). Melbourne resisted the trend, partly because Melbourne's wide streets and geometric street pattern makes trams more practicable than in many other cities, partly because of resistance from the
unions, and partly because the Chairman of the MMTB, Sir
Robert Risson, successfully argued that the cost of ripping up the concrete-embedded tram tracks would be prohibitive. Also, the infrastructure and vehicles were relatively new, having only replaced Cable Tram equipment in the 1920s-1940s. This destroyed the argument used by many other cities, which was that renewal of the tram system would cost more than replacing it with buses.
Rebirth
By the mid 1970s, as other cities became increasingly choked in traffic and air pollution, Melbourne was convinced that its decision to retain its trams was the correct one, even though patronage had been declining since the 1940s in the face of increasing use of cars and the shift to the outer suburbs beyond the tram network's limits. The controversial
Lonie Report of 1980 recommended closing about half of the network but protests prevented these closures from being carried out. A very slow increase in patronage, beginning in the late 1990s, is solely due to the revival of the inner urban population. The W-class trams were gradually replaced by the new Z-class, and later by the A-class and the larger, articulated B-class trams.
By the 1990s the tramways network was making huge losses and costing the Victorian state government many millions of dollars. In 1990 the
Labor government of
Premier John Cain tried to introduce economies in the running of the system, which provoked a long and crippling strike by the powerful tramways union in January 1990. In 1992 the
Liberals came to power under Premier
Jeff Kennett and pledged to corporatise Melbourne's public transport network, however policy shifted to supporting the
privatisation of the tram system in the wake of a series of public transport strikes. The government abolished
tram conductors and replaced them with ticketing machines, shortly before the system was privatised. This move was highly unpopular with the travelling public and led to the loss of millions of dollars in revenue through fare evasion.
In 1995,
Melbourne tram route 86 was extended to Bundoora
RMIT campus.
Privatisation
On
1 July 1998, Melbourne's tram network was split into two businesses – Met Trams 1 Corporation (trading as Swanston Trams) – in preparation for privatisation of the
Public Transport Corporation. After a tendering process with the businesses awarded as 12-year franchises, on
25 July 1999, a European mass passenger transport company, and the Yarra Trams business by MetroLink Victoria Pty Ltd, a consortium with French company
Transdev, Australian company
Transfield Services, and French infrastructure project management company Egis Projects. Following a transitional period, the two tram businesses were officially transferred (sold) from the government to the private sector on
29 August 1999.. After several years of failing to make a profit, more than a year of negotiations over revised financing arrangements with the government, and grave concern over its future viability, National Express Group announced on
16 December 2002,
In 2003 the marketing and umbrella brand
Metlink was introduced to co-ordinate the promotion of Melbourne's public transport and the communications from the separate privatised companies. This was to, in turn, better integrate the three modes of transport and provide passengers with more information about connecting services provided by several operators under just one name with a unified appearance.
Extension
Extensions were again made to the tram network. In 2003, the Box Hill tram/light rail extension was opened, followed by the Vermont South and Docklands tram extensions in 2005.
Fleet
W class trams
W class trams were introduced to Melbourne in 1923 as a new standard design. They had a dual
bogie layout and were characterised by a substantially timber frame supplanted by a steel under frame, a simple rugged design, and fine craftsmanship. The W Class was the mainstay of Melbourne's tramways system for 60 years. A total of 748 trams of all variants were built.
The W class is an icon to the city and recognised by the
National Trust of Australia. It wasn't until the 1990s that the W Class was finally considered 'surplus' to rolling stock requirements. The remaining members of the class run regularly on the
North Richmond to
Prahran /
St Kilda Beach route (Route:78/79). The
zero-fare City Circle route also operates using the W class. The oldest W class trams remaining in service run this route, dating from 1936, others have been converted into
mobile restaurants which cruise the suburbs in the evening.
Approximately 200 later model W class trams remain stored at various locations around Melbourne as part of a heritage fleet. The future use of these trams is unknown. A number of W-class trams have been sent overseas, including five that went to
Seattle between 1978 and 1993, where they operated as Seattle's
George Benson Waterfront Streetcar Line, between 1982 and 2005.
Since 1990, public outrage over the sale of these popular trams to overseas interest has forced an embargo to be placed on the sale of these trams to any overseas interest.
Z class trams
The development of new
rolling stock to replace the W Class finally began in 1975 with a complex and expensive
Swedish design that was ill-suited to Melbourne's hot summers and heavy loadings.
The Z-class trams, built by
Comeng, were introduced from the mid-late 1970s, starting with the Z1 class, built from 1975 to 1979. 100 trams were built, most of which are now being withdrawn. The withdrawn in question are usually sold at auction. Some have also been donated to tram museums in places such as
Bendigo.
In 1978 and 1979, fifteen Z2 class trams—having little difference from the Z1 classes—were built. As with the Z1 class, Z2 class trams are now being withdrawn from service.
From 1979 to 1984, Z3 class trams were introduced, being a significant improvement on the Z1 and Z2 class trams. They had an additional door each side, and were less noisy. 115 were built, 114 of which are in service (Z3.149 was destroyed in a fire). All are re-liveried in either
Yarra Trams or
all-over advertising livery.
A class trams
These trams, again built by
Comeng, were introduced between 1984 and 1987. This model did away with the concept of a seated conductor, which was characteristic of the Z class trams. 70 were built and are still in service today.
B class trams
The B-class trams (also known as
light rail vehicles) were first introduced to Melbourne in 1984 with the prototype B1 class trams, which were a significant improvement over the Z1-classes. Only 2 were built and they remain in service today.
B2 class trams were built from 1988-1994, by
Comeng, and later
ABB Transportation. They were an improvement over the B1-classes. 130 were built (No 2003-2132), all of which remain in service today. B2-classes are often spotted in all-over advertising livery. The B2 class was notable for the long overdue introduction of
air-conditioning.
All of the B2-classes, and B1.2002 have been repainted in
Yarra Trams livery (B1.2001 is in all-over advertising livery, but was also in
Yarra Trams livery).
Citadis and Combino
The
Citadis and
Combino trams were introduced following privatisation of Melbourne's tram system. The private operators were obliged under their franchises to replace older Z class trams, although this hasn't fully taken place. Yarra Trams introduced the Citadis or
C class, manufactured in France by
Alstom. It is a three section articulated vehicle. Thirty-six are in service. The now defunct M-Tram purchased the German made
Siemens Combino. The Combino is a three (
D1 class) or five (
D2 class) section articulated vehicle. Ownership of the D class trams has now passed to Yarra Trams. Currently 38 D1 and 21 D2 section vehicles are in service.
Popular Culture
Melbourne's tram system has been celebrated across several media. The city's system is the central theme of the movie
Malcolm. A flying Melbourne tram was also a feature of the
2006 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony.
Future
The
Public Transport Users Association continues to lobby for extensions (most of which are in line with the
Melbourne 2030 planning policy of providing links between different modes of transport) including:
The possibility of a new high-tech line, involving
wire-free operation, has also been considered for the St Kilda / Port Melbourne area running along Beaconsfield Parade, servicing primarily tourists but also regular commuters.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Trams In Melbourne'.
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