Re: New Melbourne trams have fewer seats than the old ones but they're longer!

[David McLoughlin <davemclNOSPAM@iprolink.co.nz>]

Andrew Price wrote:
> 
> On 19 Aug 2000 23:44:03 GMT, matthew@mail.usyd.edu.au (Matthew Geier)
> wrote:
> 
> > Probably simply a matter of EU politics and stuff the Australians.
> 
> So why did the Australians sell their trams off to a foreign operator?

Not sold, just franchised for 15 (?) years, by the previous Kennett
Liberal state government. The trains have similarly been franchised.

 
> >After the
> >last few rounds of rail equipment manufacture mergers, Europe is over stocked
> >with manufactureing capacity, but no company wants to close a plant incase the
> >local pollies retailiate and order their next batch from their competition
> >who DIDN'T close a factory in that country. They would rather spend more on
> >the Melbourne order and keep a European factory open in order to keep the
> >local Euopean pollies on side for a much larger order than Melbourne could
> >ever want.
> 
> I find that somewhat hard to believe.  Melbourne has one of the
> biggest tram networks in the world, far larger than most European
> systems with the exception of St Petersburg and Vienna.

Regardless, Matthew's account of the EU politics of tram/train builders
is correct. They have been merging all over the world and there is huge
over-capacity in Europe especially now the Soviet Bloc is in history's
dustbin.

AdTranz which was/is one of the European companies got hold of
Commonwealth Engineering at Dandenong (where all Melbourne trams from
1975 on were built, as well as the Sydney ones, many of the Tuen Mun
ones in Hong Kong and even some of Philadelphia's latest subway cars),
then AdTranz itself has been gobbled up/merged with someone else. It's
hard to keep track of. But all the European countries with rolling stock
factories are demanding new trams/trains keep being built there despite
massive overcapacity.

So production of Melbourne's trams shifts from Melbourne to Germany.
Which as I have been saying, means the new trams are designed for
compact European cities and have far fewer seats than Melbourne's trams
despite being much longer than Melbourne's trams.


David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand