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

["Ted Gay" <tedgay@bigpond.com>]

"Matthew Geier" <matthew@mail.usyd.edu.au> wrote in message
8nn643$171$1@spacebar.ucc.usyd.edu.au">news:8nn643$171$1@spacebar.ucc.usyd.edu.au...
> In article <399EF8B2.6B26@iprolink.co.nz>,
> David McLoughlin  <davemclNOSPAM@iprolink.co.nz> wrote:
>
> >Because the trams have been franchised to a European company which is
> >buying the new trams from another European company. The idiots probably
> >don't even know that all previous Melbourne trams have been built in
> >Melbourne and designed for Melbourne conditions.
>
>  And that a modern low floor tram design (Sydney's Variotram) was built
> in Dandenlong, Victoria already!
>  Funny, the Victorian industry can build modern low floor trams. Older
designs
> have been exported. (Hong Kong), yet the new owners find it cheaper to
> buy complete units from Europe. Europen wages can't be much lower than
here,
> we have the engineering talent and the manufacturing capablity.
>
>  Probably simply a matter of EU politics and stuff the Australians. 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 also find it stupid that the 2 operators are buying small numbers of
> DIFFERENT low floor trams. So over all 2 inventories of foriegn sourced
> spare parts will be needed instead of one common pool.
>
EU rules prohibit restricting tendering to your own country only, ie all
tenders from other EU countries must be considered.  Which gives the
following results:

New system    Manchester            trams built in Italy
                        Sheffield                                    Germany
                        Birmingham                                Italy
                        Croydon                                    Austria
                        Nottingham                                Derby!!
that's right, only 16miles up the road, somebody stuffed up!!
                        Strasbourg France                      York and
Derby UK

Also the new trams for Köln (Cologne) Germany are the same as those for
Croydon, built in an Austrian factory owned by Bombardier the Canadian mob
who have factories in other European countries and are now the new owners of
Adtranz.

Ted