Re: Alstom for Hillside/Yarra tram [Melbourne Aust]

[Evad Rehtona <davemclAXETHIS@iprolink.co.nz>]

James C. wrote, re the Melbourne tramway system:

> Yarra Trams will also order 31 trams from Alstom based on "Citadis"
> low floor design.

This is a somewhat worrying development. Swanston Trams has ordered 59
Combinos, now Yarra is to get 31 Citadises. Two small orders of
different kinds of trams for what is essentially the one tramway system
(the world's second biggest, in fact).

Most major world tramway systems place large orders for the same design
of tram, for standardisation, economies of scale, ease of maintenance,
etc. Melbourne has always done this since the formation of the MMTB in
1923. The smallest order in recent times was for 70 trams of one kind
(the A class) in the early 1980s and the basic equipment and design of
them was followed with the later 132 B-class artics. 

In large systems where there are a small number of non-standard trams,
there tends to be a waste of money. For example Melbourne 1041 and 980
hardly saw any service because they were orphans. Across the ditch here
in New Zealand, Wellington got 68 Volvo trolleybuses between 1980 and
1986 and 20 Ansaldo trolleybuses in 1984. The Ansaldos were by far the
superior vehicle but because they were in a minority in the fleet,
drivers and mechanics didn't like them so they were rarely used, then
they were removed from service after just six years in operation and
later converted to diesel buses.

The fragmentation of Melbourne's public transport ordered by the Kennett
Government had its good and its bad points. Good points include the
requirement of the private operators to run a service for the benefit of
the travelling public rather than for the benefit of the unions. The bad
points include having different operating companies now ordering small
batches of vehicles from different manufacturers and built to different
standards which I predict in the long term will lead to a great waste of
money and resources.

David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand