[Melb] Tram operators 'misled'

["D Lindstrom" <D_Lindstrom@Bigpond.com>]

Tram operators 'misled'

By SUSHI DAS and ADRIAN ROLLINS
Thursday 11 January 2001


Melbourne's private tram companies believed they had been given incorrect
information about brake safety on W-class trams during the privatisation
tender process, the Bracks Government said yesterday.

Transport Minister Peter Batchelor said taxpayers would pay for part of the
cost of repair work on Melbourne's historic trams. The cost could reach $4
million.

All W-class trams were pulled from service eight months ago after repeated
reports from tram drivers that the brakes were weak.

Swanston Trams withdrew its W-class trams after a driver was injured in an
accident at the Domain interchange. After the incident, the government
ordered Yarra Trams to remove all its W-class trams.

Mr Batchelor said that the first of the repaired W-class trams would be
tested in traffic in April or May, but he could not say when the fleet would
return to service.

He said the government had not investigated whether the private companies
had received incorrect information during the tender process, but
negotiations were under way.

"There is an issue, of course, about the cost ... there will be some cost to
the government and some to the private operator," Mr Batchelor said.

Swanston Trams spokesman Dean Souter said the state had provided his company
with unsafe trams and the government should contribute to repair costs.

"We, at the time, would have liked to have been given more information and
better access to the trams," he said. "Our expectation was they would be fit
for the purpose. We would have liked more information to understand the true
operating performance."

Yarra Trams spokeswoman Kate De Clercq said: "The government asked us to
take the W-class trams off the roads but they want us to replace the brakes
and therefore we think the government should pay for the brakes being
replaced."

The news coincided with an opposition claim that tourist attractions in
central Melbourne had suffered a sharp decline in business because of the
reduced City Circle tram service.

The service, which used eight W-class trams, was cut back when the braking
problems emerged, and four modern trams were introduced in their place,
reducing frequency from every 10 minutes to every 20.

Liberal transport spokesman Geoff Leigh yesterday released documents showing
that the Gold Treasury Museum attributed a 30per cent drop in visits in July
and August last year to the cut to trams. The Melbourne Convention and
Marketing Bureau also wrote to the government about the impact of the
reduced City Circle operation.

Mr Leigh said the reduced service was inadequate and the long delay in
returning W-class trams to service unacceptable.

Mr Batchelor said the government wanted a lasting solution to the W-class
braking problems.

Mr Batchelor said much of the expertise for maintaining and servicing
W-class trams had been lost in privatisation, forcing the government to
source parts from the US and Germany.