So did Melbourne. Which means (presumably) that this fleet will be known as G1.

100 new G Class trams for $1.85B! (F Class gets a miss) To replace all the remaining Z class and then some of the A & B class. Obviously, a futher order will be required in a few years.

https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/boost-jobs-biggest-tram-project-gets-underway


_{French company to build 100 new Melbourne trams under $1.85 billion deal}

The Victorian government has inked a $1.85 billion deal with French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom to build 100 accessible trams in Melbourne’s south-east. The trams, which will be known as the G class, will feature 65 per cent of locally manufactured components and come off the production line in 2025.

They will replace some of Melbourne’s A, B and Z models, which have high floors and are less accessible for people with disabilities. The project is expected to create about 1900 jobs in manufacturing, the supply chain and the construction of a depot and maintenance facility in Maidstone. Premier Daniel Andrews said the contract was about jobs and securing the future of the manufacturing and rail industry in Victoria, which was “on its knees”.

“They need orders not just for boom and bust, but a solid order book that gives them the ability to hire, to train, to invest, and to deliver a fantastic product. “This is the biggest ever investment in trams and one of the most significant investments in rolling stock.” “What [manufacturers] need to secure their future is long-term certainty,” Andrews said. Andrews said production would begin at Alstom’s facility in Dandenong next year, with the first trams to join the network in 2025.

The new models will be fitted with on-board power battery systems which will make them less reliant on the grid and reduce the need to upgrade substations and the power supply. Public Transport Minister Ben Carroll said the trams, which will be fitted for deployment to any part of the state’s network, were a game-changer for the industry. “It is a real steep change in terms of accessibility and energy efficiency,” he said.

“The power propulsion, the regenerative braking means we can put these trams anywhere, we don’t have to build substations don’t have to retrofit any part of the network also.” Carroll said the trams will be twice as spacious as current models to encourage social distancing and provide space for wheelchairs and mobility aids, and significantly quieter.

The new trams will replace some of Melbourne’s A, B and Z models. The design will be refined in consultation with accessibility advocates, passengers, and tram divers following a tender process. Alstom has become the key rolling stock manufacturer in Victoria after it acquired Melbournes's former tram maker Bombardier in 2020. Bombardier built the VLocity trains that run on the V/Line network.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/french-company-to-build-100-new-melbourne-trams-under-1-85-billion-deal-20220421-p5af0t.html


https://yarratrams.com.au/our-fleet-today

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With the on-board energy storage there should also be the opportunity for short route extensions unwired like Port Melbourne to the Station Pier Gate.

Hi there, these new vehicles will be the 7th generation of trams for our network and have been assigned the letter class ‘G’ – the 7th letter of the alphabet.

G Class trams will also receive individual vehicle numbers starting from 7001.

The intention pre-pandemic was to replace first up all Z class and then the  A class with this NEW variant on the basis of 1.7 new G class for each  Z/A class to cater for both replacement and patronage growth  at a rate of 25 tpa from 2025 onwards.
Replacement of the B2 with low floor trams then comes after that.
With the on-board energy storage there should also be the opportunity for short route extensions unwired like Port Melbourne to the Station Pier Gate.

There’s been a class of tram for every letter of the alphabet, except I (presumably to avoid confusion with 1), allocated in sequence from A. There were a few odd ones such as VR (3 trams) and PCC (2). When they got to Z they just started again, by which time, obviously, the first As where long out of service.

Perhaps the G stands for Next Generation Tram. Someone in the PR department making a name for themselves. Does this mean that the next class of tram after this one will be G2 (Next Generation Tram 2) and so forth, in the tradition of mobile phone standards, 3G, 4G, etc? It may be trivial, but in this case why interfere with tradition?

I'm assuming when Maidstone Depot has finally completed construction and up and running, it will replace Essendon Depot I'm guessing since the existing Essendon tram depot does not have adequate space to fit larger trams. I'm also assuming these new trams will run on the 57, hopefully since the 57 is the only city bound route not to have a larger tram allocated to it.

Can't wait to see those Z3's go, why did the government even bother refurbishing them for the second time when that money could have been spent on purchasing new trams, why in this day and age smaller trams with no air-conditioning and not even accessible to the disabled are still running on the network is mind baffling.

• 15 E classes to Kew for the 109 could displace 18 C1s (half the fleet), which could be used at Southbank for routes 12 and 30 (putting a stop to E classes carrying air on the latter), with Kew's remaining C1s running on the 48 and maybe 78.
• 15 E classes to Camberwell for the 75 could displace 20 B2s, which would end up on the 70 and/or at Glenhuntly or wherever else still uses B2s by then.
• If the order was for 50 trams instead of 30, 20 E classes could be allocated to Brunswick for route 19, with the entire fleet of 21 D2s moved to Malvern (Combino familiarity). Steal another E class or two previously wasted on the 30 to make up for the extra D2. No real need for Brunswick to help with route 6 if that happens.

I'm assuming when Maidstone Depot has finally completed construction and up and running, it will replace Essendon Depot I'm guessing since the existing Essendon tram depot does not have adequate space to fit larger trams. I'm also assuming these new trams will run on the 57, hopefully since the 57 is the only city bound route not to have a larger tram allocated to it.

Can't wait to see those Z3's go, why did the government even bother refurbishing them for the second time when that money could have been spent on purchasing new trams, why in this day and age smaller trams with no air-conditioning and not even accessible to the disabled are still running on the network is mind baffling.

Simple, get rid of half the intermediate tram stops as with most other useless Melbourne tram routes. The 57 isn't my turf so I don't know the stop numbers, but going by tresseleg1's YouTube video the amount of tram stops is ridiculous in this day and age. Probably the most glaring example on the 57 is Canning St, you could almost bridge the gap between there and Haines St with an E class. Does Abbotsford St seriously need six tram stops within the single kilometre of tram track? 1000 / 6 = 166.67 metres average distance. For comparison, a suburban railway platform is 160m.

The onboard storage is purely for making the power draw on the network more even (rather than surge based on the acceleration demand of the tram). It is not for running without wires, which isn't something we will see here in Vic as it is non-sensical.

If the batteries have enough capacity, it means the Maidstone depot could be unwired. It could also keep open the future option of extensions without wires. If battery buses make sense, maybe battery trams too.

If the batteries have enough capacity, it means the Maidstone depot could be unwired. It could also keep open the future option of extensions without wires. If battery buses make sense, maybe battery trams too.

The onboard storage is purely for making the power draw on the network more even (rather than surge based on the acceleration demand of the tram). It is not for running without wires, which isn't something we will see here in Vic as it is non-sensical.

If the batteries have enough capacity, it means the Maidstone depot could be unwired. It could also keep open the future option of extensions without wires. If battery buses make sense, maybe battery trams too.