E class Melbourne tram
2013 Melbourne tram class; variant of the Flexity Swift
The E Class trams are three-section, four-bogie articulated trams that were first introduced to the Melbourne tram network in 2013. They were built at the Dandenong rolling stock factory of Bombardier Transportation (later Alstom) with the propulsion systems and bogies coming from Bombardier/Alstom factories in Germany.
The E Class trams were initially ordered as part of the Tram Procurement Program, an $800 million Victorian Government project aimed at increasing capacity and reliability of the tram network through the introduction of new trams, creation of new depot space, and upgrades to existing infrastructure. In September 2010, 50 were ordered with an option to purchase a further 100. In May 2015, a further 20 were ordered, followed by additional orders for 10 in May 2017, September 2018 and May 2019, taking the total to 100.
The first tram was delivered in June 2013 and, after testing, entered service on route 96 on 4 November 2013.
History
Initial Order
In July 2009, the Victorian Government called for expressions of interest for the construction of 50 new trams. The expression of interest stipulated that the trams had to be low floor, to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act, that 40% of the total contract was to be local content, and that the first were to enter service in 2012.
In October 2009, Alstom and Bombardier were shortlisted to bid for the contract. The invitation to tender stated the contract had been declared a strategic project, requiring a minimum 25% local manufacturing content, and 50% local content over the life of the contract, with 150 jobs expected to be created.
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This entry incorporates text from “E class Melbourne tram” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.