Work is ramping up to deliver Melbourne’s most modern trains – the X’Trapolis 2.0 – as part of an investment by the State Government to deliver a modernised fleet.
Melburnians had their first sneak peek of a life-size mockup of one of the X’Trapolis 2.0 carriages in Tullamarine this week.
Accessibility advocates and technical advisers such as train drivers and passenger groups will be invited to provide their feedback on the fully assembled mockup in coming months.
The $986 million project will deliver 25 brand-new X’Trapolis 2.0 trains and supporting infrastructure. They will be built in Victoria using 60 per cent locally-sourced materials and will create up to 750 jobs for people in Victoria.
The new trains will be manufactured in Dandenong and assembled in Alstom’s Ballarat factory later this year.
The new trains will gradually replace Comeng trains on the Craigieburn, Upfield, and Frankston lines, providing passengers with a more accessible, reliable and energy efficient journey.
Alstom managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Mark Coxon said the new generation X’Trapolis trains would deliver a much-needed network capacity increase, “without the need for major, costly infrastructure and power supply upgrades”.
The State Government also launched the Mobility Supply Chain Centre of Excellence with representatives from the rolling stock industry this week. The Centre of Excellence is a partnership between the government, Alstom and the education sector to further support research and development into public transport technology innovations.
