By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Hallam manufacturer has won a six-year contract to help power Melbourne’s next fleet of 65 high-capacity trains.
Austbreck will build 260 train pantographs – the train-top systems that collect electricity by contacting overhead lines.
The contract supports 35 jobs at the firm, and is expected to create new ones.
Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan, who announced the contract, said the High Capacity Metro Trains Project “maximises” Victorian jobs directly and in the supply chain.
“The (project) highlights this government’s strong commitment to leveraging jobs, skills and economic growth for the whole of Victoria.”
The government has set a target of at least 60 per cent local content – above the mandatory benchmark of 50 per cent for state projects.
It expects about 1100 jobs to be created during the public-private-partnership project.
