High Capacity Metro Trains
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The High Capacity Metro Train (HCMT) is a type of
electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...
(EMU) train for use by
Metro Trains Melbourne Metro Trains Melbourne, often known simply as Metro, is the franchise operator of the electrified suburban passenger service on the Melbourne rail network. Metro Trains Melbourne is a joint venture between Hong Kong-based MTR Corporation (60% ...
on the
Melbourne rail network The Melbourne rail network is a passenger and freight train system in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The metropolitan passenger rail network is centred on the Melbourne CBD and consists of 222 stations across 16 lines, which ser ...
. The first train set entered service on 27 December 2020 and will become the primary rolling stock used in the
Metro Tunnel The Metro Tunnel (previously known during planning as the Melbourne Metro Rail Project) is a metropolitan rail infrastructure project currently under construction in Melbourne, Australia. It includes the construction of twin 9-kilometre rail tun ...
when it opens in 2025. The HCMTs carry around 1,400 passengers in seven carriages, running on Melbourne's
overhead catenary An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipmen ...
system, and are currently the most advanced trains in the Metro Trains fleet. A consortium of investors and rail companies are constructing the trains in China and Australia via a contract with the
Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...
, in addition to upgrade works necessary for the operation of the trains.


History


Background

The previous major procurement of rolling stock for the
Melbourne rail network The Melbourne rail network is a passenger and freight train system in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The metropolitan passenger rail network is centred on the Melbourne CBD and consists of 222 stations across 16 lines, which ser ...
occurred in 2002, when franchisees M>Train and Connex ordered 62 Siemens Nexas and 58
X'Trapolis 100 The X'Trapolis 100 is a class of single deck electric multiple units part of Alstom's X'Trapolis family of trains, operated in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and Valparaíso, Chile. Melbourne In service When originally introduced to the su ...
trains respectively, as part of their franchise agreements to replace the older Hitachi trains. However, the Siemens units suffered major braking issues over the following decade, causing their repeated withdrawal from service; when the
State Government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...
tendered for 18 further six-carriage trains in 2007, it restricted bids to the previous two models ordered and awarded the contract to Alstom. Several further orders were placed for X'Trapolis trains over the next 10 years. The Public Transport Development Authority (later branded as
Public Transport Victoria Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is the brand name for public transport in the Australian state of Victoria, Australia, Victoria. It was the trading name of the Go Public Transport Development Authority (PTDA), a now-defunct statutory authorit ...
) was created in 2011 by the newly-elected state government of Premier
Ted Baillieu Edward Norman Baillieu (born 31 July 1953) is a former Australian politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2010 to 2013. He was a Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1999 to 2014, representing the electorate of ...
with the intent of, among other things, running major studies into the operation of the metropolitan rail network. The
Network Development Plan Metropolitan Rail The Network Development Plan Metropolitan Rail is a long-term development plan for the rail network of Melbourne, Australia. It was carried out by Public Transport Victoria (PTV) and released to the public on 27 March 2013 however, a revised versio ...
(NDPMR), released publicly in early 2013 in the partial fulfillment of this objective, was designed as a series of concrete proposals for the expansion and consolidation of the rail network over the following 20 years. The NDPMR's first stage, intended to be completed before 2016, acknowledged the need for an interim solution of several more X'Trapolis trains to overcome major constraints, as well as recommending the internal reconfiguration of Siemens and
Comeng Commonwealth Engineering (often shortened to Com-Eng, later Comeng was an Australian engineering company that designed and built railway locomotives, rolling stock and trams. History Smith and Waddington, the predecessor to Commonwealth Engi ...
trains to increase capacity, but identified the provision of new rolling stock as critical to the cost-effective use of existing railway infrastructure. Among the deficiencies of existing rolling stock noted by the NDPMR were "multi-purpose" designs intended to strike a balance between
commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...
and
metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
operations, and the failure of existing trains to use the entire length of metropolitan platforms. The NDPMR rejected double-decker trains on the basis that they would increase dwell time at crowded stations, and argued that 220 metre trains, formed by operating the existing three car sets as nine car trains, would require extensive and prohibitively expensive infrastructure works, particularly in the
City Loop The City Loop (originally called the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop or MURL) is a mostly-underground and partly surface-level subway and rail system in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Loop includes ...
. Instead, it recommended the procurement of single-level trains with a fixed number of cars, increased standing room and a length of , with the capacity for expansion to upon the opening of the
Metro Tunnel The Metro Tunnel (previously known during planning as the Melbourne Metro Rail Project) is a metropolitan rail infrastructure project currently under construction in Melbourne, Australia. It includes the construction of twin 9-kilometre rail tun ...
. The NDPMR envisaged these trains with a maximum capacity of 1,100 and 1,600 passengers respectively. The NDPMR envisaged that these high-capacity trains would completely replace the Comeng fleet by 2032, and be used primarily on the
Sunshine Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when th ...
Dandenong Dandenong is a southeastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, about from the Melbourne CBD. It is the council seat of the City of Greater Dandenong local government area, with a recorded population of 30,127 at the . Situated mainly ...
line created by the Metro Tunnel. Furthermore, it identified the need for the new trains to include
cab signalling Cab signaling is a railway safety system that communicates track status and condition information to the cab, crew compartment or driver's compartment of a locomotive, railcar or multiple unit. The information is continually updated giving an ...
to reduce the
headway Headway is the distance or duration between vehicles in a transit system measured in space or time. The ''minimum headway'' is the shortest such distance or time achievable by a system without a reduction in the speed of vehicles. The precise defi ...
required between trains, and for the construction of new maintenance facilities at several points on the network. Prior to the 2014 Victorian election, then-Premier
Denis Napthine Denis Vincent Napthine (born 6 March 1952) is a former Australian politician who was the 47th Premier of Victoria. Napthine was a Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, representing the electoral district of Portland from ...
promised an order of 25 of the proposed high-capacity trains if his incumbent
Liberal-National Coalition The Liberal–National Coalition, commonly known simply as "the Coalition" or informally as the LNP, is an alliance of centre-right political parties that forms one of the two major groupings in Australian federal politics. The two partners in ...
government was returned for a second term.


Order and design phase

In June 2015, the new
Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...
under Premier
Daniel Andrews Daniel Michael Andrews (born 6 July 1972) is an Australian politician serving as the 48th and current premier of Victoria since December 2014. He has been the leader of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since December ...
announced that expressions of interest would be requested for 37 new trains to be delivered and maintained for the Melbourne rail network. In November 2015, three consortia were shortlisted to build and maintain 37 trains: * Bombardier:
Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...
,
Macquarie Bank Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's ...
,
Itochu is a Japanese corporation based in Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka and Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo. It is one of the largest Japanese ''sogo shosha'' (general trading companies). Among Japanese trading companies, it is distinguished by not being descend ...
and Infrared Capital Partners * Eureka Rail:
Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...
,
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ is the largest bank in Japan. It was established on January 1, 2006, following the merger of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd. and UFJ Bank Ltd. MUFG is one of the three so-called Japanese "megabanks" (along with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp ...
and John Laing * Evolution Rail:
Downer Rail Downer Rail is a business unit within the Downer Group. As well as manufacturing and maintaining railway rolling stock it holds maintenance contracts to maintain rail infrastructure. The head office is located in North Ryde. History The EDI ...
,
CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese rolling stock manufacturer and a division of the CRRC. While the CRV emerged in 2002, the company's roots date back to the establishment of the Changchun Car Company in 1954. The company be ...
and
Plenary Group Plenary Group is an Australian infrastructure investment business specialising in public–private partnerships. It was founded in 2004 by three former ABN Amro employees, with Deutsche Bank taking a 20% shareholding. Operations Projects which ...
In March 2016, the order was increased to 65. In September 2016, the contract was awarded to the Evolution Rail consortium. New depots to maintain the trains will be built in Pakenham East and Calder Park. By September of the following year, a full-scale mock-up of two carriages had been constructed and was presented to Minister for Public Transport
Jacinta Allan Jacinta Marie Allan (born 19 September 1973) is an Australian politician serving as the 29th and current deputy premier of Victoria since June 2022. She is a member of the Victorian Branch of the Australian Labor Party and has been a member of ...
. The mock-up was made available to drivers, technicians, representatives of the
Public Transport Users Association The Public Transport Users Association is a community-based public transport lobby group in Victoria, Australia, based in Melbourne. It is run entirely by volunteers and has no full-time staff. History and aims The organisation was founded i ...
and passenger groups including the visually impaired and those with physical disabilities. The Evolution Rail consortium noted that this last stage in the design process marked the fulfilment of the project's first major contractual obligation. In late 2017, the Locomotive Division of the Victorian Rail Tram and Bus Union lodged proceedings in the
Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...
against Metro Trains, claiming that the consortium, government and Metro planned to introduce a lower standard of training for operators of the HCMT. It furthermore refused to support the implementation of the new rolling stock unless all electric train drivers were trained in the operation of the HCMT. Among the union's objections to the project are the necessary changes in work practice and the increased automation of certain processes. This followed criticism by the
Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exerci ...
of the decision to award the contract to Evolution Rail instead of Bombardier, the latter of which had an established manufacturing operation in
Dandenong Dandenong is a southeastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, about from the Melbourne CBD. It is the council seat of the City of Greater Dandenong local government area, with a recorded population of 30,127 at the . Situated mainly ...
. The government announced the awarding of several subcontracts for the project in December. The mockup carriages used for the consultation phase were placed on public display at
Birrarung Marr Birrarung Marr is an inner-city park between the central business district in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and the Yarra River. It was opened in 2002. The name refers to the bank of Birrarung, the 'river of mists', in the Woiwurrung language o ...
from 9–17 February 2018. The display concluded during Melbourne's White Night event with a light show. By June of that year, manufacturing had commenced, with the first body shells arriving at Newport Workshops from CRRC's facility in China. The HCMTs were expected to begin testing in November 2018 and enter passenger service on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines in 2019. The first revenue service for the HCMT was the 8:31am service from Pakenham on the
Pakenham line The Pakenham line is a commuter railway line in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operated by Metro Trains Melbourne, it is the city's longest metropolitan railway line at . The line runs from Flinders Street station in central Melb ...
on 27 December 2020. This was an extra service and regular timetabled services didn't commence until 31 January 2021, when the new PTV timetable was introduced. On 9 May 2022 the Victorian Government announced it was procuring an additional 5 HCMT sets for use on the
Melbourne Airport rail link Melbourne Airport Rail is a rail link under construction from the Melbourne CBD to Melbourne Airport at Tullamarine. Since October 2022 the project has also been branded as SRL Airport. The rail link is to run through the under-construction Metr ...
, to bring the total order to 70.https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/order-for-highcapacity-trains-shows-airport-rail-link-on-track/news-story/c9af65d81b717a8dab8cb08fbee7211c


Contract and construction

The trains are being delivered as a
public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Review, Public Administ ...
(PPP) between the State of Victoria and Evolution Rail Pty Ltd, under the Partnerships Victoria agency. The initial contract specified that the consortium would be responsible for the design, construction and delivery of 65 trains, as well as the construction of a heavy maintenance facility and depot in Pakenham East, the construction of a light maintenance facility in Calder Park, and the provision of two
simulators A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the ...
for driver training. It also stated that the consortium would be responsible for the maintenance of the HCMTs throughout their lifetime, as well as the operation and maintenance of the depots and simulators over the same time frame. Evolution Rail is a
consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...
composed of
CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese rolling stock manufacturer and a division of the CRRC. While the CRV emerged in 2002, the company's roots date back to the establishment of the Changchun Car Company in 1954. The company be ...
,
Downer Rail Downer Rail is a business unit within the Downer Group. As well as manufacturing and maintaining railway rolling stock it holds maintenance contracts to maintain rail infrastructure. The head office is located in North Ryde. History The EDI ...
and
Plenary Group Plenary Group is an Australian infrastructure investment business specialising in public–private partnerships. It was founded in 2004 by three former ABN Amro employees, with Deutsche Bank taking a 20% shareholding. Operations Projects which ...
. CRRC Changchun is leading the development and design for the HCMTs, and is manufacturing the train bodies as a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
with Downer Rail. 60% of construction is "local content" from a Victorian manufacturing
supply chain In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, acti ...
. Downer leads the delivery and maintenance of the sets, as well as the construction of the new rail yard facilities. Frames for
bogie A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
s will be manufactured by Hoffman Engineering in
Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...
. The Australian arm of Times Electric is manufacturing the
traction motor A traction motor is an electric motor used for propulsion of a vehicle, such as locomotives, electric vehicle, electric or hydrogen vehicles, elevators or electric multiple unit. Traction motors are used in electrically powered rail vehicles (ele ...
s and other electrical systems in
Morwell Morwell is a town in the Latrobe Valley area of Gippsland, in South-Eastern Victoria, Australia approximately 152 km (94 mi) east of Melbourne. Morwell has a population of 14,389 people at the . It is both the seat of local governme ...
, and SIGMA Air Conditioning is building the
heating A central heating system provides warmth to a number of spaces within a building from one main source of heat. It is a component of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (short: HVAC) systems, which can both cool and warm interior spaces. ...
and
cooling Cooling is removal of heat, usually resulting in a lower temperature and/or phase change. Temperature lowering achieved by any other means may also be called cooling.ASHRAE Terminology, https://www.ashrae.org/technical-resources/free-resources/as ...
systems in
Derrimut Derrimut is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Brimbank Local government area. Derrimut recorded a population of 8,651 at the 2021 census. Located on the l ...
. Assembly of wheel sets and
bogie A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
s is being performed by Downer at
Newport Workshops The Newport Railway Workshops is a facility in the Melbourne suburb of Newport, Victoria, Newport, Australia, that builds, maintains and refurbishes Rolling stock, railway rollingstock. It is located between the Williamstown railway line, Willia ...
. Plenary Group is responsible for the financial management of the project, and the debt is financed by a group of
investment banks Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...
led by
Westpac Westpac Banking Corporation, known simply as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney, New South Wales. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it ...
. The contract did not prescribe specific design elements of the HCMTs, but required that the design fulfil a number of objectives, centred on the provision of a "safe and comfortable journey for passengers". The total value of the PPP is around $2.3 billion.


Design

The HCMT are based on the Type A design used by CRRC Changchun. The trains will have seven carriages initially, with a total passenger capacity of 1,380. However, provision will be made for the trains to be extended to 10 carriages for a capacity of more than 1,970. An
aerodynamic Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...
nose cone and retractable cover for the
couplers Coupler may refer to: Engineering Mechanical * Railway coupler, a mechanism for connecting rolling stock in a train device ** Janney coupler ** SA3 coupler ** Scharfenberg coupler for multiple unit passenger cars * Quick coupler, used in constru ...
at each end of the trains has been designed to reduce the incidence of
train surfing Train surfing (also known as train hopping or train hitching) is the act of riding on the outside of a moving train, tram or another rail transport. In a number of countries, the term train hopping is used synonymously with freight hopping, whi ...
when the HCMTs are in operation. Approximately 30–40% of passengers will be seated when the train is at full capacity. The standing areas of the train will offer multiple types of straps and handles for the safety of standing passengers, and wide doors for rapid ingress and egress from these areas. As well as 70 passenger information displays (PIDs) in each train,
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
connection will be available throughout the passenger areas. The PIDs will show the next station, current time, and the train's location on an adapted rail map. Displays on the front and sides of the train will indicate its destination. Twenty-eight wheelchair spaces and wide aisles between seats will enable easy access for passengers with disabilities. A number of semi-automated features will be implemented in the HCMT design, including the capacity for low-speed shunting by remote control and for trains to be started without the presence of a driver. The trains will also automatically estimate the passenger load, and the reading can be accessed remotely. Furthermore, the HCMTs will include "stopping aids" to maximize accuracy of the position of train's arrival at platforms. Drivers will also have the capacity to open individual doors on the trains.


References


Bibliography

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External links

{{VRLocos, state=collapsed Changchun Railway Vehicles Electric multiple units of Victoria (Australia) Melbourne rail rollingstock Train-related introductions in 2020 CRRC multiple units 1500 V DC multiple units of Victoria