The New Generation Rollingstock (NGR) is a class of individually-propelled carriages ("
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 ...
s") manufactured by
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 ...
in
Savli
Savli is a village near Vadodara, Gujarat in Western India. It is located near one of the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation centres, which includes companies such as Nirma Chemical, Bombardier Transportation (now acquired by Alstom) ...
, India for the
Queensland Rail City network
The Queensland Rail Citytrain network, provides urban, suburban and interurban electric passenger railway services in South East Queensland, Australia.
History
The first railway in Queensland did not run to Brisbane, but ran from Ipswich to ...
that entered service between December 2017 and December 2019. They are Queensland Rail's largest fleet of electric trains.
History
In January 2014, the
Queensland Government
The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended fr ...
awarded a contract for 75 six-carriage electric multiple units to the Qtectic consortium of
Aberdeen Asset Management
Aberdeen Asset Management was an international investment management group, managing assets for both institutions and private investors from offices around the world. Its head office was in Aberdeen, Scotland. The company was listed on the Lon ...
,
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 ...
,
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
John Laing under a 32-year
public private partnership
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
. They are the first QR electric multiple units not manufactured in
Maryborough by
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 ...
(formerly
Walkers).
The NGRs were built in
Savli
Savli is a village near Vadodara, Gujarat in Western India. It is located near one of the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation centres, which includes companies such as Nirma Chemical, Bombardier Transportation (now acquired by Alstom) ...
, India.
[New Generation Rollingstock]
Department of Transport & Main Roads The design is completely new, and the trains are fitted with nose cones to resemble the existing
Electric Tilt Train
The Electric Tilt Train is the name for two identical high-speed tilting trains operated by Queensland Rail on the North Coast line from Brisbane to Bundaberg and Rockhampton which entered service in November 1998.
History
In March 1993, Qu ...
s for improved aerodynamic performance as opposed to the exposed
Scharfenberg coupler
The Scharfenberg coupler (german: Scharfenbergkupplung, abbreviated ''Schaku'') is a commonly used type of fully automatic railway coupling.
Designed in 1903 by Karl Scharfenberg in Königsberg, Germany (today Kaliningrad, Russia), the coupler ...
s used by the existing fleet.
The body style differs using flat steel panels on the sides, while retaining corrugated panels for the rooftop. The first arrived at the
Port of Brisbane
Port of Brisbane is the shipping port and coastal suburb of the City of Brisbane, on the east coast of Queensland, Australia. In the , Port of Brisbane had no residents living in the suburb. The port is the largest in the state of Queensland.
...
in February 2016.
The first three entered service on 11 December 2017 on the
Airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
and
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
lines.
[ By the time of the ]Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...
in April 2018, eight had entered service.
The trains received media controversy over a series of issues such as a toilet module that was too small by , and inability for wheelchair to access the toilet from one of the two accessible cars.
Because of the NGRs' non-compliance with disability legislation, all platforms they serve are required to be staffed. Initially confined to the Airport and Gold Coast lines, in May 2018 they began operating on the Doomben line, followed by Roma Street to Northgate services in July and Redcliffe and Springfield
Springfield may refer to:
* Springfield (toponym), the place name in general
Places and locations Australia
* Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast)
* Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council)
* Springfield, Queenslan ...
line services in September. In October 2018, they began operating on the Ipswich and Caboolture lines. In February 2019, they began to operate to Shorncliffe and Cleveland. The same month, the NGRs became the largest fleet of electric trains in Queensland. In March 2020 they commenced operating on the Sunshine Coast line to Nambour
Nambour is a rural town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Nambour had a population of 11,187 people.
Geography
Nambour is north of the state capital, Brisbane. The town lies in the sub ...
.
As of March 2020, they operate passenger services across the City network except for the Beenleigh
Beenleigh is a town and suburb in the City of Logan, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Beenleigh had a population of 8,252 people.
A government survey for the new town was conducted in 1866. The town is the terminus for the Beenl ...
, Ferny Grove and Rosewood
Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues.
True rosewoods
All genuine rosewoods belong to the genus ''Dalbergia''. The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated in ...
lines.[
NGRs will not operate on Sunshine Coast line services north of Nambour until signalling upgrades to Gympie North have been completed. Currently trains are required to compatible with the operation of ]Automatic Train Protection
Automatic train protection (ATP) is a type of train protection system which continually checks that the speed of a train is compatible with the permitted speed allowed by signalling, including automatic stop at certain signal aspects. If it is ...
which isn't fitted on the NGRs. The last NGR, unit 775, entered service in January 2020.
Operation
The NGRs are maintained at a purpose built depot to the west of Wulkuraka station. Once modifications are complete, the new trains will allow all of the Electric Multiple Unit fleet and InterCity Express
The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerla ...
sets to be withdrawn. The trains increase the size of the fleet by 26%. The NGRs feature high-backed seats, safety straps for bike storage, luggage space underneath the seats unlike the Interurban Multiple Units that have luggage racks, mobility toilet with baby changing table, free public WiFi and CCTV.
Each NGR unit comprises two driving motor cars (prefixes 3 and 8) at each end, coupled to two trailer cars (prefixes 4 and 7) and two intermediate motor cars in the middle (prefixes 5 and 6, with Motor car B currently featuring the toilet module on original trains and both on upgraded trains).
As they are permanently coupled six-car units, passengers are able to walk the entire length of the train, consequently eliminating the need to couple with another unit. Guards travel at the rear as opposed to the middle with the existing fleet, where two three-car units couple to form a six-car unit. Utilising the same traction equipment based on Bombardier Aventras as well as being compatible with the European Train Control System
The European Train Control System (ETCS) is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). It is a replacement for legacy train protection systems and designed to replace the many incompatible s ...
, the NGR (as well as upgraded SMU 260 sets) will be the only trains permitted to travel in the Cross River Rail
Cross River Rail is an underground railway project through central Brisbane, which is, , under construction. Cross River Rail will see the development of a new rail line underneath Brisbane River, and the redevelopment of a number of stations ...
tunnels.
NGR units are also noted to have contain Gangway connection
A gangway connection (or, more loosely, a corridor connection) is a flexible connector fitted to the end of a railway coach, enabling passengers to move from one coach to another without danger of falling from the train.
Origins: Coaches in Br ...
doors but are almost never used.
PIS screens on the platform shows an NGR Icon for that service if the service is being operated by an NGR train.
Accessibility improvements
Work to rectify the non-compliant parts of the trains was performed by Downer Rail's Maryborough facility. After an exemption application to the Australian Human Rights Commission
The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but opera ...
was rejected, the need for rectification was clear. The first arrived at Maryborough for rectification work in January 2019. So far 26 units (706, 708 - 713, 718, 719, 727, 730, 731, 735, 740, 745, 746, 748, 749, 752, 753, 756, 758, 760, 765, 767, and 769) have been completed, approximately 1/3 of the total NGR fleet. The project is scheduled for completion in 2024.[New Generation Rollingstock accessibility modification contract awarded ''Railway Digest'' June 2019 page 5]
The rectification work solves the disability access problem by providing a toilet module for both centre (wheelchair accessible) cars. This means that wheelchairs no longer have to travel around the toilets to access them from behind. No major changes were made to the general seating other than recovering some of the seats with priority labelling including some transverse seats with high backs and no arm rests.
More help points were added in the space between the two toilet modules.
The toilet modules were made disability compliant by moving the toilet front side and door at least closer to the external doors, while leaving the toilet bowl in the original location. Labelling and other minor changes were made in the toilet module as well, such as the installation of lights that warn in the event of an evacuation.
These trains can be easily identified by the large priority stickers on the windows all along the train. More stickers are present within the train as well.
Some changes were made to signage throughout the train on the advice of disability groups; purportedly as "better wording" but the differences would be minor to the average person - intended instead for the minority of people with literacy difficulties (see difference between green emergency door release wording above).
References
External links
*
{{QueenslandLocos, state=collapsed
Bombardier Transportation multiple units
Electric multiple units of Queensland
Queensland Rail City network
Train-related introductions in 2017
25 kV AC multiple units