Yarra Trams
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Yarra Trams is the trading name of the operator of the
tram network A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
in
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, which is owned by
VicTrack VicTrack, the trading name of Victorian Rail Track Corporation, is a Government of Victoria, Victorian Government state-owned enterprise which owns all railway and tram lines, associated rail lands and other rail-related infrastructure in the ...
and leased to Yarra Trams by the Victorian
Department of Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
. The current franchise is operated by
Keolis Downer Keolis Downer is a joint venture between Keolis, the largest private sector French transport group, and Downer Rail, an Australian railway engineering company, that operates bus and tram services in Australia. History In June 2009, the Victor ...
. As at May 2014, Yarra Trams operate 487 trams, across 26 tram routes and a free City Circle tourist tram, over 1,763 tram stops. With 250 km (155.3 mi) of double track, Melbourne's tram network is the largest in the world. In 2015/16, 203.8 million journeys were taken on Melbourne's trams, with trams traveling more than 24.8 million kilometres annually. Each week Yarra Trams operates 31,400 scheduled tram services, which results in trams operating for approximately 20 hours per day and a team of 24-hour operations staff completing network maintenance and cleaning.


History

On 1 October 1997 in preparation for privatisation, the
Public Transport Corporation The Public Transport Corporation (PTC) was a Victoria State Government owned statutory authority formed under the Transport Act 1983 which operated passenger and freight trains, trams and bus services. The PTC was also responsible for directly ...
's tram operations were split into two business units, Swanston Trams and Yarra Trams.


TransdevTSL

MetroLink Victoria Pty Ltd, a joint venture between
Transfield Services Broadspectrum, formerly known as Transfield Services, was an Australian and New Zealand company that provided infrastructure maintenance services. Formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, and later owned by Ferrovial, it was the ...
(50%),
Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a French-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. History The group was formed by the merger of V ...
(30%) and Egis (20%), successfully bid to take over the Yarra Trams services from 29 August 1999. Transdev bought out Egis' share in 2000. MetroLink Victoria became part of
TransdevTSL TransdevTSL, formerly MetroLink, was a 50/50 joint venture between the old Transdev and Transfield Services that operated trams in Melbourne, ferries in Brisbane and buses in Sydney. The joint venture was dissolved in December 2010 when Transfi ...
in 2007. The joint venture inherited 23 W, 31 Z3, 28 A1, 42 A2, two B1 and 55 B2 class trams and took over the operation of 10 routes and four depots;
Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...
, East Preston,
Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...
and Southbank. In March 2000 a new white with green and blue stripes and grey skirt livery was introduced. After
National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
(who operated the other half of the network) handed back its M>Tram franchise having been unable to renegotiate financial terms, 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 ...
temporarily took it over. In May 2003 the State Government announced it would establish a single company to operate both networks, and was negotiating with TransdevTSL to operate this entity. In February 2004 an agreement was reached, and the networks were reunited on 18 April 2004 under the Yarra Trams brand.


Keolis Downer

When the franchise was next tendered, Transdev TSL and
Keolis Downer Keolis Downer is a joint venture between Keolis, the largest private sector French transport group, and Downer Rail, an Australian railway engineering company, that operates bus and tram services in Australia. History In June 2009, the Victor ...
were shortlisted to bid. In June 2009, the franchise was awarded to Keolis Downer with the new franchise commencing on 30 November 2009. The Yarra Trams brand was retained. Keolis Downer introduced a new Yarra Trams logo along with a new livery featuring yellow doors. In September 2017, it was announced that the franchise is to be extended until November 2024, but with tougher conditions.


Operations


Fleet

As of January 2019, the fleet consists of over 450 W, Z3, A1, B2, C1, C2, D and E class trams, operated from eight depots. In October 2001, Yarra Trams took delivery of the first of 36 C class
Alstom Citadis The Alstom Citadis is a family of low-floor trams and light rail vehicles built by Alstom. , over 2,300 Citadis trams have been sold and 1,800 tramways are in revenue service throughout the world, with operations in all six inhabited continents ...
trams which have primarily operated on route 109 to complement the extension to Box Hill. As part of the acquisition of M>Tram in 2004, Yarra Trams acquired 39 D class
Siemens Combino The Siemens Combino is a low-floor tram produced by Siemens Mobility (formerly Duewag). The first prototype was produced in 1996 at the Duewag works in Düsseldorf; the trams are now made in Krefeld- Uerdingen. Due to its modular design usin ...
trams and oversaw the delivery of another 20 still on order. They are leased from the
Commonwealth Bank The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), or CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services including retail, busines ...
, rather than
VicTrack VicTrack, the trading name of Victorian Rail Track Corporation, is a Government of Victoria, Victorian Government state-owned enterprise which owns all railway and tram lines, associated rail lands and other rail-related infrastructure in the ...
. Heritage W-class trams run solely on the
City Circle The City Circle is a mostly-underground railway line located in the Sydney central business district and Haymarket, in New South Wales, Australia, that forms the core of Sydney's passenger rail network. The lines are owned by the Transport A ...
tourist service. Due to these trams being limited to as a result of a series of modifications due to braking problems, their use is restricted to ensure limited interference with modern trams. In 2003, Yarra Trams trialled a seating layout which became known as "Apollo". The trial involved removing 30 seats from a B-class tram and replacing the removed seats with "bum racks" which are found in Citadis trams. This resulted in a higher capacity for standing passengers on crowded services during peak hours. A further ten trams received the seating layout during refurbishment. Ninety E-class are being delivered 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 ...
,
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 ...
.


Ticketing

Yarra Trams run under the
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 ...
banner, as do other operators of public transport franchises in metropolitan Melbourne, and use the
myki Myki ( ), stylised as myki, is a reloadable credit card-sized contactless smart card ticketing system used for electronic payment of fares on most public transport services in Melbourne and regional Victoria, Australia. Myki replaced the ...
ticketing system.
Metcard Metcard was the brand name of an integrated ticketing system used to access public transport in Melbourne, Australia. It was a universal ticket which allowed users to ride on the city's Metlink and Metropolitan Transit Authority network, consis ...
tickets have not been accepted on trams since December 2012, and coin-only Metcard ticket machines and validators have been removed. Seats were installed in place of the ticket machines. The entire tram network has now changed over to the myki smartcard fare collection system, with passengers needing to buy and top up a valid myki before boarding, or risk a fine of up to $238. Myki cards can be purchased from all staffed railway stations and retail outlets displaying a myki logo, including at all
7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. A ...
convenience stores. They cannot be purchased or topped up on board a tram. All tram routes operate entirely within zone 1. However, routes 75, 86 and 109 enter the zone 1/2 overlap at the very end of their outer-suburban routes. If a passenger begins and ends their journey completely within the zone 1/2 overlap, they can touch off to receive a slightly lower fare. If any part of the journey is within Zone 1, there is no need for the passenger to touch off as the fare is automatically calculated. Touching off on a zone 1 journey is both redundant and may cause delay or inconvenience to other passengers and the tram networks 'on time' performance. If passengers only travel in the free tram zone, there is no need to touch on their myki.


Network expansion

Since privatisation, the tram network has grown in size as a result of a number of extensions. The accessibility of the network has also been improved, with 360 platform stops built as of January 2014. In March 2000 services were extended to the new
Melbourne Docklands Docklands, also known as Melbourne Docklands, is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. Docklands recorded a population ...
precinct. Since then, a line connecting La Trobe and
Flinders Flinders may refer to: Places Antarctica * Flinders Peak, near the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula Australia New South Wales * Flinders County, New South Wales * Shellharbour Junction railway station, Shellharbour * Flinders, New South Wa ...
Streets via Docklands has been constructed as well as a further extension along Docklands Drive to NewQuay, which opened in January 2005. route 109 was extended from Mont Albert to Box Hill in May 2003. The extension to Box Hill has provided a direct link between Box Hill and suburbs such as
Balwyn Balwyn () is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Boroondara local government area. Balwyn recorded a population of 13,495 at the 2021 census. White ...
,
Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...
and
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...
. In July 2005, a extension of route 75 from
Burwood East Burwood East is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located 17 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Whitehorse local government area. Burwood East recorded a population of 10,675 at the 2021 ...
to
Vermont South Vermont South is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, 20 km east of its Central Business District. It had a population of 11,954 at the . The eastern boundary is Dandenong Creek, which flows from the Dandenong Ranges through to Port Phillip. ...
opened. In April 2018, the state government announced a new extension of the tram network from Caulfield. The 18 km (11.1 mi) extension would serve Chadstone, Monash University, Waverley Park and Rowville. The state government allocated $3 million to plan the route, which would be carried out in two stages.


Think Tram

Yarra Trams is a partner in the Think Tram program with
VicRoads VicRoads is a government joint venture in the state of Victoria, Australia. In the state, it is responsible for driver licensing and vehicle registration. It is owned and operated through a joint venture between the Victorian government and a ...
, aimed at improving tram travel time and reliability. In conjunction with the Victorian government several initiatives are in place to enable trams to better meet punctuality targets. These include 'T-lights' which give trams priority at traffic signals, as well as part-time tram lanes and full-time tram lanes. Part-time tram lanes are used often only during peak hours, with an example of this being on High Street along the route 6. Vehicles must not enter a part-time tram lane at any point during the nominated times except to avoid an obstruction, or perform a right turn; even then, vehicles must not proceed by law into the lane to do so unless they will not delay any approaching tram/s from either direction. The limit for staying in the lane to avoid an obstruction or turn right is 50 metres, at which point a vehicle must exit the lane entirely. Full-time tram lanes often utilise raised curb dividers to physically prevent cars from straying onto tram tracks. Examples of these dividers can be seen on
Spencer Street Spencer Street is a major street and thoroughfare in the Melbourne central business district, central business district of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The street was gazetted in 1837 as the westernmost boundary of the Hoddle Grid. ...
,
Swanston Street Swanston Street is a major thoroughfare in the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is one of the main streets of the Melbourne central business district and was laid out in 1837 as part of the original Hoddle Grid. The street vertically ...
in
Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...
and Fitzroy Street in St Kilda. Vehicles must not enter a full-time tram lane at any time except to avoid an obstruction; even then, vehicles must not proceed by law into the lane to do so unless they will not delay any approaching tram/s from either direction. The limit for staying in the lane to avoid an obstruction is 50 metres, at which point a vehicle must exit the lane entirely. Some lanes only allow this to occur at certain points, or breaks, in the raised dividers. Crossing the raised dividers otherwise can cause severe damage to a vehicle.


Beware the Rhino

In May 2011, Yarra Trams launched their 'Beware The Rhino' safety campaign, aiming to increase awareness of tram traffic. It analogises a stampede of rhinoceroses as being as dangerous as a tram, highlighting the dangers that people put themselves in when they move into the path of a tram. The campaign has won creativity awards, and was refocused in 2013.


Legislation and governance


Transport Integration Act

The prime transport-related statute in Victoria is the ''
Transport Integration Act 2010 The Transport Integration Act 2010 (the Act) is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia. The Act is the prime transport statute in Victoria, having replaced major parts of the ''Transport Act 1983'', which was renam ...
'', which establishes the
Department of Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...
as the integration agency for Victoria's transport system. The Act also establishes and sets the charters of the state agencies charged with providing public transport rail services, namely the
Public Transport Development Authority Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is the brand name for public transport in the Australian state of Victoria. It was the trading name of the Go Public Transport Development Authority (PTDA), a now-defunct statutory authority in Victoria, respon ...
. The PTDA is empowered by the Transport Integration Act to contract transport operators to provide rail and bus services and has used those powers to contract Yarra Trams to provide tram services in Melbourne. In addition, the ''Transport Integration Act'' establishes
VicTrack VicTrack, the trading name of Victorian Rail Track Corporation, is a Government of Victoria, Victorian Government state-owned enterprise which owns all railway and tram lines, associated rail lands and other rail-related infrastructure in the ...
which owns the public rail network and associated infrastructure. Another important statute is the ''Rail Management Act 1996'' which confers powers on rail operators and provides for an access scheme for the state's rail network. The ''Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous Act) 1983'' is also a relevant statute relating to public transport and contains a number of offences relating to safety, ticketing and amenity.


Rail Safety Act

The safety of rail transport operations in Melbourne is regulated by the '' Rail Safety Act 2006'' which applies to all commercial passenger operations. The Act establishes a framework containing safety duties for all rail industry participants and requires operators who manage infrastructure and rolling stock to obtain accreditation prior to commencing operations. Accredited operators are also required to have a safety management system to guide their operations. Sanctions applying to the safety scheme established under the
Rail Safety Act The ''Rail Safety Act 2006'' is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia, and is the prime statute regulating the safety of rail operations in Victoria. The Act was developed as part of the Transport Legislation Re ...
are contained in the
Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983 The ''Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983'' (the Act) is a prime statute regulating transport activities in the State of Victoria, Australia. Key areas regulated by the statute currently include taxi and hire car services and compl ...
. The safety regulator for the rail system in Melbourne including trams is the
Director, Transport Safety The Director, Transport Safety, who operates as Transport Safety Victoria, is the independent Government agency responsible for bus and marine safety in the State of Victoria, Australia. The position was created as a statutory office by the '' ...
(trading as Transport Safety Victoria) whose office is established under the
Transport Integration Act 2010 The Transport Integration Act 2010 (the Act) is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia. The Act is the prime transport statute in Victoria, having replaced major parts of the ''Transport Act 1983'', which was renam ...
.


References


External links


Company websitetramTRACKERThink>Tram WebsitePTV WebsiteDepartment of Transport Victoria
{{TramsAustralia Keolis Trams in Melbourne 1997 establishments in Australia 600 V DC railway electrification