Article: First of new trains arrives in Melbourne

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First of new trains arrives in Melbourne

First of new trains arrives in Melbourne
Article from: Herald Sun

Ashley Gardiner

August 25, 2009 02:55pm

THE first of Melbourne's new trains has been unloaded from the docks and taken to Newport.
Following a month-long journey by sea from Italy, the train was taken by truck through the inner-west overnight.

The first task will be to fit seats into the train before a lengthy period of testing until late November.

But the majority of the train is complete, with windows, interior panels and vinyl floorings already installed.

A spokesman for Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said all components of the train, such as the brakes and power, would be tested independently to ensure it is working properly.

?Being the first train, the testing phase is even more integral to smooth roll-out of the rest of the new trains,? spokesman Stephen Moynihan said.

?Any issues identified with this first train will be rectified and then help to smooth the production and delivery of the rest of the trains on order.?

Testing would only take place overnight when regular services aren?t running.

?Once all commissioning and acceptance testing has been completed, the train will be decked out with new livery and will be ready for service,? Mr Moynihan said.

To commuters, the trains will differ little from the existing Alstom X?Trapolis trains that already run in Melbourne, but there will be technical improvements for drivers.

It was the first of 38 new trains ordered by the State Government to cope with booming train patronage.

About half the order will be progressively shipped to Melbourne, while the others will be assembled in Ballarat.

The entire fleet of the new trains will be on the tracks by 2014.

Passengers will start using the new train that arrived last night later this year.