Over the moon! Next generation E-Class tram celebrates first birthday

Monday 3 November 2014

• Next generation E-Class tram celebrates one year of passenger service on 2014 Melbourne Cup Day.
  
• Ten E-Class trams currently in service have travelled the equivalent of 15 trips around Australia - and by the end of the year will have clocked up enough kilometres to reach the moon.
  
• Passenger survey earlier this year showed a large majority of passengers welcome more low-floor trams.

Melbourne's next generation E-Class tram celebrates its first anniversary on Tuesday 4 November, with Melbourne Cup Day marking a successful 12 months of passenger service for the city's 'thoroughbred' tram.

The 33.45-metre low-floor trams are the largest and most accessible on the network, boosting capacity on Route 96 with each tram able to carry up to 210 passengers.

The 10 trams already in service have clocked up an impressive 310,000 kilometres between them, which is the same as travelling around the Australian coastline 15-and-a-half times.

By the end of the year it's projected that in total, Melbourne's newest class of tram will have completed the equivalent of a one-way trip to the moon.

The trams currently operate on Route 96 between East Brunswick and St Kilda, with existing high-capacity low-floor trams cascading to Route 19 between the city and North Coburg.

A total of 50 E-Class trams have been ordered as part of Public Transport Victoria's $800 million Tram Procurement Program, which also includes infrastructure upgrades on Route 96 and the redevelopment of Preston Workshops.

More than four out of five people gave the E-Class positive reviews in a passenger survey conducted in mid-2014.

Accessibility, dynamic passenger information, ride smoothness and passenger comfort were among the categories in which passengers preferred the E-Class experience to high-floor trams.

Features of the new tram include:

• Capacity for 210 passengers, the highest of any tram on the network.
• Length of 33.45 metres, the longest of any tram on the network.
• Air-conditioning designed for Melbourne conditions.
• Internal and external CCTV cameras to monitor passenger boarding.
• Dynamic audio and visual passenger information.