If you’ve looked at the trains in Melbourne and Adelaide, you might have noticed that some of them look quite similar. And it’s not just one type of train – but two! So what’s the story behind this apparent coincidence?
The first coincidence
The story starts in 1977, when the Victorian Railways called tenders for 100 new air-conditioned trains for the Melbourne suburban network. Comeng Dandenong won the $108.5 million contract in 1979 with a stainless steel train with GEC traction equipment.
The first train of what are known as the ‘Comeng trains‘ was handed over in September 1981.
A follow-on order for 90 additional trains followed in 1982, the last of which entered service in June 1989, with around half of the fleet still in service today.
Meanwhile over in South Australia, in 1983 tenders were called for 20 suburban diesel railcars for Adelaide. Both Comeng Granville and Comeng Dandenong submitted bids for various combinations of single and double-deck trains with diesel-electric and diesel-hydraulic transmissions.
In 1985 it was announced that the Comeng Dandenong design was the winner, marrying a Victorian Railways derived stainless steel bodyshell with a Stromberg diesel-electric traction package. The body shells were assembled at Dandenong and then transported by rail to Dry Creek in Adelaide for final fitout.
The first of the ‘3000/3100 class‘ railcars entered service in November 1987.
An additional 50 railcars being completed by Clyde Engineering between 1992 and 1996, with the fleet still being in service today.
And lighting strikes twice
In 2001 the Victorian Government called tenders for 29 2-car diesel railcars for V/Line. The $206.8 million contract was awarded to Bombardier Transportation, who had taken over the Comeng Dandenong plant through a series of corporate takeovers. The train was designed at their Brisbane offices, and was intended to follow on from their previous XPlorer train designed for NSW, but used a new bodyshell mated with a cab designed by the team behind the Transperth B-series electric multiple unit.
Dubbed ‘VLocity‘, the first train entered service in 2005.
And in the decades since, over 100 trains to the same design have joined the V/Line fleet thanks to dozens of follow-on orders.
And in 2011, the South Australia approved the electrification of the Adelaide suburban network, and needed some new electric trains to run on it. Bombardier con the contract, based on their bid combining the VLocity railcar bodyshell with the underfloor design of the Transperth B-series electric multiple unit.
Classified as the ‘4000 class‘, the first train entered service in February 2014.
Like the previous Adelaide order the Dandenong plant was involved in the contract, but this time they were responsible for completion of the entire train, which was then transported carriage-by-carriage by road for the thanks 700 kilometre section of standard gauge between the broad gauge rail networks of Adelaide and Melbourne.
An interior related footnote
As delivered the Comeng trains in Melbourne had 2-by-3 seating with tartan cushions on white fibreglass bases.
John Dunn photo
A design also applied to the Adelaide version.
In the 2000s the Melbourne trains were refurbished, with the seats replaced with a more spartan design with less padding.
An idea also copied by Adelaide.
But Victoria’s VLocity trains designed for country services received 2-by-2 high back seats with comfortable padding.
A seating layout that the Adelaide 4000 class trains also received, but with a more suburban style seat.
Sources
The book series “Comeng: A History of Commonwealth Engineering” by John Dunn covers the history of all four classes of train mention in this piece, across Volume 4 (1977-1985) and Volume 5 (1985-1990 plus ABB, Adtranz and Bombardier to 2012).
The history of Victorian and South Australian railways sharing designs goes back quite a bit further; for example there was a sequence of wagon types imported in the mid 1920s used by both, including SAR’s Fb, Ob, H, M and similar D, Rb, S and C and VR’s S, E, V, J class wagons, and later shared designs in the ELX, ALX and FQX bogie wagons; and the V, E and J/O series passenger cars.
Good point – I suppose the common usage of broad gauge made it easier.
I wouldn’t call the latest iteration of V’Locity seating ‘comfortable’ in any way, shape or form!
I’d almost repressed my memory of them!
https://www.vlinecars.com/2019/01/vline-short-distance-vlocity-trains.html
Horrid, just horrid. Almost as bad as OSCAR seats in Sydney.
Interesting that the 4000s/Vlocity are also related to the Perth & Queensland EMUs, and descend from NSW Endeavour/Xplorer trains.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V/Line_VLocity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transperth_B-series_train
the melbourne version is much better!
I was reading Rail Express and there was an article on the 3000/3100 series trains in Adelaide. Some of the 3000/3100 series trains are being converted to hybrid-diesel and will run on the Outer Harbour, Grange and Belair lines. But it won’t apply to all 3000/3100 series trains (45 will be converted to hybrid-diesel), which like the Comeng here in Melbourne will be retired.
I should clarify my post. The 3000/3100 series trains that are not being converted will be retired, not the ones that are being converted.
When I visited Adelaide in July last year, I bumped into a 3000 class on a truck in Tintinara which was a pretty cool sight:
https://imgur.com/a/YfBbSVc
That’s be one of the 4000 class electrics, but I know what you mean.