A C class tram

The city of Melbourne, the second-largest city in Australia, is home to the third largest tram network in the world, consisting of 245 kilometres of track, 500 trams, and 1770 tram stops. Operated by the private company Yarra Trams since privatization in the late 1990s, Melbourne's trams contribute greatly to the city's distinctive character and are held in great affection by the people of Melbourne. This article is about the year 2000. ... C class is the designation given to the Citadis trams used in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... The D1 class, or Combino (affectionately known as Bambino), electric tram operates in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... The D2 class, or Combino (affectionately known as Bigbino), electric tram operates in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... A ferry operating on the Yarra River // Public transport Melbourne is served with a robust public transportation network. ... Metlink is the marketing name of the public transport network of Melbourne, Australia. ... The Metcard is the ticket used to access public transport in Melbourne, Australia (under the moniker Metlink). It is a universal ticket which allows commuters to ride on the citys trains, trams, and buses. ... Melbourne, capital city of the State of Victoria, Australia, has a long history of railway development. ... Melbourne, capital city of the State of Victoria, Australia, features an extensive bus network. ... This is a list of the 200 currently operating suburban railway stations (216 including greater metropolitan stations) in Melbourne, Australia. ... This is a list of the 37 main tram routes and 55 subsidiary routes operating in the city of Melbourne, Australia. ... This is a list of the numerous bus routes in Melbourne, Australia. ... this photo was taken by me, User:Adam Carr, and is released by me into the public domain File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... this photo was taken by me, User:Adam Carr, and is released by me into the public domain File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... City of Melbourne Local Government Area State Victoria Lord Mayor John So (since 2001) Area 36 km² Population (2001) 57,960 Density 1,601/km² (1999) Greater Melbourne Subdivisions Local Government Areas Area 7,694 km² (1999) Population 2001 census (2nd in Australia) 3,555,321 Density 462. ... A modern tram in the Töölö district of Helsinki, Finland Volkswagen Cargo-Tram in Dresden. ... A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer), symbol: km is a unit of length in the metric system equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words χίλια (khilia) = thousand and μέτρο (metro) = count/measure). ... A tram stop in Gothenburg, Sweden. ... Yarra Trams is a tram operating company in Melbourne, Australia. ... Privatization (sometimes privatisation, denationalization, or, especially in India, disinvestment) is the process of transferring property, from public ownership to private ownership and/or transferring the management of a service or activity from the government to the private sector. ... // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining a similar mindset. ...

See also List of Melbourne tram routes. This is a list of the 37 main tram routes and 55 subsidiary routes operating in the city of Melbourne, Australia. ...

History

Cable tram dummy and trailer on the St Kilda Line in Melbourne in 1905.

An A1 class tram

In 1885 the Melbourne Tramway and Omnibus Company began operating Melbourne's first cable tram line. The first service ran from Spencer St/Flinders St, to Hawthorn Bridge. Soon a Melbourne cable tramway system was running from the city to nearby suburbs, but as the city grew the technical limits of the cable tram system became apparent, and electric trams were developed for lines to more distant suburbs. The last cable trams were replaced by electric trams in 1940. The first electric trams began running in 1906, after an earlier experiment had failed. It was operated by the North Melbourne Electric Tramway and Lighting Company, which operated a line from the city to Essendon. The Victorian Railways also operated an early electric tram from St Kilda to Brighton. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x644, 192 KB)A Melbourne cable tram in 1905. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x644, 192 KB)A Melbourne cable tram in 1905. ... Image File history File links source: http://en. ... Image File history File links source: http://en. ... 1885 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Cable Car in San Francisco A San Francisco cable car A cable car or cable railway is a mass transit system using rail cars that are propelled by a continuously moving cable running at a constant speed. ... Flinders Street is an important street in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... Cable tram dummy and trailer on the St Kilda Line in Melbourne in 1905. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1906 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Essendon is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... The Victorian Railways were the state owned and government run railway for the state of Victoria in Australia. ... St Kilda foreshore sunset St Kilda is a suburb of Melbourne, the capital city of the state of Victoria, in Australia. ... Brighton is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ...

In 1920 the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB) took over operation of the whole tramways system from the private companies and suburban municipalities which had been operating the various lines since the 1880s. The MMTB inherited a system with many different types of trams, and solved this problem by introducing the famous W-class tram, which ran for 70 years and a few can still be seen on Melbourne's tram lines. 1920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events WIKIPEDIA EATS VAGINA January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... // Events and Trends Technology Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ...

In the "golden era" of the 1920s and 1930s, loadings were heavy, a tram conductor earned more than a schoolteacher or a policeman, and the slightest scratch or spot of dirt on the rolling stock was dealt with immediately. The MMTB was so profitable that it had to invent ways to spend money, notably by constructing the enormous Wattle Park and the Vimy House private hospital for tramways staff. Sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or primarily in North America and in Australia as the Roaring Twenties . In Europe it is sometimes refered to as the Golden Twenties. ... // Events and trends The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the global depression. ... Wattle Park is a park in Melbourne, Australia, located in the suburb of Surrey Hills. ...

After World War II other Australian cities began to replace their trams with buses, and by the 1960s Melbourne was the only Australian city with a major tram network (there is one tramline in Adelaide, and there are also trams in Bendigo). But Melbourne resisted the trend, partly because Melbourne's wide streets and geometric street pattern makes trams more practicable than in many other cities, partly because of resistance from the unions, and partly because the Chairman of the MMTB, Sir Robert Risson, successfully argued that the cost of ripping up the concrete-embedded tram tracks would be prohibitive. World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. ... The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... Adelaide is the capital city of the Australian state of South Australia. ... Central Bendigo from the Botanic Gardens Bendigo is a regional city in central Victoria (Australia), located in the City of Greater Bendigo. ... A union (labor union in American English; trade union in Commonwealth English) is an organisation formed by workers. ...

By the mid 1970s, as Sydney became increasingly choked in traffic and air pollution, Melbourne was convinced that its decision to retain its trams was the correct one, even though patronage had been declining since the 1940s in the face of increasing use of cars and the shift to the outer suburbs beyond the tram network's limits. A very slow increase in patronage, beginning in the late 1990s, is solely due to the revival of the inner urban population. The W-class trams were gradually replaced by the new Z-class, and later by the A-class and the larger, articulated B-class trams. The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ... Sydney is the capital city of the Australian state of New South Wales and Australias largest and oldest city (founded in 1788). ... // Events and trends The 1940s were seen as a transition period between the radical 1930s and the conservative 1950s, which also leads the period to be divided in two halves: The first half of the decade was dominated by World War II, the widest and most destructive armed conflict in...

By the 1990s the tramways network was making huge losses and costing the Victorian state government many millions of dollars. In 1990 the Labor government of Premier John Cain tried to introduce economies in the running of the system, which provoked a long and crippling strike by the powerful tramways union in January 1990. In 1992 the Liberals came to power under Premier Jeff Kennett and pledged corporatize Melbourne's public transport network, however policy shifted to supporting the privatisation of the tram system in the wake of a series of public transport strikes. // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining a similar mindset. ... For the Temptations album, see 1990 (Temptations album) MCMXC redirects here; for the Enigma album, see MCMXC a. ... List of Premiers of Victoria Before the 1890s there was no formal party system in Victoria. ... John Cain John Cain (born 26 April 1931), Australian politician, was Labor Premier of the state of Victoria from 1982 to 1990. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian liberal conservative political party. ... Hon Jeff Kennett Jeffrey Gibb Kennett AC (born 2 March 1948), Australian politician, was Premier of Victoria from 1992 to 1999. ... Privatization (sometimes privatisation, denationalization, or — especially in India — disinvestment) is the process of transferring property, from public ownership to private ownership. ...

The government abolished tram conductors and replaced them with ticketing machines, shortly before the system was privatised. This move was highly unpopular with the travelling public and led to the loss of millions of dollars in revenue through fare evasion. After several years of failing to make a profit, M-Tram (which was owned by the National Express Group), who operated one half of the network, handed back their franchise to the government in late 2003. On April 18, 2004, Yarra Trams successfully tendered for the former M-tram routes giving them control over the entire network. The conductor of a train, whether passenger or freight, often referred to as the captain or guard of the train or foreman, is the senior employee in charge of that train, responsible for the safe movement of the train. ... National Express Group plc is a UK based transport group, operating airport, bus and rail services in the UK, the US, Canada and Australia. ... 2003 (MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 18 is the 108th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (109th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Yarra Trams is a tram operating company in Melbourne, Australia. ...

A plan to cut the number of Collins Street tram stops and merge them into new 'super stops', brought about much anger from the public. A funeral for the tram stops being closed occured and even featured a procession with coffin from the former tram stops to the Minister for Transports office. Collins Street is a major street in the Melbourne Central Business District and runs from east to west. ...

The W-class trams

A W6 class tram

W class trams were introduced to Melbourne in 1923 as a new standard design. They had a dual bogie layout and were characterised by ingeniously simple, rugged design, and fine craftsmanship (particularly the older models). The W Class was the mainstay of Melbourne's tramways system for 60 years. this photo was taken by me, User:Adam Carr, and is released by me into the public domain This image has been (or is hereby) released into the public domain by its creator, Adam Carr. ... this photo was taken by me, User:Adam Carr, and is released by me into the public domain This image has been (or is hereby) released into the public domain by its creator, Adam Carr. ... 1923 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. ...

The original and most numerous W2 variant was supplemented in the late 1930s by 120 W5 (or "Clyde") class trams with wider cabins, and more powerful motors - which were notorious for being difficult to drive smoothly. The W6 followed on: it was to become the most popular W class tram with crews and pasengers alike: fast, smooth and comfortable—at least by W Class standards! Construction came to a halt for some years and the final 40 W Class trams did not emerge from the Preston Workshops until 1956, when the need to provide something more capable of dealing with Olympic Games crowds than Bourke Street's buses prompted the last expansion of the network. The W7 Class with its pneumatic sliding doors (later retrofitted to most W5 and W6 trams too) and softer suspension was popular with passengers but feared by crews, as the braking system - not a strong point in any W Class variant - was never really adequate. 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Games of the XVI Olympiad were held in 1956 in Melbourne, Australia, although the equestrian events could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations. ... Pneumatics, from the Greek πνευματικός (pneumatikos, coming from the wind) is the use of pressurized air in science and technology. ... The front suspension components of a Ford Model T. Suspension is the term given to the system of springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels. ...

The development of new rolling stock to replace the W Class finally began in 1975 with a complex and expensive Swedish design that was ill-suited to Melbourne's hot summers and heavy loadings. Although the Z Class was improved over time with the revised Z2 and Z3 variants, it was not a success, and it was not until the 1990s that the W Class was finally retired from regular commuter duty. It has since been revived on some lines due to its iconic popularity. They run regularly on the short and slow North Richmond to St Kilda Beach route but are unsuitable for longer routes due to speed limitations imposed as a result of poor braking, despite recent modifications. A railroad car (or, more briefly, car), also known as an item of rolling stock in British parlance, is a vehicle on a railroad or railway that is not a locomotive - one that provides another purpose than purely haulage, although some types of car are powered. ... Richmond is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... St Kilda foreshore sunset St Kilda is a suburb of Melbourne, the capital city of the state of Victoria, in Australia. ...

The free City Circle route also operates using them to the delight of many tourists and a few have been converted into upmarket mobile restaurants which cruise the suburbs in the evening. The City Circle is a tram loop running around the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. ...

Approximately 200 later model W class trams remain stored at various locations around Melbourne as part of a heritage fleet. The future use of these trams is unknown.

The Z-class trams

A Z class tram in Yarra Trams livery

The Z-class trams, built by Comeng, were introduced from the mid-late 1970s, starting with the Z1 class, built from 1975 to 1979. 100 trams were built, most of which are now being withdrawn. Yarra Trams is a tram operating company in Melbourne, Australia. ... The term Comeng originally defined the company COMmonwealth ENGineering which manufactured Melbourne trains and the Melbourne A/B and Z tram variants. ... The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... This page refers to the year 1979. ...

In 1978 and 1979, fifteen Z2 class trams—having little difference from the Z1 classes—were built. As with the Z1 class, Z2 class trams are now being withdrawn from service. 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... This page refers to the year 1979. ...

From 1979 to 1984, Z3 class trams were introduced, being a significant improvement on the Z1 and Z2 class trams. 115 were built, 114 of which are in service (Z3.149 was destroyed in a fire). Some trams still retain the original green & gold livery of The Met, the rest having been reliveried in either Yarra Trams or all-over advertising livery. This page refers to the year 1979. ... This page is about the year 1984. ... The Met refers to different things in different places, but is generally an abbreviation of the term metropolitan. ... Yarra Trams is a tram operating company in Melbourne, Australia. ... A light rail vehicle wrapped in an iPod advertisement Wrap advertising is the practice of completely covering (wrapping) a vehicle in an advertisement or livery. ...

The B1/B2-class trams/light rail vehicles

A B2 class tram

The B-class trams (also known as light rail vehicles) were first introduced to Melbourne in 1984 with the prototype B1 class trams, which were a significant improvement over the Z1-classes. Only 2 were built & they remain in service today. This article is about light rail systems in general. ...

B2 class trams were built from 1988-1994, by Comeng, and later ABB Transportation. They were an improvement over the B1-classes. 130 were built, all of which remain in service today. B2-classes are often spotted in all-over advertising livery. The B2 class was notable for the long overdue introduction of air-conditioning. The term Comeng originally defined the company COMmonwealth ENGineering which manufactured Melbourne trains and the Melbourne A/B and Z tram variants. ... Note: in the broadest sense, air conditioning can refer to any form of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning. ...

Most B2-classes, and the only remaining B1 in service have been repainted in Yarra Trams livery. Yarra Trams is a tram operating company in Melbourne, Australia. ...

The Citadis and the Combino

A D class tram

The Citadis and Combino trams were introduced following privatisation of Melbourne's tram system. The private operators were obliged under their franchises to replace older Z class trams, although this has not fully taken place. Yarra Trams introduced the Citadis or C class, manufactured in France by Alstom. It is a three section articulated vehicle. Thirty-six are in service. The now defunct M-Tram purchased the German made Siemens Combino. The Combino is a three (D1 class) or five (D2 class) section articulated vehicle. Ownership of the D class trams has now passed to Yarra Trams. Currently 38 D1 and 21 D2 section vehicles are in service. ImageMetadata File history File links D_class_tram. ... ImageMetadata File history File links D_class_tram. ... A Citadis tram in Melbourne, Australia The Citadis is a low-floor tram built by Alstom in La Rochelle, France, currently in use around the world, in (among others), the Paris region, Lyon, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Orléans, Rotterdam, Dublin (see Luas), Melbourne (see Trams in Melbourne), and Katowice (see Silesian... The Combino is a low floor tram produced by Siemens Transportation Systems (formerly Düwag). ... C class is the designation given to the Citadis trams used in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... Alstom (formerly GEC-Alsthom) (Euronext: ALO) is a large French company whose businesses are power generation and manufacturing trains (e. ... Company headquarters in Munich, Germany Siemens AG NYSE: SI is the worlds largest electronics company. ... The D1 class, or Combino (affectionately known as Bambino), electric tram operates in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ... The D2 class, or Combino (affectionately known as Bigbino), electric tram operates in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ...

Map

• Official map of Melbourne's tram network

External links

• Metlink - official website of Melbourne's public transport
• Yarra Trams
• VICSIG - Comprehensive Official Victorian Train and Tram Resource

See also

• Buses in Melbourne
• Railways in Melbourne
• List of light-rail transit systems
• Transportation in Australia
• Trams in Sydney