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French giant inks $1.85 billion Vic trams deal

The Liberals are promising Melburnians will ride all day for just $2. <i>Photo: AAP</i>

The Liberals are promising Melburnians will ride all day for just $2. Photo: AAP

One hundred new Melbourne trams will be built locally after the Victorian government signed a $1.85 billion deal with a French manufacturing giant.

Bombardier Transportation Australia — part of global rolling stock manufacturer Alstom — was awarded the contract to build Victoria’s next-generation trams, the state government announced on Thursday.

The G-class trams will be built at Alstom’s Dandenong South factory in Melbourne’s outer southeast and use at least 65 per cent of local content.

The new models will replace some of the state’s older high-floor and less accessible A, B and Z models.

As part of the 15-year contract a maintenance facility will be built at Maidstone in the city’s northwest, where most of the trams will be housed.

Premier Daniel Andrews said Alstom, which acquired Bombardier Transportation last year, was selected after a tender process and the deal would lead to the creation of 1900 local jobs.

Public Transport Minister Ben Carroll said the order for 100 trams was the largest in Australia’s history and described the design as a “game-changer” for disabled Victorians, who make up 20 per cent of the population.

The first of the trams are scheduled to roll out from 2025.

– AAP

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