Trams in Melbourne
The city of Melbourne, the second-largest city in Australia, has one of the world's most extensive networks of tramways. The system's infrastructure is owned by the state government of Victoria, although it is now operated by private companies. The trams contribute to Melbourne's distinctive character and are held in great affection by the people of Melbourne, even though passenger numbers have been falling for many years.
History
In 1885 the Melbourne Tramway and Omnibus Company began operating Melbourne's first cable tram line. Soon a network of cable trams were 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.
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 (see below), which ran for 70 years and can still occasionally be seen on Melbourne's tram lines.
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.
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. The W-class trams were gradually replaced by the new Z-class, and later by larger, articulated A-class and B-class trams.
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 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 1992 the Liberals came to power under Jeff Kennett, pledged to the privatisation of the tram system. This provoked surprisingly little resistance from the unions.
The private tram operators abolished tram conductors, and replaced them with ticketting machines. This move was highly unpopular with the travelling public and led to the loss of millions of dollars in revenue through fare evasion. The trams continue to lose money for the private operators, and the future of the tramways as a privatised operation must be in doubt. The current Labor government of Steve Bracks has given no indication of whether it will take the tramways back into public ownership when the current contracts with the operators expire and are not renewed.
The W-class trams
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.
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.
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. Some can still be seen running from time to time, with the oldest examples apparently from 1938. A free city circle line operates using them to the delight of many tourists and a few have been converted into upmarket mobile resturants which cruise the suburbs in the evening.
External links
- Moving Melbourne, with map
