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Melbourne G Class Trams Enter Service on Northwest Routes
First of 100 G class trams enter service in Melbourne, replacing older high-floor vehicles with modern low-floor design.
Main source: Melbourne’s next generation of trams enters service · By Rail Post Desk
The first of 100 Next Generation Trams for Melbourne have entered passenger service on routes serving the city’s northwest, according to railwaygazette.com.
The G class vehicles are being delivered under a A$700m contract awarded by the Victoria state government in 2022. Alstom is building the trams at its Dandenong plant, with more than 65% local content.
The three-section, 100% low-floor trams are 25 m long and can carry up to 150 passengers, including 48 seated. They are a development of the former Bombardier Flexity 2 design, but feature pivoting outer bogies instead of fixed trucks. Four powered axles are driven by 105 kW Škoda FCX traction motors, giving a maximum speed of 80 km/h, and the trams are equipped for regenerative braking.
At 25 m, the G class is shorter than the 33 m E class cars introduced from 2013. The new vehicles are intended to replace high-floor Z and A class trams on less heavily trafficked routes. They offer higher capacity, better accessibility, and improved passenger comfort compared with the 1980s-built vehicles they are replacing.
An extensive consultation process involving more than 1,000 stakeholders contributed to the design. This included disability groups, drivers, the Public Transport Users Association, and other passenger representatives.
The contract includes 15 years of maintenance, to be carried out at a purpose-built depot and stabling facility at Maidstone on Route 82. Built by a John Holland-led alliance, the depot was completed in mid-2025 and is initially being used for commissioning the new trams following delivery.
The first cars are being introduced on routes 57, 59, and 82, operating from the existing depot at Essendon. Around 50 trams are expected to be deployed on these services, with the other 50 allocated to routes 12, 48, and 58.
According to Alstom, the Next Generation Tram programme has supported more than 2,000 direct and indirect jobs. The company has invested more than A$40m in capital expenditure at Dandenong to strengthen its local industrial capability.
‘As the G class carries passengers for the first time, the tram’s journey signifies what makes Alstom unique: leading global technology combining with unrivalled localised presence, to deliver a truly Australian-built tram for our customer’, commented Ling Fang, Alstom’s Asia Pacific Region President, on July 30.