The first of Melbourne’s new three-section G-class trams entered passenger service on 30 July. 7006 left Essendon depot at 08.30 to take up an extra working on line 59 to Flinders Street station. 100 of these trams are being built by Alstom at its Dandenong factory in Victoria under an AUD 700M contract, and will soon be running from the new Maidstone depot as the fleet expands to replace older Z and C-class trams. The new trams have 65% Australian content.
They are destined for lines 57 (West Maribymong), 59 (Airport West) and 82 (Footscray–Moonee Ponds). The first of the 25m low-floor 150-passenger air-conditioned trams was delivered in September 2025 and started commissioning and testing on 17 October. They have an on-board 48.9 kWh energy storage system with roof-mounted batteries to permit operation away from the overhead.
Melbourne has the world’s largest tramway (250km served by 24 routes) with a fleet of nearly 500 trams and nine depots, carrying about 155M passengers/year. Alstom previously delivered 100 33m E-class trams for more heavily-used lines under a contract inherited from Bombardier.
The first G-class tram ready to leave the depot. (Melbourning)
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