Adelaide tram refit costs cool $3.5m
TransAdelaide has spent a hefty $3.5 million fixing air-conditioning units in its troubled tram fleet over the past two years.
The cost equates to $318,000 per tram or about $63,600 to upgrade each airconditioning unit across the three-year-old 11-tram Bombardier Flexity Classic fleet.
The costly replacement program was prompted by chronic shortcomings in the $5.5 million German-made trams – which started appearing on city tram tracks in January 2006 – and couldn’t cope with Adelaide’s sweltering summer heat.
The trams’ cooling systems were dispersing cool air down the sides of tram interior and not into the middle.
Contractors finished upgrading 55 airconditioning units – three in the passenger saloon and two in the driver’s cabins of each tram – on November 6, on the eve of Adelaide’s first heatwave.
The Sunday Mail understands that contractors were put on an “open-ended” contract at TransAdelaide’s Glengowrie tram depot to finish the repairs before another blistering summer.
The new units will double the cooling capacity of the trams but the repair bill has been criticised by the Opposition, which has again questioned the Government’s “rushed” decision to buy the Bombardier model.
“I still can’t believe you would go and buy new equipment and within the first few years you spend an extra $3.5 million to make it suitable for Australian conditions,” Opposition transport spokesman David Ridgway said. “This brings into question a whole range of decisions the Government makes.
“The trams are overcrowded, there’s not much seating and they are not a pleasurable ride.”
Mr Ridgway wanted assurances from Transport Minister Patrick Conlon that a new generation of Alstom Citadis trams, bought from Spain for $36m, would not face similar problems.
The first of the trams will enter service next month with all six expected to be on track by February.
The first of the trams arrived in Adelaide on November 12 and started testing on the Glenelg to City West tramline during the week.
Mr Conlon did not respond by the Sunday Mail’s deadline.
