The Government of Victoria, Australia, has placed an order for new batch of VLocity trains with Bombardier to meet the demand of the regional rail services.
As per the contract, Bombardier will build six VLocity trains. The move is expected to generate around 100 direct jobs, along with hundreds more at different levels of the supply chain.
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The Victorian Government allocated A$340m ($228.5m) for the purchase of 18 three-carriage trains. The order for VLocity trains is a part of this budgetary allocation.
The new trains will be equipped with phone signal boosting technology and accessibility improvements.
The V/Line currently operates 2,000 services each week, which represent an increase of 40% in the rail services in the region.
Bombardier will commence construction of the trains by 2020 and expects delivery in 2021.
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By GlobalDataMinister for Public Transport Melissa Horne said: “We said we’d deliver new VLocity trains for regional Victoria and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
“We’re improving services for passengers and supporting hundreds of Victorian jobs as we continue to build new trains and refurbish our existing fleet.”
In July, the Government of Victoria invested A$50m in revamping the VLocity regional train fleet to improve services and support jobs.
The upgrade provided a more comfortable and accessible journey to passengers in regional Victoria and Melbourne’s west.
A year ago, the Government of Victoria signed an agreement with Bombardier to design bogies for VLocity trains to be used on the North-East Line. The contract followed an earlier order for 87 VLocity carriages to Bombardier and is part of the government’s A$848.5m ($627m) regional rolling stock investment plan for the North-East Line.
