Trams in Melbourne

The Melbourne tramway network is a major form of public transport in Melbourne, the capital city of the state ofVictoria, Australia. As of May 2014, the network consisted of 250 kilometres of track, 493 trams, 25 routes, and 1,763tram stops.^[3] It is the largest urban tramway network in the world,^[3] ahead of the networks in St. Petersburg (240 km),Berlin (190 km), Moscow (181 km) and Vienna (172 km).^[4] Trams are the second most used form of public transport in overall boardings in Melbourne after the commuter railway network, with a total of 182.7 million passenger trips in 2012/13.^[3]

Trams have operated continuously in Melbourne since 1884, with the opening of a horse tram line in Fairfield. Since then they have become a distinctive part of Melbourne's character and feature in tourism and travel advertising.Melbourne's cable tram system opened in 1885, and expanded to one of the largest in the world, with 75 km (46.6 mi) of double track. The first electric tram line opened in 1889, but closed only a few years later in 1894. In 1906 electric tram systems were opened in St Kilda and Essendon, marking the start of continuous operation of Melbourne's electric trams.

The Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board was formed in 1919 to take control of Melbourne's cable tram network, six of the seven electric tramway companies, and the last horse tram. By 1940 all cable and horse tram lines had been abandoned or converted to either electric tram or bus operation. Victoria's public transport system was reorganised in 1983 and saw the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board dissolved into the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which was in turn absorbed by the Public Transport Corporation in 1989. The network has been operated under contract since the commencement of franchising, following the privatisation of the Public Transport Corporation in 1999. The current private operator contracted to run Melbourne's tram system is KDR, trading as Yarra Trams.

Ticketing, public information and patronage promotion are undertaken by Victoria's public transport body, Public Transport Victoria. The multi-modal integrated ticketing system, myki, currently operates across the tram network. At some Melbourne intersections, motor vehicles are required to perform a hook turn, a manoeuvre designed to give trams priority.^[5] To further improve tram speeds on congested Melbourne streets, trams also have priority in road usage, with specially fitted traffic lights and exclusive lanes being provided either at all times or in peak times, as well as other measures.^[6]^[7]

History[edit]

Horse trams[edit]

Melbourne's first tram was a horse tram from Fairfield railway station to a real estate development in Thornbury, it opened on 20 December 1884, and was closed by 1890. Seven horse trams operated in Melbourne, three lines were built by the Melbourne Tramway and Omnibus Company (MTOC), while the other four were built by different private companies.^[8]

The MTOC's three lines fed their cable tram system: Victoria Bridge cable tram terminus to Kew (Boroondara Cemetery), opened in 1887 and closed in 1915 after its sale to Kew Council for conversion to a Prahran and Malvern Tramways Trust electric line; Hawthorn Bridge cable tram terminus to Auburn Road, via Burwood Road, Power Street and Riversdale Road, opened in 1890 and closed on 31 January 1916 after being sold to the Hawthorn Tramways Trust for conversion to electric traction; and the Zoo line, from the Royal Parade cable line to Melbourne Zoological Gardens, opened on 10 March 1890 and closed in November 1923. The Zoo line was Melbourne's last horse tram and the only line still in operation at the formation of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB), it was destroyed by fire during the 1923 police strike; the MMTB took the decision not to reopen it, ending Melbourne's horse tram era.^[8]

Cable trams[edit]

Main article: Melbourne cable tramway system

Cable tram dummy and trailer passing Queen Victoria Hospital, Swanston St, 1905

Melbourne's cable tram system has its origins in the MTOC, started by Francis Boardman Clapp in 1877, with a view to operate a Melbourne tram system. After some initial resistance, he successfully lobbied the government who passed the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company Act 1883 on 10 October 1883, granting the company the right to operate a cable tram system in Melbourne. Although some lines were originally intended to be horse trams, and the MTOC did operate three horse tram lines on the edges of the system, the core of the system was built as cable trams.^[9]^[10]

The Act established the Melbourne Tramways Trust (MTT), which was made up of the 12 municipalities that the MTOC system would serve. The MTT was responsible for the construction of tracks and engine house, while the MTOC built the depots, offices and arranged for the delivery or construction of the rolling stock. The MTT granted a lease to operate the system until 1 July 1916 to the MTOC, with the MTOC paying 4.5% interest on the debts incurred by the MTT in building the system.^[9]^[10]

Melbourne's first cable tram service on 11 November 1885

The first cable tram line opened on 11 November 1885, running from Bourke Streetto Hawthorn Bridge, along Spencer Street, Flinders Street, Wellington Parade and Bridge Road, with the last line opening on 27 October 1891. At its height the cable system was one of the largest in the world, with 75 kilometres (47 mi) of double track, 1200 grips and trailers and 17 routes covering (103.2 route km or 64.12 route miles).^[10]^[11]

On 18 February 1890, the Northcote tramway was opened by the Clifton Hill to Northcote & Preston Tramway Company. This was Melbourne's only non-MTOC cable tram, built by local land speculators and was operated as an independent line, feeding the Clifton Hill line.^[12]

When the lease expired on 1 July 1916, all the assets of the MTT and MTOC cable network were taken over by the Melbourne Tramways Board (MTB).^[9] The MMTB was formed on 1 November 1919, taking over the MTB cable tram network, with the Northcote tramway and the tramway trusts transferred to the MMTB on 20 February 1920.^[13]^[14]

From 1924 the cable tram lines were progressively converted to electric trams, or abandoned in favour of buses, with the last Melbourne cable tram operating on 26 October 1940.^[13]^[15]

First electric trams[edit]

Box Hill to Doncaster tram

The first electric tram in Melbourne was built in 1889 by the Box Hill and Doncaster Tramway Company Limited—an enterprise formed by a group of land developers—and ran from Box Hill railway station along what is now Station Street and Tram Road to Doncaster, using equipment left over from the Centennial International Exhibition of 1888 at the Royal Exhibition Building. The venture was marred with disputes and operational problems, and ultimately failed, with the service ceasing in 1896.^[16]

After this venture failed, electric trams returned on 5 May 1906, with the opening of the Victorian Railways' "Electric Street Railway" from St Kilda to Brighton, and was followed on 11 October 1906 with the opening of the North Melbourne Electric Tramway and Lighting Company (NMETL) system, which opened two lines from the cable tram terminus at Flemington Bridge to Essendon and Saltwater River (now Maribyrnong River).^[14]

Victorian Railways Electric Street Railways[edit]

Two Victorian Railway trams

The Victorian Railways line came about when Sir Thomas Bent became Premier of the State. A corrupt politician and leading land boomer, he stood to benefit from construction of the line, through the increased value of his large land holdings in the area, and pushed through the legislation to enable to building of the line by the VR in 1904.^[17]

The VR tram was called a "Street Railway" and was built using the Victorian Railways 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gaugeinstead of the cable tramway standard gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in), and connected it with the St Kilda railway station, to allow trams to be moved along the St Kilda railway line for servicing at Jolimont Yard.^[18] The line was opened in two stages, from St Kilda railway station to Middle Brighton on 5 May 1906 and to Brighton Beach terminus on 22 December 1906.^[14]

A fire at the Elwood tram depot on 7 March 1907 destroyed the depot and all the trams. Services resumed on 17 March 1907 using four C-class trams and three D-class trams from Sydney, which were altered to run on VR trucks salvaged from the fire. These trams sufficed until Newport Railway Workshops built 14 new trams. The St Kilda to Brighton Beach Electric Street Railway closed on 28 February 1959 and was replaced by buses.^[18]^[19]

VR opened a second, standard gauge, electric tramway from Sandringham railway station to Black Rock on 10 March 1919, it was extended to Beaumaris on 2 September 1926. The service was withdrawn on 5 November 1956 and replaced with buses.^[20]^[21]

North Melbourne Electric Tramway and Lighting Company[edit]

First North Melbourne Electric Tramway and Lighting Co tram on opening day

The NMELT was an electricity and tramway company that operated from 1906 to 1922.^[22] The tramway section was taken over by the MMTB on 1 August 1922 and the electricity section taken over by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria in 1922.^[23]^[24]

The Victorian Government of Sir Thomas Bent approved an application by Mr Morgan to build a tramway system in the Essendon area on 29 March 1904, with a poll of ratepayers overwhelming supporting the proposition on 29 July 1904 (2874 votes to 146). Mr Morgan transferred the concession to the NMELT, which had been formed to build the system and provide electricity to the area. Under the concession the NMELT was to construct a tramway and provide electricity within the municipalities of Essendon and Flemington for 30 years, it also mandated a service at least every 20 minutes and had provisions for the undertaking to become property of the municipalities involved earlier than the prescribed 30 years.^[25]

The NMELT bought land on Mount Alexander road for its offices, car barn and power house, with the foundation stone laid by the Mayors of Essendon and Flemington on 24 May 1905, and the first rail laid a month later by Premier Bent. The system opened on 11 October 1906 operating two routes from Flemington Bridge—one to Essendon via Mount Alexander Road, Pascoe Vale Road, Fletcher Street and onto Mount Alexander Road again (with a short branch line along Puckle Street), and the second to Saltwater River via Mount Alexander Road, Victoria Street, Racecourse Road, Epsom Road, Union Road and Maribyrnong Road. The system was approximately 7 mi (11.3 km) and was operated by 25 motor cars and 10 trailers.^[25]

The tramway trusts[edit]

Due to demand for better public transport in Melbourne's inner suburbs of Prahran and Malvern the Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust Act 1907 was enacted. Councillor Alex Cameron of Malvern, who led the push for a municipal tramway service, was elected chairman of the trust by both Malvern & Prahran councils. Construction began on its first tram line in 1909 with the first passenger service commencing in 30 May 1910. Using overhead wires to feed electricity to the trams, this network continued to expand so greatly & profitably that when the MMTB was established in July 1919 Alex Cameron was appointed its full-time chairman.^[26]^[27]

Network under MMTB[edit]

Main article: Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board

Intersection of Swanston St andFlinders St showing electric and cable trams, 1927

Alex Cameron, Chairman of the MMTB was in charge of a tramway network that had both cable and electric traction and had been constructed by different bodies without any uniform system. Under Cameron's guidance the Tramways Board was to bring these under a single control, extend the electric lines, and convert the existing cable-system to electric traction.^[27]^[28]To solve operational and maintenance problem the MMTB introduced in 1923 the iconic W-class tram and phased out the other models.^[29] The Preston Workshops were constructed about this time to manufacture and maintain the new tram fleet.^[30]

In March 1923 Alex Cameron went overseas to investigate traffic problems. He returned next year confirmed in his long-held opinions that electric trams were superior to buses and that overhead wires were preferable to the underground conduit (cable) system. Alex Cameron remained chairman there until 1935. He died a few years later in 1940, the same year the last of the cable tram services in Melbourne ended.^[27]

The MMTB generated further patronage by developing the enormous Wattle Park in the 1920s and 1930s, it had inherited Wattle Park from the Hawthorn Tramways Trust with the HTTs takeover by the MMTB.^[31]

After World War II other Australian cities began to replace their trams with buses. However, in Melbourne, the Bourke Street buses were replaced by trams in 1955,and new lines opened to East Preston and East Brunswick.

An overcrowded East Preston tram in Fitzroy North, 1944

Melbourne's tram usage peaked at 260 million trips in 1949, before dropping sharply to 200 million the following year in 1950.^[32] However usage defied the trend and bounced back in 1951, but began a gradual decline in usage which would continue until 1970.^[32] During the same period bus use also went into decline and buses have never proved as popular with passengers as trams at any time in Melbourne's history.

By the 1970s Melbourne was the only Australian city with a major tram network.^[33] Melbourne resisted the trend to shut down the network for three major reasons: partly because the city's wide streets and geometric street pattern made 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. Also, the infrastructure and vehicles were relatively new, having only replaced Cable Tram equipment in the 1920s–1940s. This destroyed the argument used by many other cities, which was that renewal of the tram system would cost more than replacing it with buses.

By the mid-1970s, as other cities 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 1950s in the face of increasing use of cars and the shift to the outer suburbs, beyond the tram network's limits.

The first tram line extension in over twenty years took place in 1978, along Burwood Highway. The W-class trams were gradually replaced by the new Z-class trams in the 1970s, and by the A-class trams and the larger, articulated B-class trams in the 1980s.

In 1980, the controversial Lonie Report recommended the closure of seven tram lines. Public protests and union action resulted these closures not being carried out.^[34]

Metropolitan Transit Authority and Public Transport Corporation[edit]

Main articles: Metropolitan Transit Authority and Public Transport Corporation

Hook turn sign

The MMTB, along with the metropolitan railway assets of VicRail, were absorbed into the newly formed Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) on 1 July 1983, while the regional assets of VicRail were absorbed by the State Transit Authority (STA). The MTA was formed to co-ordinate and operate the Melbourne public transport system, during 1986–87 an integration of rail, tram and bus divisions took place, with the operations, maintenance and administration of these departments fully integrated by 11 April 1988.^[35]^[36]

Z1.95 in The Met livery on Swanston Street.

The MTA introduced a new green and yellow livery and uniform design, with a new logo, showing the integration of Melbourne's public transport system, replacing the MMTB logo, and introduced a new time-based integrated ticketing system, for all modes of Melbourne's public transport.^[13]

An Automatic Vehicle Monitoring system was introduced in 1985, improving communication with drivers and allowing tracking of trams throughout the network. This reduced tram bunching and improved reliability of tram services.^[13]

The St Kilda and Port Melbourne railway lines were converted to light rail lines in 1987, with the lines closed on 1 July 1987 and 11 October 1987 respectively. Trams first ran on the St Kilda line on 20 November 1987, with Port Melbourne following on 13 December 1987.^[37]^[38]^[39] The conversion consisted of the track being re-gauged from broad gauge 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) to standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in), the overhead being converted to tramway voltage and light rail platforms built adjacent to the former stations platforms.^[40]

As a result of the Transport (Amendment) Act 1989 the MTA and STA were merged into the Public Transport Corporation (PTC) on 1 July 1989, bringing all rail services in Victoria under one body.^[36]^[41]

By the late 1980s, the state government was under financial pressures brought on by an economic downturn. In January 1990, the Labor government of Premier John Cain tried to introduce economies into the running of the public transport system, including the removal of tram conductors. This provoked a long and crippling strike by the tramways union in January 1990, resulting in a back-down by the government and the retention of conductors.^[42]

In the 1992 state election, the Liberals came to power under Premier Jeff Kennett, who planned to cut the costs of Melbourne's public transport network and remove conductors. OneLink were contracted in 1995 to introduce an automatic ticketing system. The tramway union, which opposed this move, went on strike during the 1997 Grand Prix. One month later the government announced plans for privatisation of the PTC.^[42] The tram conductors were replaced with ticketing machines between 1996 and 1998—shortly before the system was privatised.^[43] This move led to the loss of millions of dollars in revenue through fare evasion.^[44]

Privatisation[edit]

B2.2078 class tram in the M>Tram livery in 2001

On 1 July 1997, in preparation for privatisation of the Public Transport Corporation, Melbourne's tram network was split into two businesses: Met Tram 1 (later renamed Swanston Trams) and Met Tram 2 (later renamed Yarra Trams).^[45] VicTrack, a new statutory authority within the Victorian Government, was created in 1997 to hold the ownership of land and assets relating to Victoria's tram and rail systems.^[46] In addition, a statutory office was established—the Director of Public Transport—to procure rail and tram services and to enter into and manage contracts with transport operators.^[47]

After a tendering process the businesses were awarded as 12-year franchises, with Swanston Trams won by National Express Group, and the Yarra Trams business by Transdev TSL.^[13]^[48] Following a transitional period, the right to operate the two tram businesses was officially transferred from the government to the private sector under franchise agreements on 29 August 1999.^[13]

National Express renamed Swanston Trams as M>Tram, similarly along with its M>Train suburban train business, on 1 October 2001.^[13] After several years of failing to make a profit, more than a year of negotiations over revised financing arrangements with the government, and grave concern over its future viability, National Express Group announced on 16 December 2002, its decision to walk away from all of their Victorian contracts and hand control back to the state government, with funding for its operations to stop on 23 December 2002.^[49]^[50] The government ran M>Tram until negotiations were completed with Yarra Trams for it to take-over responsibility of the whole tram network from 18 April 2004.^[13]^[45]

On 25 June 2009, it was announced that KDR—a joint venture between Keolis and Downer EDI—would be the operator of the Melbourne tram network from 30 November 2009. The contract is for eight years with an option for a further seven years.^[51]

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