Glenelg Tram - Fleet

Fleet

Until January 2006, 1929-vintage H-class cars provided all services on the Glenelg line. These trams were built for the electrification of the Glenelg line and have many of the characteristics of American "interurban" cars of the same period.

The H-class are the longest rigid-body trams remaining in service in Australia, and the second-longest ever built. They travel in pairs during peak times, and with the retirement of the W2 trams from Melbourne's network are the oldest passenger trams in service in Australia. Originally, 30 H-class trams were built with road numbers running from 351 - 380.

Arriving in Australia from November 2005 and entering service in January 2006, the first members of a new fleet of modern Flexity Classic trams entered service. Eleven 30 m-long articulated low-floor Light Rail vehicles, built by Bombardier in Germany, have replaced the H-class trams in regular day-to-day service. As part of the 2008-2009 South Australian State Budget, it was announced that an additional four Flexity Classic trams were being ordered from Bombardier Transport for use on the extended service from the current City West terminus to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Road numbers for the current 11 Flexity Classic trams run from 101–111. It is expected that the additional four Flexity Classic trams will be numbered 112–115.

Five refurbished H-class trams have been retained. They operated a restricted 'heritage service' timetable on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays. The H-class trams are currently not in use but are stored at the depot awaiting a decision on their future. They have been fitted with safety measures similar to those of the new trams, including vigilance control and electro-magnetic track brakes. The retained H-class trams are numbers 351, 367, 370, 374 and 380. Three of the trams are currently stored near Tonsley.

In May 2009 it was announced that the State Government had purchased six Citadis 302 five car trams made in France by Alstom. These trams were originally for the Metro Ligero system in Madrid, Spain, but are now considered "superfluous." Costing A$3 million each, they are expected to be running by December 2009. The ex Madrid trams destined for Adelaide are former Madrid road numbers 165 - 170. The trams were delivered in two separate batches of three to Australia being landed in Melbourne for modifications at Preston Workshops with the first tram (former Madrid number 167) arriving on 9 September 2009. The next three trams arriving at Preston Workshops two months later on 10 November 2009. A day later on 11 November, the first tram (now renumbered in the TransAdelaide number system as 204, ex Madrid 167) was noted leaving Melbourne on its roughly 800 km truck journey from Melbourne to its new home in Adelaide, arriving at Glengowrie workshops on 13 November around 1am. Early on Tuesday morning, 17 November, 204 was noted running on the short section between Glengowrie depot and Glenelg on its first Adelaide trial run.

The table below shows the former MetroLigero numbers upon arrival in Australia and the new TransAdelaide road numbers.