Days after it was discovered New South Wales (NSW)’s new trains were too big for the tunnels, turns out Queensland’s new trains are kind of illegal.
Just a week after it was discovered that NSW’s $2 billion new train fleet will be too wide for the tunnels, the Queensland Government is facing the possibility of having to pull $4bn worth of new trains off the tracks because they are so badly designed, they’re basically illegal. When they were ordered, the then Government crowed about the “New Generation Rollingstock” (NGR) trains being half the price of similar designs.
But the cheap price has brought with it multiple problems including failing air conditioning, issues with the braking and, most damningly, a botched procurement process that saw the Government settle on a design that doesn’t meet minimum legal standards, according to The Courier Mail.
The bodge job is so dodge, the trains sport disabled accessible toilets that wheelchairs can’t properly fit into. The Indian-built fleet of 75 trains from Canadian manufacturing giant Bombardier, of which nine have been delivered, could be banned from working on the network.
Queensland Rail (QR) is desperate to avoid that outcome because the trains are due to ferry hundreds of thousands of people to next month’s Commonwealth Games. “It really is a crisis. A massive bungle due to procrastination, obfuscation and gross incompetence,” a public transport advocate has told news.com.au. “All hell could break loose.”
On Monday, a Brisbane commuter who uses a wheelchair confirmed she was seeking legal advice that could halt the new $4.4bn trains in their tracks.