High Capacity Metro Train plans at risk due to carriage-moving dispute

TESTING of new high capacity Melbourne trains is set for November — the same month as the state election. But a proposed EBA for a new maintenance depot has sparked fury among a branch of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.

PLANS for new high capacity trains that will carry up to 1100 people risk going off the rails because of a dispute about who is allowed to move carriages around a maintenance facility.

Testing of the first High Capacity Metro Train is planned for November — the same month as the state election.

But a workplace agreement for a new maintenance depot being built in Pakenham has sparked fury among the locomotive branch of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union and risks causing delays.

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Under a proposed EBA non-qualified drivers would shift the 160-metre-long trains out of the new facility, before they are used by operator Metro for services.

That matter is now set to go before the Fair Work Commission, while another dispute about rostering could throw the train assembly process into chaos at a Newport facility west of Melbourne.

Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan insists the timeline for the HCMT project, which will see new trains run on the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines next year, will remain on track.

Victorian Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan. Picture: AAP

Metro Trains and the Downer-led Evolution Rail consortium that is building the outer suburban facility, are trying to resolve the standoff with the RTBU, which is bracing for union elections in the same month as the November state election.

Government spokesperson Hayley Bester said “we encourage the parties to continue to work constructively and in good faith to sort through the issues”.

“This is a matter for the operators, their employees and the unions, and we understand it is the subject of ongoing discussions in the Fair Work Commission,” she said.

“The Government has been advised this will have no impact on HCMT testing later in the year.”

The RTBU secretary Luba Grigorovitch said the proposed EBA was an attempt to “divide the workforce”.

“The RTBU will fight tooth and nail to ensure that no worker is disadvantaged in the maintenance of new trains,” she said.

Rail Tram and Bus Union secretary Luba Grigorovitch with workers at a rally. Picture: Ian Currie

Long-term, the new generation trains are scheduled to operate on the new Melbourne Metro rail tunnel between Pakenham and Sunbury.

Sixty-five HCMTs are being assembled in Newport with carriage shells imported from China but 60 per cent of the total content provided by Victorian companies.