By CASEY NEILL
DANDENONG’S Bombardier will receive an order for 21 new train carriages in next week’s State Budget, securing 64 jobs.
Dandenong MP Gabrielle Williams said work on the VLocity order was expected to start in the middle of next year.
The first carriages will be serving V/Line passengers by late 2017, she said, and the order will be completed by the end of 2018.
“This investment of more than $250 million will secure a pipeline of work for the Dandenong manufacturing industry and help create 64 jobs,” Ms Williams said on Friday 1 May.
The new carriages form part of the State Government’s Rolling Stock Strategy, which is to be released with the 2015-’16 Budget on Tuesday 5 May and set out a long term plan for delivering Victoria’s trains and trams.
Last month The Journal reported that jobs were on the line while Bombardier waited for the State Government to order more trams.
The company is halfway through delivering 50 E-Class trams for a State Government contract that finishes in December next year.
The contract had the option for a further 100 trams and a spokeswoman said Bombardier hoped an order for at least some of these would be in the 2015-’16 State Budget.
She said the rail giant needed a new work order by November to secure supplier contracts and its existing team in order to avoid having to reduce its 430-strong workforce.
South Eastern Metropolitan Region MP Nina Springle called for an immediate order for 50 trams, in line with Public Transport Victoria advice on tram network needs.
“Dandenong’s Bombardier factory is one of the manufacturing success stories in Melbourne and is vitally important to the people who work there, their families and the local economy,” she said.
“As well, 90 of the 300 businesses that supply parts to Bombardier are also based in Dandenong – and these businesses and workers also face uncertainty until the government commits to a new tram order.”
A spokesman for Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan refused to commit to an order but said the Rolling Stock Strategy would “give certainty to manufacturers”.
“The strategy will end ad hoc procurement of trains and trams, give certainty to manufacturers, and ensure the number of trains and trams on the network keeps pace with patronage increases,” he said.
