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Electrification of Melbourne Suburban Railways

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Electrification of Melbourne Suburban Railways For more details on this Electrification of Melbourne and other Engineering Electrification of Melbourne Suburban Railways was recognised Department of Transport Heritage Markers, visit by Engineers Australia with an engineersaustralia.org.au/ Engineering Heritage Marker in 2019. Suburban Railways portal/heritage/search In May 1919, the first regular passenger utilised rotary converter plant to in electric train services commenced turn furnish the 1500 V DC for supply on the Sandringham and Essendon to the trains via the overhead wiring. suburban railway lines. By 1923, an The latter entailed trackside structures ambitious project for electrification of the to support a contact wire above all of suburban railway lines was effectively the electrified rail tracks. At the time completed. At the time, it was claimed of its implementation in Melbourne, to be the largest suburban railway it was a world first application of network in the world to be successfully 1500 V DC for the electrification converted from steam locomotive to of a suburban railway system. electric traction. It was an immediate success in terms of increasing rail Commencing concurrent with the electrification project, automatic Newport (A) power station Turbine Hall. VPRS 12800 P1, H2216 patronage and reducing operating costs. Two car Tait train at Ashburton, 1982. Courtesy of Geelong & South electric signalling was progressively Western Rail Heritage Society Although originally mooted in the closing implemented to more safely enable years of the nineteenth century, the shorter headway times between first detailed assessment was made in successive train services. Most of the 1908 by UK consultant Charles Merz, first series of automatic electric signals under a commission from the Victorian were upper quadrant semaphore Government. Whilst Merz’s report signals but subsequently coloured light was broadly favourable, the Railway signals were increasing adopted. Commissioners opted for deferment, but resolved that all further upgrading The overall implementation of the work on the suburban network be scheme was protracted by onset of undertaken with future electrification in the First World War which effected the mind. Notably, new passenger rolling delivery of major electrical plant and local labour resources. Although Merz Overhead wiring and support structures at Kensington. Combined support stock in the form of wide-bodied Interior of a typical sliding door Tait car with internal aisle. VPRS 12800 structure and signal gantry in foreground with three sets of upper quadrant & McLellan were retained to overview P3 ADV/0888 semiautomatic semaphore home signals. VPRS 12800 P5 S0121 sliding door passenger cars to a design developed by Thomas Tait, Chairman construction, local professional engineers of the Railways Commissioners 1903 and technologists contributed in -10, were being built at the Newport many ways to the ultimate successful workshops with steel underframes completion of this major enhancement to and other provisions to facilitate Victoria’s public transport infrastructure. later conversion to electric traction. These became know as medium-voltage DC traction. The latter was shown to be the more cost The initial electrification of the Melbourne suburban ‘Tait trains’, or irreverently as ‘Red Rattlers’, and collectively effective for Melbourne and a 1500 volt DC traction system with an overhead railway network and its subsequent augmentations, saw service on the electrified nework for 65 years. contact wire was recommended. After further parliamentary committee including newer technology AC to DC conversion plant and investigations, the electrification scheme was approved in December 1912. Following the deliberations of a Royal Commission into successive generations of rolling stock, has facilitated the development of the metropolis and continues in its role as Melbourne’s railway and tramway systems in 1910 -11, In accordance with the consultant’s proposal, the scheme was constructed an essential and widely used public transport service. Merz was re-appointed to review and update his original in three successive stages. It included the building of a dedicated 78 MW report. The revised report, submitted in July 1912, included coal-fired power station at Newport that was then the largest electricity costings based on actual tender prices for major plant and generating plant in the southern hemisphere. High voltage AC from the Jolimont rotary converter substation, 1918. VPRS 12800 P4 H2223 Steamrail’s restored Tait train at Newport workshops. Photo – M Pierce equipment, with alternatives for HV single-phase AC and Newport power station supplied some sixteen traction substations that .
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