Subscribe to RSSMatangi Hits The Tracks
Wellington’s first Matangi electric train has landed on the Wellington tracks, its new home.
It will be undergoing testing over the next few weeks.
The first car arrived by ship from South Korea at the weekend.
Photo credit: Greater Wellington Regional Council
19 Comments
They look great.Well done Wellington
Thanks Patrick
More photos on FB if you’re interested, too.
http://www.facebook.com/GreaterWellington
Laura(GWRC)
Good stuff! The staff on board look pleased. Rightly so. The interiors look pretty modern - even with all the covers still on.
Are the entrances exactly at the height of the platforms?
Karl - My understanding is that one car per two car set has a low floor to allow for level boarding.
Bit of a novice on these things, but I was of a novice on these things, but I was wondering can more carriages be added to a set to make it 3-4cars or does another unit have to be added?
wow they are very skinny compared to Perth trains…
@Carl - I’ve been on trains in various Aussie States. I think you’ll find these cars comparable to Brisbane and Perth. They look narrow due to the camera lens. Melbourne’s are a bit wider with room for 2 seats one side and 3 seats the other, but their trains run on broad gauge.
@Carl - I’ve been on trains in various Aussie States. I think you’ll find these cars comparable to Brisbane and Perth. They look narrow due to the camera lens. Melbourne’s are a bit wider, with room for 2 seats one side and 3 seats the other, but their trains run on broad gauge.
@Karl
“Are the entrances exactly at the height of the platforms?”
No, there is a step of ~50mm. There is a fold out ramp for wheelchairs.
@Carl
The Matangi EMUs are 2.73m wide. I think the Perth B-series EMUs are 2.9m wide. So a bit skinny side in comparison. Perth’s lucky not to have tunnels like those on the J’ville line…
“No, there is a step of ~50mm. There is a fold out ramp for wheelchairs.”
Do they have varying station platform heights, or why is this?
@karl, Yip
http://www.metlink.org.nz/metlink-news-issue-3/
Q: Why have many of the station platforms needed to be changed for the new trains?
A: The height and width of station platforms around the region varies quite considerably. It has not been too problematic with the current trains but the new trains are slightly wider so some platforms have had to be altered, or in some cases, completely rebuilt. The trailer car of the new trains – each train is made up of a motor car and a trailer car – has a low floor area. There is no step up to the inside of this carriage. Because platform heights are variable, there may still be a gap between the floor of the car and the platform but boarding for wheelchairs and buggies will be greatly improved, compared to access on the existing trains.
Can i jump up and down? sorry but this is just so great isn’t it?
@ Greenwelly
Instead of having uneven floor levels, why have they just not made all platforms a uniform hight, like there are here in the UK.
Also, I know our loading gauge is narrower but boy do those carriages look narrow compared with Europe and North America. I thought that even though we used narrow gauge, the carriages would be about the same width as standard gauge give or take a few cm’s.
Martin, I believe the loading gauge on Auckland’s network is bigger so we can have wider and longer trains up here.
@martin, the Photos are deceptive, the Matangis have a width of 2730mm, the ex Brit Rail Mk2s used on the overlander and Masterton/Palmy route have a width of 2830mm (9ft 3inch).
So the Matangis are only 100mm narrower
“Instead of having uneven floor levels, why have they just not made all platforms a uniform hight”
Probably only one word. Cost.
@Martin
Some of the modern units used in the UK are actually narrower than the Matangi EMUs (e.g. class 170 turbostar DMUs at 2690mm wide).
The interior photos make the Matangis look narrow as they both show the low floor section where the ceiling is quite high (~370mm higher than in the rest of the unit).
Link i found in Utube. First new Matangi