Alstom has delivered the first of its Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) C-Series trains to the Western Australian government’s METRONET Railcar Program.

Train manufacturing returned to the state of Western Australia in 2019 when Alstom was awarded a €800M (AUD$1.3 billion) contract to design, supply, manufacture and test forty-one 6-car electric (EMU) trains and two 3-car diesel (DMU) trains.

Alstom built the C-Series train at METRONET’s Bellevue manufacturing site in Perth, at which it employs more than 165 workers.

The company boasts that its design “has seen the transfer of the latest railway technologies and manufacturing processes to create one of the most technologically advanced train manufacturing sites in Australia”.

Before it entered passenger service, Alstom tested and validated the EMU train on Perth’s rail network.

The C-series is based on Alstom’s X’trapolis commuter train platform, which uses enhanced energy-efficient technologies. X’trapolis is already proven in service, and is being introduced in Ireland.

The train is designed to accommodate upgrades that may become available during its operational life, which is expected to be thirty-five years and during which Alstom will maintain the fleet.

Each train can carry 1,200 passengers, and has three double passenger doors on each side of each car, to allow enhanced passenger flow. The train can reach a maximum speed of 130 km/h.

Alstom has used fifty percent local content on the C-series train, with contributions from the Bellevue site and more than fifteen Western Australian businesses. The company entered a pre-employment partnership with local college North Metropolitan TAFE to provide rail manufacturing experience to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, some of whom joined Alstom’s workforce as apprentices.

The trains will serve Perth’s expanding rail network as part of Alstom’s Adessia commuter rail portfolio, which it has designed to support cities and suburban areas around the world to grow in a sustainable way, to accommodate rising numbers of commuters, and to alleviate traffic congestion.

Every day, more than sixty commuter systems carry over twenty million passengers on commuter trains made by Alstom. 

“The first train in passenger service is a special moment created through years of trusted partnership with the Western Australian Government showcasing the global expertise and local knowhow that we have here at Alstom.”

“Seeing this train taking passengers today and meeting the expectations of the Western Australian Government is a source of great pride. We are manufacturing the best and most advanced train we can possibly make in Western Australia, alongside Western Australians and for the benefit of Western Australians,. This is a special day in our company’s history in Australia.”

Pascal Dupond, Managing Director of Alstom Australia and New Zealand