#4528
B class Melbourne tram
🇦🇺 Australia ·built by Commonwealth Engineering· from 1984· 1984 Melbourne tram class
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. B 2086 PTV livery Sep 2014: Alex1991· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. B2-class tram -2131 operating Route 1 to South Melbourne Beach on Swanston Street crossing Collins Street, Melbourne: Philip Mallis· CC BY-SA 2.0
what is it?
The B class Melbourne tram is a class of two-section, three-bogie articulated class trams that operate on the Melbourne tram network. Following the introduction of two B1 class prototype trams in 1984 and 1985, a total of 130 B2 class trams were originally built by Comeng, and later ABB, at Dandenong factory. They were developed for the conversion of the St Kilda and Port Melbourne railway lines to light rail, and introduced by the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and later the Public Transport Corporation between 1984 and 1994.
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 42 years ago, in 1984.
- 390 kW is about 5 family cars (~85 kW each) flat out.
- Weighs about as much as 5 African elephants (~6 t each).
- 23.5 m long: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
- Seats 120: 2 full city buses (~50 seats each).
tram / light rail: Street-running or light-rail vehicles that share or skirt the road.
spec sheet
- built
- 1984–1994
- number built
- 132
- kind
- tram / light rail
- traction
- electric
- origin
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- builders
- Commonwealth Engineering, ABB Group
- top speed
- —
- power
- 390 kW
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- electric system
- (nominal) from overhead catenary
- wheel arrangement
- B′(2)′B′
- length
- 23.5 m
- weight
- 32.5 t
- capacity
- 120 passengers
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q4833720, Wikipedia: B class Melbourne tram (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.