Mid 2022 update - Some of this video has become out of date by this point. There are no longer any stage 1 sets in service, and all remaining alstom disc brake sets have been upgraded to stage 3s. This means that now there are only stage 2 (EDi) and stage 3 (alstom) sets in service, and you no longer have the fun of guessing what stage your set will be. There are also stage 2s beginning retirement now and this will continue, so get your comeng clips while you can :)
Great video, you may also want to look into the air con upgrade post the 2008 heatwave, the original air cons on these units used to fail at temperatures above 35, upgraded units have a larger box on the front for the fan, if it wasn't for this upgrade they will all be retired because they couldn't run in summer
@@shefanI would agree that the Hcmts are better however I would still take the Comeng side since I greatly up with those trains, though they will retire soon 😞
Great video Fact to edit: The majority of Stage 2 is that they have different colored seats, purely because they have to distinguished between the disabled passengers and able-bodied passengers, the blue seats are for the able-bodied ones, while the orange ones are for the disabled ones, negotiations on this idea were really successful,
Good stuff as usual mate! Personally I prefer the Alstom and EDI sets in their original Connex refurbishment, hence when we haven't been in lockdown I've been trying to ride as many stage 1 referbs as possible before they all sadly get scrapped in the coming months. I agree they needed an upgrade to last a while longer but I feel they could have done a better job. For example putting those priority seat stickers at head height on the windows blocking the view. And the sheer amount of priority seats more broadly. Heads up Metro, 40+% of the seats don't need to be priority seats, the stage 2 & 3 life extension comengs seem to be the only fleet where this is the case.
I think the actual amount of priority seats is similar, just on the other fleets there is no distinction between the priority and non-priority seats. To be honest I also think on the stage 2 and 3 sets they should have removed the 3rd row of seats changing from a 2+3 layout to 2+2 to improve standing room, and potentially added some more longitudinal seating, but who knows, we could see a 2nd life extension in 5 years or so for the remaining comengs including some of these things.
@@MetroManMelbourne Do you remember how the original X'Trapolis sets had 3×2 seating? And when they ordered new sets the original X'Trapolis sets were reduced to 2×2 to match the rest of the fleet? Apparently at that time they wanted to do the same thing with the Comeng fleet but apparently it was too difficult, something to do with the way the seats were fixed to the ground or something like that, so they removed the seats next to the doors instead.
@@MetroManMelbourne And I do think there are more priority seats in the Comengs. Compare them to the X'Trapolis sets that have started to replace the seat covers of priority seats to the PTV orange. Definitely feels like there is a heap more priority seats on the Comengs.
some of the trains for retirement could be kept in service and made into 9 car sets till they are replaced with hcmt or new xtrap 2,0 or made into hybrid trains to allow lines like Melton Wyndham vale to become part of metro service
What are the new trains that you mainly see on the Pakenham line now? Brilliant suspension, shit seats and the bottom to get on or off is stiff af and sometimes doesn't work
You forgot to mention traction relay overhauls, master controllers, camshaft and Static Notching Relays. I worked on stage 2 & 3 of the project as a sparky.
@@MetroManMelbourne I also worked on Stage 2 and can vouch for this comment. In fact I still have a complete breakdown of the workscope if you are ever interested.
Enjoyed I really need to see some of these and ride some before they go but my mum and dad need to let me first >:( or if they come back to the lilydale line idk who knows anyway very good video
Thanks very much! As much as I'd love them to come back to the Lilydale line I highly doubt they will (unless we have a major issue with xtraps or something), but we can hope.
Pretty much the HCMTs can replace a lot of the fleet and it was decided to keep only disk brake sets after that which just happened to all be alstoms. Also avoids unnecessary differences.
It's not a numbers thing, it's an age thing. Yes there are more EDI's however, the Alstoms just happen to be the newer of the comeng fleet hence why they received a stage 3 upgrade and the EDI's did not. All comengs will be replaced eventually, they are just getting rid of the oldest of the fleet first.
@@Alexander_Dunn I couldn't agree more! I don't know what PTV's current obsession is with yellow grab handles but they are much uglier imo. And the V/Locity's and C1 class trams that have been converted from green to yellow is a poor aesthetic decision imo. Was also really hoping the new HCMT's wouldn't have yellow grab handles but they do. Going back to the comeng though, there are some older Alstom's that have already been retired, so it's not just the EDI's that are going right now but basically all of the newest generation comeng's are Alstom's, so they will be around longer, however they will not have the rainbow connex interior, those sets are the ones being phased out right now.
Are there still Comengs with the old incandescent marker lights still running? I still remember when there were pre-rereferb Comengs with LED marker lights still running; I think those became stage 1 sets iirc Im expecting the the last 10 or so would be replaced by Xtrap 2s - no more HCMTs than is currently ordered due to political issues
@@VicTransportExpeditions i think Aussie Transport is right, although the doors are concept models, there hasn't appeared to be any other upgrades to comengs above the stage 3 model.
@@kirk7238 It was fitted as a prototype, along with an X’trapolis style gangway door (Of which was later removed.) Don’t know where you got this “Stage 4” from.
As of 2024 some trains have had better door locking equipment installed as well as an emergency door release. So far I’ve only found Alstom sets with the technology. But I have found a video of an EDI with the upgrades
By mid 2022, the comemg fleet will be retired in 8 and a half years from the message of this video(I made this message on the 6th of July, 2022 at 10:43pm)
if they are more than sufficient then keep them going with refurbishments. if there is a major upgrade e.g. double story, then update them. way to much waste these days for "style" and futuristic looking tech. if required then change the drive for updated tech but the actual body's are fine
Once trains hit their design life (for the Comeng now) it simply becomes more expensive to continually refurbish and maintain the trains than to replace them. As per your second suggestion - by the time you strip them down to just a body and completely rebuild them with new tech, you're better off just building a train from scratch.
Mid 2022 update -
Some of this video has become out of date by this point. There are no longer any stage 1 sets in service, and all remaining alstom disc brake sets have been upgraded to stage 3s.
This means that now there are only stage 2 (EDi) and stage 3 (alstom) sets in service, and you no longer have the fun of guessing what stage your set will be. There are also stage 2s beginning retirement now and this will continue, so get your comeng clips while you can :)
i heard there are plans to refurbish the siemens and x trapolis next
they should just replace x'trapolis 2.0 with more HCMT units
Great video, you may also want to look into the air con upgrade post the 2008 heatwave, the original air cons on these units used to fail at temperatures above 35, upgraded units have a larger box on the front for the fan, if it wasn't for this upgrade they will all be retired because they couldn't run in summer
I have planned for a video about why connex got so bad for a while which would include that - no idea when it would release though
Even after the aircon upgrade they were still hopeless on a hot day.
Another great post. Well done and I look forward to seeing your next one
Love these trains wish they could be around forever. I always miss the good old Hitachi trains 😢
The Comengs are the best 😭 don’t retire them😩
HCMTs are far better.
The air conditioning was always inadequate.
@@shefan Nah they're all good
@@shefanI would agree that the Hcmts are better however I would still take the Comeng side since I greatly up with those trains, though they will retire soon 😞
Great video
Fact to edit: The majority of Stage 2 is that they have different colored seats, purely because they have to distinguished between the disabled passengers and able-bodied passengers, the blue seats are for the able-bodied ones, while the orange ones are for the disabled ones, negotiations on this idea were really successful,
Good stuff as usual mate!
Personally I prefer the Alstom and EDI sets in their original Connex refurbishment, hence when we haven't been in lockdown I've been trying to ride as many stage 1 referbs as possible before they all sadly get scrapped in the coming months.
I agree they needed an upgrade to last a while longer but I feel they could have done a better job. For example putting those priority seat stickers at head height on the windows blocking the view. And the sheer amount of priority seats more broadly. Heads up Metro, 40+% of the seats don't need to be priority seats, the stage 2 & 3 life extension comengs seem to be the only fleet where this is the case.
I think the actual amount of priority seats is similar, just on the other fleets there is no distinction between the priority and non-priority seats. To be honest I also think on the stage 2 and 3 sets they should have removed the 3rd row of seats changing from a 2+3 layout to 2+2 to improve standing room, and potentially added some more longitudinal seating, but who knows, we could see a 2nd life extension in 5 years or so for the remaining comengs including some of these things.
@@MetroManMelbourne
Do you remember how the original X'Trapolis sets had 3×2 seating? And when they ordered new sets the original X'Trapolis sets were reduced to 2×2 to match the rest of the fleet? Apparently at that time they wanted to do the same thing with the Comeng fleet but apparently it was too difficult, something to do with the way the seats were fixed to the ground or something like that, so they removed the seats next to the doors instead.
@@MetroManMelbourne
And I do think there are more priority seats in the Comengs. Compare them to the X'Trapolis sets that have started to replace the seat covers of priority seats to the PTV orange. Definitely feels like there is a heap more priority seats on the Comengs.
Would be cool if they could've done something like this to our silver sets here in Sydney...
City decker in the early 2000s could be considered equivalent, by the 2010s though they needed to start retirement.
this is the only retirement gone smoothly since the taits
so far
I remember the days when people use to have a smoko on the outdoor part between the carriages!
I've seen it happen within the last 12 months, certainly hasn't stopped. You can sometimes see cigarette butts when walking between carriages.
You could probably still do that on Xtraps tbh, the ventilation in that part between the glass doors is pretty good, at least when it's moving.
Awesome video dude!
some of the trains for retirement could be kept in service and made into 9 car sets till they are replaced with hcmt or new xtrap 2,0 or made into hybrid trains to allow lines like Melton Wyndham vale to become part of metro service
Another awesome video👍keep it up 😁
Love Comeg
Best trains I ever rode.
What are the new trains that you mainly see on the Pakenham line now? Brilliant suspension, shit seats and the bottom to get on or off is stiff af and sometimes doesn't work
They’re the HCMT trains. They’ve almost finished retiring the other trains on that line but there’s still a few months to go before they’re exclusive.
@@MetroManMelbourne I'm surprised the city trains haven't first. I guess Pakenham is just blessed as much as it's a dump xD
You forgot to mention traction relay overhauls, master controllers, camshaft and Static Notching Relays. I worked on stage 2 & 3 of the project as a sparky.
No public information that I can find mentions that, so I’m not saying it isn’t true, but it’s a bit hard to cover.
@@MetroManMelbourne I also worked on Stage 2 and can vouch for this comment. In fact I still have a complete breakdown of the workscope if you are ever interested.
Rip the comengs
6:12 591M-1146T-592M is one
Yes i love these trains like the red ones are back on the teack
I like the video do u prefer Edi or Alstom also did u know Hitachi's have camshaft motors?
Enjoyed
I really need to see some of these and ride some before they go but my mum and dad need to let me first >:( or if they come back to the lilydale line idk who knows anyway very good video
Thanks very much! As much as I'd love them to come back to the Lilydale line I highly doubt they will (unless we have a major issue with xtraps or something), but we can hope.
When will the stage two be retired?
Over the next couple of years, likely last ones will be gone around 2024-5
Sad 😔
what's a chopper comeng?
You always hoped you would get a Comeng train for the aircon and comfort vs a Tait, Harris or Hitachi train
How much did you spend on Myki just randomly on trains 😅
Yay a new Chanel I’m interested in!
Why are on,y alstom Comeng’s being stage 3? Wouldn’t there be more EDI’s in existence?
Pretty much the HCMTs can replace a lot of the fleet and it was decided to keep only disk brake sets after that which just happened to all be alstoms. Also avoids unnecessary differences.
It's not a numbers thing, it's an age thing. Yes there are more EDI's however, the Alstoms just happen to be the newer of the comeng fleet hence why they received a stage 3 upgrade and the EDI's did not.
All comengs will be replaced eventually, they are just getting rid of the oldest of the fleet first.
@@Jordan-288 right, thanks, this is why a lot of the Comeng’s retired so far are EDIs.
@@Jordan-288 good because I prefer alstom Comeng’s over EDIs because of the seat padding is more comfy imo and green looks better
@@Alexander_Dunn
I couldn't agree more! I don't know what PTV's current obsession is with yellow grab handles but they are much uglier imo. And the V/Locity's and C1 class trams that have been converted from green to yellow is a poor aesthetic decision imo. Was also really hoping the new HCMT's wouldn't have yellow grab handles but they do.
Going back to the comeng though, there are some older Alstom's that have already been retired, so it's not just the EDI's that are going right now but basically all of the newest generation comeng's are Alstom's, so they will be around longer, however they will not have the rainbow connex interior, those sets are the ones being phased out right now.
Are there still Comengs with the old incandescent marker lights still running?
I still remember when there were pre-rereferb Comengs with LED marker lights still running; I think those became stage 1 sets iirc
Im expecting the the last 10 or so would be replaced by Xtrap 2s - no more HCMTs than is currently ordered due to political issues
The subway cars look like the one from the knowing movie
I just hope they never get retired
won't happen. They are getting old and they have already started retirement.
@@MetroManMelbourne ik
I think the best we can hope for is that they keep 3-4 sets for heritage purposes. All train fleets get replaced eventually
@@Jordan-288 400m maybe as a stage 1
maybe they will keep one stage 1, one stage 2 and one stage 3
My grandfather built the Comeng trains.
What is better Alstom or EDI comengs?
EDI
I believe the "stage 4" comeng train in the set with a different door in between the gangway that resembles the X'Trapolises doors.
Incorrect
@@VicTransportExpeditions i think Aussie Transport is right, although the doors are concept models, there hasn't appeared to be any other upgrades to comengs above the stage 3 model.
@@kirk7238 It was fitted as a prototype, along with an X’trapolis style gangway door (Of which was later removed.) Don’t know where you got this “Stage 4” from.
That was 324M-T-342M it got a set of all glass gangway doors at one end
As of 2024 some trains have had better door locking equipment installed as well as an emergency door release. So far I’ve only found Alstom sets with the technology. But I have found a video of an EDI with the upgrades
at first i thougt the title said "the connex life extension project" 💀
I don't want the coming trains to go they are the only trains I catch
then you'll get better ones as a replacement
By mid 2022, the comemg fleet will be retired in 8 and a half years from the message of this video(I made this message on the 6th of July, 2022 at 10:43pm)
Cool
Comeng’s
arw you and moo friends because you mention eachother alot
They should make another 4D that is more reliable to replace the comeng
if they are more than sufficient then keep them going with refurbishments. if there is a major upgrade e.g. double story, then update them. way to much waste these days for "style" and futuristic looking tech. if required then change the drive for updated tech but the actual body's are fine
Once trains hit their design life (for the Comeng now) it simply becomes more expensive to continually refurbish and maintain the trains than to replace them. As per your second suggestion - by the time you strip them down to just a body and completely rebuild them with new tech, you're better off just building a train from scratch.
Where can I ban appeal discord ban
nowhere at the moment
i prefer Alstom ones
Your audio is terrible
Ok