The state government's $986 million investment in new metropolitan trains will help avoid losing hundreds of skilled jobs in Ballarat, unions say.
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Replacing aged Comeng metro trains, the 25 next-generation X'Trapolis trains will be built at Alstom's North Ballarat Workshops on Creswick Road.
Ballarat Regional Trades and Labour Council secretary Brett Edgington said after two years of limbo for Alstom workers, who were waiting for the state government to commit to building more trains, it's exciting news.
He said he wasn't expecting a full construction commitment, just more money for design work, but with work now in place until 2025 - at least - the job security should stop skilled workers being "scattered to the wind".
Alstom will also invest $13 million in retooling and upgrading the Ballarat workshops, indicating a long-term commitment to the city.
"The initial proposal was between 20 and 25 train sets - it's amazing to see state government commit to 25, the upper end of the bid," Mr Edgington said.
"That gives Alstom the confidence to sink significant money into the workshops.
"There's skills there that are really difficult to find, and the bulk of those skills have been retained in that workforce - a lot of fitters and boilermakers could have headed out to mining industry where they could have had much better pay, but they've been retained in Ballarat."
In 2019, workers held rallies outside the factory and MP's offices, saying their futures were uncertain when the last train order ran out.
The Ballarat factory has been dormant since July 2020, with just a skeleton crew maintaining it - some workers were redeployed to Bombardier's VLocity workshop in Ballarat East, while others have found work in Alstom projects elsewhere, managing director Mark Coxon said.
"For our employees and their families, it gives them some security and certainty for the future, with production going out to 2025, whereas in the past, we were only looking at production one year to 18 months in advance," he said.
"We're looking forward to getting those workers back in about a years' time, retraining them, transferring technologies to this site."
Mr Coxon confirmed there will be about 150 jobs at the Ballarat factory, with 15 per cent to be apprentices, and seven per cent allocated to "disadvantaged Victorians".
Mr Edgington said it was a "great opportunity to create the next generation of skilled workers", and particularly attract more women to the field.
Committee for Ballarat chief executive Michael Poulton said as well as the direct cash injection and additional jobs, the announcement brings more confidence for big business in Ballarat.
"We've seen that GovHub, a $100m project, has brought enormous energy to the middle of our city - this is 10 times that amount," he said, noting the advanced manufacturing skills required will also benefit new apprentices.
"The new technologies, the design and construction of components will require new skills, new trades - it's more about the skills of the future," he said.
"It's the sense it gives young boys and girls in schools currently that there is a future in advanced manufacturing.
"We're really excited about working with Alstom and partners in renewables about how they can provide power for retooled workshops differently - what's the mix of renewables that will reduce the cost of energy to Alstom's new workshops?"
Wendouree MP Juliana Addison said the $986 million is another big investment in Ballarat, following the $600 million committed to redevelop the Ballarat Base Hospital, and the state- and federal-funded $500 million Ballarat Line Upgrade.
"We said we'd work with Alstom to protect local jobs, and that's exactly what this announcement does, by delivering yet another huge pipeline of work," she said in a statement.
Buninyong MP Michaela Settle added it was "backing our local economy".
"Ballarat has a proud history of making trains and this is great news - keeping high skilled jobs in our local community".
So what are these new trains?
The new X'Trapolis 2.0 metropolitan trains have been designed to work on the existing network, but will have several big upgrades compared to the modern ones.
Alstom has been making the current X'Trapolis models in Ballarat for 20 years, and spent the last few years working closely with the state government on the 2.0 design.
The 25 new trains will be six-carriage sets, as opposed to the three-car sets currently used - usually run as pairs - that will be used on the Craigieburn, Upfield, and Frankston lines, according to Public Transport Minister Ben Carroll, who was in Ballarat for the announcement on Tuesday with acting premier James Merlino.
The capacity will be boosted from 760 to 1240, and new technologies like added regenerative braking will be used to make them more energy efficient.
With construction beginning next year, the first trains are expected to be on the network from 2026, Mr Carroll added, with a 60 per cent local content requirement - this means while the train bodies will come from overseas, some manufacturing will still be local, and the wiring and installation of components will be completed in Ballarat.
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Rail Futures Institute president John Hearsch said he welcomed the news.
"The existing X'Trapolis has proven to be the most reliable train on the metro fleet, and I think the mark two will build on that," he said.
"We're talking (building) five trains a year, and if these trains are going to be as successful as I anticipate they will be, you'd have an expectation there'd be more to follow this initial 25 - there's 93 Comeng trains still around."