Australasian Bus & Coach - April 2018

(^12) ABCApril 2018busnews.com.au
VOLGREN WELCOMES
TOKYO INSPECTORS
REPRESENTATIVES from Tokyo
Metropolitan Government
(TMG) and Scania Japan have
given ‘highly positive’ feedback
after recently visiting Volgren’s
manufacturing headquarters in
Dandenong, Victoria, for their
first customer inspection of its
low-floor bus order.
The delegation was on hand
to inspect and finalise the first
units for TMG, the first of a
29-strong, low-floor route bus
order made in December, 2017.
Nick Carnie, product
manager and industrial
designer for Volgren says
the low-floor bus product is
completely different to Tokyo
Metropolitan’s current fleet –
making the inspection all the
more important.
“The ability to review the
finished product together
in person, discuss elements
of the body design and the
specification was immensely
valuable to both parties,”
Carnie said.
“For our international
customers it removes any
‘lost in translation’ situations
and you get a much greater
understanding of how the end
user interacts with the bus and
the transport system more
broadly,” he added.
Carnie said the feedback
from Scania Japan and TMG
was “highly positive” with
both parties signaling their
excitement regarding the future
of low-floor buses in Japan and
the newly formed relationship.
Production of the remaining
buses will commence later
this month and aims to be
completed by August, 2018.
Above:
Tokyo Metropolitan
Government (TMG)
and Scania Japan
delegates, joined
by Peter Dale,
Volgren CEO, and
Wendy McMillan,
CEO of The Rolling
Stock Development
Division.
INCREASED BUS THERMAL
INCIDENTS, SAYS REPORT
AS REPORTED BY THE SYDNEY
MORNING HERALD newspaper, a bus
caught fire or reported “excessive
heat” and smoke every four days, on
average, in NSW last year, according
to the Office of Transport Safety
Investigations (OTSI) report into all
buses and coaches in NSW.
There were 21 bus fires and 69
“thermal incidents” in 2017, up 16 per
cent compared to 2016, it’s stated. The
number of buses with such problems
has increased each year since 2013,
from 28 in that year to 90 in 2017.
The increase “appears to be a result
of a combination of increased reporting
by operators and a rise in thermal
incidents”, the report finds.
The incidents affected 865
passengers, with a school bus holding
70 passengers the busiest to be
stopped due to overheating or fire.
There were no injuries reported in
2017 and fewer buses caught fire (21)
than in 2016 when 37 burst into flames.
The five buses that were destroyed
by fire in 2017 were built between
1995 and 2004. Two buses suffered
major damage, 20 sustained minor
damage, 60 were “smoke damaged”,
and three reported smoke but were not
damaged. Engine bay fire suppression
systems (EBFS) were fitted to all NSW
public transport buses by September
2017, but only 63 of the 90 buses that
caught fire or overheated in 2017 had
an EBFS system fitted.
Worst-case scenario, and
hopefully avoided.
NEWS