Tangara
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The Tangara (an aboriginal word meaning to go), a class of CityRail (Sydney) rolling stock and manufactured by Goninan. It is the second-newest class in CityRail's fleet, before the Millennium train and is known as the "3rd generation" trains. A total of 450 carriages were ordered and commenced service in 1988 to 1994. In 1996, 5 spare driving trailers were ordered as replacements for accident damaged carriages. The Tangara is a four car consist equipped with air-conditioning and chopper control, with the middle two cars being non-control motor cars, and the two outer cars being driving control trailers fitted with the pantograph. Two four car sets can be coupled to provide one eight car set. The suburban sets were known as "T" sets, while the outer-suburban sets were known as "G" sets. There are occasional workings of an eight car Tangara set made up of one each of a four car "G" set and "T" set.
The last 80 of the 450 Tangara cars were modified for use on South Coast, Blue Mountains and Central Coast peak hour services and are known as the outer-suburban "G" sets and entered service in 1994 to 1995, shortly after the delivery of the last "T" set carriages. It is distinguished from the suburban "T" sets by yellow panel flashings at the front and rear, passenger operated doors, and inside sports improvements for intercity travellers, such as onboard toilets and fresh water dispensers, high-backed reversible seats (the original Tangaras have fixed seats), and luggage racks. Set G7 was the only Tangara set fitted with an AC drive system for evaluation purposes with the existing DC stock and compatibilty with signalling and communication systems on the network. G7 was involved in the Waterfall train disaster on 31st January 2003.
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From 2003, a number of suburban "T" sets were being refurbished to give a similar CityRail corporate appearance like the Millennium "M" sets and this involved the fitment of yellow panels on the front (like the "G" sets), yellow painted passenger doors and the end carriages receiving yellow paint surround. The blue and yellow stripes along the bottom of the carriages were replaced by a single yellow stripe and "fuzzy" CityRail logos were placed above the carriage numbers. The "T" sets orginally had blue fabric upholstery that have since been replaced with blue vinyl upholstery.
A train bearing strong resemblence to a Tangara, known as the 4D, was until recently in use by Connex on the Lilydale and Belgrave lines in Melbourne Australia. It is similar in its shape only as it is of a different gauge and is built to be compatible with Melbourne's Comeng trains. It is not actually a Tangara but was a new-build of a similar design.
External links
- Tangara manufacturer's webpage (http://www.unitedgoninan.com.au/united/united.cfm?ID=427)
- CityRail Fleet webpage (http://www.cityrail.info/aboutus/trains/index.jsp)