Back in 2023 I got to see and provide feedback for the X’Trapolis 2 train, based on a mock-up in a warehouse in Tullamarine.
Time marches on, and the first actual trains have been delivered and are now testing. Myself and some other “rail influencers” were invited by the State Government to inspect one of the trains on Wednesday.
This came just days after they announced the order for these trains had been expanded from 25 to 50 trains, allowing a complete replacement of the Comeng fleet.
Vicsig says there are currently 94 three-car Comeng trains in service, or 47 six-car trains. (Over on Wikipedia it seems to be the subject of some debate/edit wars.)
The front of this train was missing the cover which is expected to be used in service.
Also note the relatively low resolution monochrome destination display. Thankfully the internal displays (see below) are much better.
The new trains will be in a fixed six car formation, gaining back passenger space by not having intermediate cabs like the older trains.
Our display model was parked at Newport Workshops “Garden Platform”, which is a good deal lower than most normal stations, leading to a bigger than usual gap.
The carriages have three doors on each side similar to most other Melbourne trains.
We didn’t get to try them, but the door buttons will apparently like the Siemens or X’Trapolis 1 buttons, and don’t have the confusing HCMT thing of locking up for a few seconds if you dare to press them too early. (Apparently this annoying aspect of the HCMT doors is known, but very difficult to change, which is why it remains. On the bright side it doesn’t cause issues at the busy Metro tunnel stations where the doors open automatically.)
When boarding the first thing you notice is the seats, with much higher backs than most of the existing trains.
There are bars to hold onto most of the way along the carriage, though some roof-mounted bars don’t have a lot of hanging handles for people who aren’t tall!
There’s a mix of longitudinal and transverse seating. There aren’t as many groups of 4 seats as the older trains have – this is probably a good thing, as facing seats seem to encourage some slobs to put their feet/shoes on the seats. (Maybe we should borrow an idea from the Paris RER and have footrests?)
The transverse seats seem to be very similar to those found on some of the VLocity “VR” trains – originally intended for short-haul services, but actually running trips all over the state.
This is no surprise as the trains are from the same manufacturer. I personally find them comfortable enough for metro-length journeys.
The longitudinal seats are a mix of fixed position (also fine for comfort) and pull-down (noticeably harder and less comfortable).
Overall the aisle is nice and wide, and there’s also space to stand next to the doors without blocking them.
As you might expect, the front section of the first car has space for wheelchairs, and a gas-assisted ramp, stored in the cases near the cab, shown below. Another manual ramp is in a smaller case at the front of the second car.
The train design looks good, though there are some quirks. Some of the pull-down seats are positioned such that there’s a small gap at the end of the carriage. Not sure why they didn’t space them out a bit more.
Noted in the mock-up and also the case here: the placing of handles on seats at the carriage ends is a little bit inconsistent. (There are some you can’t see in this pic, on the other side of the foreground fire doors).
The only network map displayed in this train was on a wheelchair ramp case near the driver’s cab. There don’t seem to be any other spots big enough to display them around the rest of the train. This was highlighted with the mock-up too. Maybe they’ll design a different portrait format map for these trains.
The in-carriage displays look quite good; similar to the HCMT fleet. The one shown below with the route map also lists the stations the train doesn’t stop at, which could get interesting on the Frankston “double express” services (which normally skip 12 stops) or non-PSR express runs to the end of the line – the list could get pretty long. But the stop diagram is pretty clear.
On this display of Werribee express skipped stations the list scrolled across very slowly. So, don’t expect to stop at otswood.
I’m assuming the typo here (letters that should be in upper case) will be fixed. The quality of the automated announcements was excellent.
Here’s what the cab looks like. The drivers have a screen which can be used to select disruption or service change announcements to be played.
We didn’t get to go for a ride, but a driver told us the train is pretty nice to drive, with good braking and acceleration.
USB power at seats? Alas no. This power cable is only temporary!
Overall impressions
Overall? The X’trapolis 2 train looks good. These are expected to enter service this year, initially on the Frankston, Craigieburn and Upfield lines.
The Comeng trains they’ll replace are about 40 years old. New trains with more efficient layouts, more space, faster acceleration and better passenger information systems are a good thing. Reliability for newer trains is better as well.
And even better, more train services were announced this week too. More about that in the next post.
Thanks to the State Government for the invitation.
Also:
- Pics from AussieWirraway on Reddit
- Martin “Taitset” Bennet’s video
- Philip Mallis video
- Marcus Wong’s blog, including documenting the first day in service
Edits 26/4/2026: A couple of additional points added
7 replies on “Inside the new X’Trapolis 2.0 train”
I hope the chairs aren’t so tall as to block the view of the seats behind. One thing I find annoying with QR’s high backed chairs on the NGR is that you can’t see if a seat is occupied from the aisle until you are almost next to those seats leading to situations where you walk up to a seat only to awkwardly look at the person sitting there.
Thanks for sharing. The seats indeed look similar to VLocity trains. But it’s not just the four VR units that have them. In fact they’re the minority, as there are 13 regular VLocity units with them as well.
Yeah not sure a list of stations not stopped at will really work – and I guess for the Werribee line whether the train is going via the Altona loop or not as well (unless the Altona loop is regarded as a separate line these days).
Sort of related, the in-station automated announcements for Sunbury trains have a couple of issues – express Footscray to West Footscray sounds weird with the accent on the wrong word – and the order of the announcement on inbounds, via the Metro Tunnel comes after the express stopping pattern which of course is after the train leaves the tunnel.
A fellow passenger almost pushed me out of the way to press the door open button to get off a train at a Metro Station. Everybody seems to give them a fruitless press to open the doors.
The Altona Loop should be listed as a separate line named Laverton. I have seen that used on a destination display.
With the HCMT, there is a map of just Sunbury, Cranbourne and Pakenham lines, as well as a network map. With these trains running on Frankston, Craigieburn and Upfield lines, unless some of the fleet will be dedicated to specific lines, it might not be possible to do what they did with the HCMT which runs on specific lines. But the most important thing is the network map at a bare minimum.
Somehow they made the new Xโtrapolis even more ugly than the original. The ironboard seats look terrible. THe HCMT and Siemens trains look much nicer than this.
Mike Montross, I’m not sure I agree about the trains looking ugly. However, like you, I’m not a fan of the ironboard seats. I think they reduce visibility – especially for and of small children and shorter adults.