Office of Transport Safety Investigation into fractures of Urbos 3 Light Rail Vehicle Underframes

The Office of Transport Safety Investigations (OTSI) released an interim report on the grounding of Sydney’s Inner West Light Rail (IWLR) fleet in October 2021.

OTSI’s investigation into the incident is ongoing and scheduled for completion in the first half of 2023. Given the complexity of the matters under investigation and the public interest, OTSI has produced an interim report. This interim report aims to outline the facts gathered to date, along with some of its observations.

OTSI undertakes ‘no-blame’ investigations to understand why incidents occur and make recommendations to prevent them from happening again and improve transport safety. The IWLR investigation was launched in November 2021 following the discovery of a range of fractures in the Urbos 3 light rail vehicles (LRVs) underneath the seating in the bogie box area and in the underframe bogie bump stops.

The Interim Safety Investigation Report covers the procurement, maintenance, and operation systems and processes for the Urbos 3 LRVs, including:

• Fracture detection timeline and location
• Contract sourcing and associated governance
• Design, approval and acceptance related to the bogie and underframe
• Maintenance inspection regime for the bogie and underframe
• Operating parameters and performance for track geometry and speed
• Response to the safety issue by relevant parties
• Similar LRV incidents.

The Union is monitoring this ongoing investigation and will keep an eye on the ongoing revelations brought about by its findings. When it comes to transport and transport safety – no one knows better than our members, and we at the Union stand ready to elevate the voices of our members, and we will refuse to tolerate any potential attempts in the future to cast blame. Specifically, while we wait for a final report, the Union is ready to hold the Government to account for its failure to invest in the proper infrastructure of a dedicated tram line instead of using the old existing line.

The Interim Report released by the Office of Transport Safety can be accessed here.