The joint venture between Downer EDi Rail and Hitachi was established to design, manufacture and commission the A sets.
[4] The stainless steel bodies were partially constructed by
CNR Changchun Railway Vehicles in China before being shipped to Downer EDI's
Cardiff Locomotive Workshops facility in New South Wales for final assembly, testing and commissioning.
[4] This was the first export of any rail vehicle by China to a developed country.
[18] The manufacturing facility at Cardiff received an upgrade of over $20 million to cater for the needs of the project.
[4] Other infrastructure works included the construction of the
Auburn Maintenance Centre and new substations at various locations around the network.
[19]
A four car pre-production test train was built to test the train sub-systems and compatibility with the Sydney suburban network.
[4] This was intended to allow any issues with the train to be corrected before the production trains entered service.
[4] The test train was expected to perform trial runs from mid 2009,
[4] but did not begin network testing until April 2010.
[20] The pre-production train concluded testing in August 2010.
[21] The first production set began network testing in August 2010
[21] and by November 2010, three sets were undergoing testing.
[22]
The first trains were scheduled to be introduced in late 2010, but a series of delays pushed back their introduction.
[23][24] The first train intended for service (A3) was delivered to then-operator
CityRail for acceptance on 20 April 2011.
[25] CityRail had 20 business days to accept or reject the train, but a decision was postponed by two weeks to allow Downer EDi to correct further defects.
[26] CityRail rejected the train due to safety concerns and a number of defects.
[27] The defects included; 'milky' effect windscreens – apparent when under direct sunlight, poor-quality steel welding as evident in the indents seen on some areas of the carriage exterior, gaps in the plastic moulding, handrails not lining up with stairs and software problems.
[9][28]
Once the majority of the problems were resolved by Downer EDi, CityRail allowed A3 to commence service, though operating under special conditions.
[29] It entered service on 1 July 2011,
[30] operating its maiden run from
Redfern to
Macarthur via the
City Circle and
Airport. Initially, it operated two return services from the city to Macarthur via the Airport line during the off-peak period on weekdays, and all day on the
Airport & East Hills and
South lines on weekends. On 14 October 2011, A3 became the first Waratah set to operate during peak hours.
[31] As more Waratahs became available, the trains were progressively rolled out to most lines of the Sydney suburban network. On 2 June 2014, it was announced that the final A set (A80) had been delivered.
[19]
Originally, the Waratahs were intended to replace all 500
S set carriages,
[32] but in February 2013 it was revealed that some S sets would still be required in order to provide services on the
South West Rail Link.
[33] An option existed to extend the order, but in March 2013 the government indicated it would not take this up.
[34]
