Does anyone know how many of the SMU/IMU 60 series have been refurbished at present? It seems quite slow going. I imagine they can’t take many out of service with the other disruptions going on at the moment.
Do we also know if the IMUs will be getting refurbishments too?
Pictured at Eagle Junction.
I’d assumed since they’re refurbishing most of the SMU and IMU series they’d get around at some point to refurbishing the IMU 160’s.
Also considering the fact that the IMU/SMU 160/260 are the newest of the family they probably will to extend their lifespan to as long as possible.
The original press release specified all IMU160/SMU260’s - 64 units being the total of both types combined. I don’t think there’s been mention of when they would be done except “by 2032”
The doors were specifically being upgraded to open faster and incorporate accessibility features so I assume they will all have those new doors.
Apparently some SMU200s have very recently had their destination displays (internal and external) swapped out with new models.
They now feature white text instead of orange and potentially more pixels which should make some of the longer station names look a bit better.
Will try get a pic if I can spot one over the next few days.
My ride home this evening on the Gympielander was a very shiny, seemingly very recently refurbished IMU100 set (didn’t get a photo sorry, it was quite busy)
It was probably the cleanest QR train I’ve ever been on, and the new lighting as well as the blue upholstery looks very sharp, it honestly is probably the most modern looking ‘old’ fleet in the network.
The only thing I was shocked at was the seats. The material/padding was quite thick (at least 4-5 times as thick as the NGRs and 160/260 sets but my god they were rock hard, it felt like they’d just used styrofoam. Not sure if it’s a fire safety thing or if the seats just need some time to compress but I was really surprised as the older maroon seats weren’t too bad in comparison.
Despite that, really impressed. It sounds like they got upgraded motors as well, it was a very quiet ride and you can’t hear the acceleration and regenerative braking very much anymore, not as quiet as an NGR but significantly less than the non refurbished units. Even at full track speed between Caboolture and Beerburrum it felt like the motors were barely trying.
