Victorian Railways Z type carriage

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Z type carriage
Carriage BZN271
In service	1957–2006 (As Z sets), now used with N sets to provide additional capacity.
Manufacturer	Victorian Railways
Built at	Newport Workshops
Constructed	1957–1966
Entered service	1957
Refurbished	1983-1995 (conversions to ACZ and general reconditioning); 1998-2013 refurbished to BZN/BTN style carriages; refurbished again from 2008-2016.
Formation	Additional cars for N sets
Operators	V/Line, various heritage operators
Specifications
Car body construction	Steel
Car length	71 ft 6 in (21.79 m) over body, 74 ft 8 in (22.76 m) over coupling points (Sitting cars) 75 ft (22.86 m) over body, 78 ft 2 in (23.83 m) over coupling points (VAM1/SZ287)
Width	9 ft 9 in (2.97 m), 10 ft 1+15⁄16 in (3.10 m) over handrails (AZ, ACZ, BCZ, BZ, BZS, BZN & BTN), 10 ft 5⁄8 in (3.06 m) over handrails (VBK & VFK)
Height	13 ft 2+11⁄16 in (4.03 m) (AZ, ACZ, BCZ, BZ, BZS, BZN & BTN), 13 ft 4+5⁄8 in (4.08 m) (VBK & VFK)
Doors	Manual swing, 2 per side, since upgraded to power-closing
Articulated sections	Rubber corridor connectors
Maximum speed	70 mph (113 km/h)
Power supply	Originally axle-mounted generators, now head-end power
Coupling system	Autocouplers
Track gauge	5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm), has operated on 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The Z type carriages are an air conditioned steel passenger carriage used on the railways of Victoria, Australia. The carriages were constructed by the Victorian Railways from 1957 for use on interstate services.^{[citation needed]}

Two major types of carriage were constructed - thirteen AZ first class cars with closely spaced but smaller windows, and twelve BZ second class cars with wider spaced but larger windows (the thirteenth BZ entered service on standard gauge). Carriages were provided with a saloon layout, with 2+2 reversible seating provided, with each row lining up with the windows. First class was provided with more legroom than second. An internal partition existed between the two ends of the saloon, but was removed in later years. A single twinette sleeping car was also built in a Z type body shell, entering service in 1963; it had 20 berths.^{[citation needed]}

A number of carriages were placed onto standard gauge bogies from 1962 for use on interstate trains such as the Spirit of Progress. With the end of these trains in the 1980s they were placed back onto the broad gauge. During this time a number of AZ type carriages were provided with conductors work stations / compartments and recoded to ACZ at this time.

The Z type cars were made redundant by the early 1990s with the introduction of the Sprinter railcars, most Z Sets were broken up, with the formation of West Coast Railway effective Sunday 19 September 1993 to run Melbourne ~ Geelong ~ Warrnambool Passenger Rail Services under contract to the Victorian Governments Dept. of Transport, Carriages: ACZ's: 252, 255, 257 & BZ's: 267, 269, 270 were obtained by West Coast Railway. After the demise of WCR, V/Line reacquired ACZ 252, ACZ 257 & BZ267, with preservation groups such as R707 Operations acquiring ACZ 255 & BZ 270 & Steamrail Victoria acquiring BZ 269.^{[citation needed]}

The cars still with V/Line were refurbished from 1995, being provided with 2+3 seating in the N type carriage style, with some carriages also receiving wider doors and toilets with wheelchair access. Today only a handful of Z type carriages remain in unaltered form, these being ACZ255 & BZ270 with R707 Operations.

V/Line maintains ACZ 257 (now reclassed as BCZ 257 ~ an economy class carriage, with the WCR 2001-era upgraded conductors work station / compartment) now reversed to be at the West End, while still maintaining its Z type interior as modified & refurbished by WCR in there DDA-compliance upgrade of 2001.

(As part of these upgrades for DDA-Complience by WCR: ACZ's 252 & 257 were permanently turned, with the old east end {that once formerly housed the 1980s-era fitted larger conductors work station / compartments} being subsequently removed & replaced with a DDA-complement disabled toilet, similar to that fitted to V/Line BZN Carriages, this was hence renamed the new west end of the carriage. The old west end, that once housed the former toilet and washroom compartments divided by the central aisle & saloon entry} was subsequently removed & replaced with a new smaller conductors work station/compartment and hence renamed the new east end of the carriage.)

The remaining Z type carriages in the V/Line fleet were temporarily removed from service in January 2013 due to cracking occurring in the bogies.^[1] The carriages have gradually been returned to service, and as at mid December 2016, only BTN253, BTN254, BZN258, BZN262 and BTN268 were out of service.