NEWCASTLE Transport was forced to bring a reserve tram onto the tracks for the second time in 36 hours after another of the Spanish-made vehicles broke down on Thursday.
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Private operator Keolis Downer Hunter said the tram suffered a charging problem about 5pm and was not able to take the required amount of power received from the overhead charge bar at Newcastle Beach.
A driver had to complete a "full reset" of the tram, and on the second attempt was able to restore power and drive the vehicle back to the Wickham depot for technical assessment.
"The tram wasn't receiving a full charge," Keolis Downer Hunter director corporate affairs Andrew Fletcher said.
"Like yesterday, a decision was taken to get those contingency plans operating.
"It was put out of service and out of the way while the stand-by tram was brought out onto the network.
"We missed an estimated three trips as a result."
After a huge community day on Sunday and a successful launch of services on Monday, Newcastle Transport has been dealt a cruel couple of days with two trams forced off the line because of technical issues.
The first, on Wednesday, was a problem with a tram's pantograph.
Thursday's issue was an unrelated problem on a different tram, Mr Fletcher said.
"There was enough in the battery to get it to the next stop, but erring on the side of caution and to make sure we didn't have any actual disruption to passenger services, the decision was taken to get that stand-by tram out and get the other one back to the depot for further analysis," he said.
Asked if Keolis Downer Hunter was concerned about the Newcastle light rail network it has just taken possession of from the NSW government given the pair of breakdowns, Mr Fletcher said there was "no cause for alarm".
"I don't think there's any cause for alarm," he said. "The CAF light rail vehicles are proven around the world.
"The battery technology is well proven, so there's no concern about the vehicles or the technology itself.
"It's just about ironing out some of these last minute glitches."
The two technical issues were not encountered at any stage during light rail testing, Mr Fletcher said.
A Transport for NSW spokesperson said it was "a full investigation into the cause of the issue is underway by Keolis Downer".
"It's our priority to provide the best possible service for our customers," the spokesperson said.
"If an issue is detected we work with our operators to ensure the matter is managed to avoid impacting our customers.
"Every effort was made by Keolis Downer to assist customers onto a replacement service as quickly as possible.
"We thank customers for their patience and for their support of the Newcastle light rail service."
