Thousands of New South Wales buses will be retrofitted with fire suppression systems for safety
Thousands of buses across Sydney will be retrofitted with fire suppression systems as the New South Wales Government has called for tenders to undertake the work.
Under the plan, more than 3,700 public and private buses across Sydney, the Illawarra and Hunter will be retrofitted with fire suppression systems in a major boost for customer safety.
About 800 State Transit buses already have fire suppression systems installed, with a tender now open to retrofit the remaining 1,300 buses in the fleet.
Around 400 private buses also have the systems and a separate tender will ensure the remaining 2,400 buses are fitted out.
Minister for transport and infrastructure Andrew Constance says the priority is to ensure all buses operating on our public transport network have these systems installed as quickly as possible,
“Bus fire suppression systems provide more time for evacuation in the event of an incident and assist in confining damage to the vehicle,” he says.
“The system works by detecting a fire or heat within a bus engine bay and activating a high pressure mist.
“They are tried and tested, working successfully on eight occasions when they’ve had to, and we’re determined to see them rolled out across the network.
“Our buses travel more than 100 million kilometres and carry hundreds of millions of passengers every year. This retrofit is all about delivering another layer of protection for customers.”
The entire program of work is expected to be completed in the next 18 to 24 months.
Fire suppression systems are now a standard feature on all buses which are purchased by the NSW Government.
The 60 new growth buses committed to in this year’s budget will have them already installed.