5 December 2017

Can you think of any awesome names for the new Canberra Light Rail Vehicles?

| Elias Hallaj
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light rail.

Let’s get creative, Canberra! Suggest names for the new Light Rail. Photo: Supplied.

OK, I admit I’m a bit of a light rail nerd. Having studied mechanical engineering before I ended up working in politics, the design, scale, and durability of rail transport has always been attractive. The prospect of the first line of the new Canberra Metro Light Rail Network opening next year is exciting for lots of reasons, including 14 shiny new red Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs).

As one of the new vehicles is already on its way to Canberra from their manufacturer in Spain, it won’t be long before we see it running up and down Northbourne Avenue, past the gridlock during the morning and afternoon peak hour traffic. RiotACT readers and everyone you know, time to put on your thinking caps and think of some sexy names for Canberra’s new Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs)!

Like all big LRV nerds in Canberra, I consumed all the information provided by ACT LightRail up to and including their transformation into The Public Transport Association of Canberra, led by the inimitable Damien Haas. The PTCBR Facebook Group recently reported that our City’s journal of record wrote a short article encouraging its readers to participate in a poll of possible names for Canberra’s new LRVs. However, like a few PTCBR fans I was disappointed with the odd name suggestions and the small number of survey responses to this online poll.

So here you go Canberra, this is your second chance to contribute to this important public discourse! What do you and your friends and family think the new vehicles should be called? Remember, these LRVs will eventually be part of a city-wide network that will probably eventually carry millions of people and certainly outlive all the current Canberra Times readership. We will present the winning name in this poll to someone in the ACT Government and formally request it be included in their consideration for the name of at least one of the new trams.

An artist’s impression of one of the new Canberra Light Rail Vehicles. Photo: Supplied.

It’s getting late on a weekend. So far our writer has had three homebrew beers and has come up with these suggestions below… (and admits to stealing a few from the PTCBR Facebook page).

What should we call Canberra’s newest Light Rail Vehicle?

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(If you have any other name suggestions please include in the comments section below).

The Canberra Times survey for suggested names of the new Canberra Trams received 620 votes by the time the poll closed. We hope to get more votes and funnier suggestions via the RiotACT readership. If you have any better suggestions, please include them in the comments below and in the RiotACT facebook comments. If your suggestions are awesome enough our editors will amend the poll to include them as well. The writer has also promised to do a follow-up story with anyone who has a hilarious suggestion and is also nerdy enough to join him for a close-up when the first LRV arrives in Canberra in a few weeks.

Elias Hallaj (aka CBRfoodie) is a part-time food blogger and a full-time political staffer who has joined RiotACT as a regular contributor. All his opinions about LRVs are his own. As an aspiring food writer he hopes that one of the new LRV’s will eventually be converted to a travelling restaurant or food truck (or food train?). If you have any tips or feedback or advice about light rail or food around Canberra you can add a comment below or find him most nights on Twitter @CBRfoodie.

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Enterprise

How about, “Tradies Bistro”?

In memory of the old Trams that ended up in the Dickson Tradies Club….

Emma -Grace said :

Poppy – in honour of all The men and women who have served their country. ??

That’s a lipstick brand…

Capital Retro8:26 am 13 Dec 17

Mike Hughes said :

btw Can we make ALL our Public Transport the same shiny poppy red?

You can see them coming a mile off and they add a lovely dash of color to an otherwise dreary city. I can dream I am still in London or hiking through gorgeous Danish spring countryside.

That would be entirely appropriate as when something is “In the red” it is a term to describe an economic loss.

Capital Retro8:17 am 13 Dec 17

Kate Johnston said :

AcTram would be pretty cool, a mixture of Action and Tram ??

It already exists in India: http://www.rediff.com/money/slide-show/slide-show-1-ride-an-ac-tram-get-a-taste-of-old-kolkata/20130709.htm and it looks better suited to Canberra than the ones we have ordered. Its carrying capacity of 24 is about all that will be required for TC Light Rail Stage 1.

Kate Johnston12:09 am 13 Dec 17

AcTram would be pretty cool, a mixture of Action and Tram ??

Philip Selmes said :

HAL 9000

I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Phil.

Capital Retro7:31 am 12 Dec 17

Jorge Garcia said :

I think that all the trams collectively should be called BIMBI or BADYAN (Ngannawal words for bird/birds). Then the individual trams could be given Ngannawal bird names like Bunduluk (Rosella); Galu (Crane); Guginya (Kookaburra); Gang-gang (Gang gang parrot); Giliruk (pee wee); Karrungang (Magpie).

And please remember to ask first…

What is the Ngunnawal word for “Rainbow Lorrikeet”?

Capital Retro7:29 am 12 Dec 17

Emma -Grace said :

Obama Rama
‘Lil Red
CBR Express

The tram will only be doing 70kmh where the busses currently do 80kmh so the word “express” doesn’t apply.

Poppy – in honour of all The men and women who have served their country. ??

Obama Rama
‘Lil Red
CBR Express

Jorge Garcia9:23 pm 11 Dec 17

I think that all the trams collectively should be called BIMBI or BADYAN (Ngannawal words for bird/birds). Then the individual trams could be given Ngannawal bird names like Bunduluk (Rosella); Galu (Crane); Guginya (Kookaburra); Gang-gang (Gang gang parrot); Giliruk (pee wee); Karrungang (Magpie). And please remember to ask first…

Malcolm Trambull

Capital Retro10:33 am 11 Dec 17

Peter Ellis said :

Red Elephant; White Elephant; Blue Elephant; Green Elephant; Grey Elephant; Dark Grey Elephant; Midnight Blue Elephant; Taupe Elephant; Pink Elephant; Watermellon Pint Elephant; Brown Elephant; Baby-stuff Brown Elephant; …

Rainbow elephant?

smartsafetygirl2:05 am 11 Dec 17

The Canberra HOPE express:) or the CBR Hope express or the CBR angel express

Red Elephant; White Elephant; Blue Elephant; Green Elephant; Grey Elephant; Dark Grey Elephant; Midnight Blue Elephant; Taupe Elephant; Pink Elephant; Watermellon Pint Elephant; Brown Elephant; Baby-stuff Brown Elephant; …

Philip Selmes10:52 pm 10 Dec 17

Neon Express

Philip Selmes10:26 pm 10 Dec 17

HAL 9000

Tim Tram

Gungahlin-Ho
Gunga-Ho
Gunga-Civic
Burley-Griffin No. 1. (since he always envisaged trams for Canberra)
The People’s Hope
The People’s Tram
Trammin It

btw Can we make ALL our Public Transport the same shiny poppy red?

You can see them coming a mile off and they add a lovely dash of color to an otherwise dreary city. I can dream I am still in London or hiking through gorgeous Danish spring countryside.

Capital Retro10:22 am 10 Dec 17

Frances McPherson said :

Belleza roio . . Means Red Beauty in Spanish. ??

La belleza roja would be more correct but then gender is no longer relevant, is it.

Frances McPherson1:52 pm 09 Dec 17

Belleza roio . . Means Red Beauty in Spanish. ??

Darrel Kolsky11:12 am 09 Dec 17

Roundabout Wrangler

Ainslie, Bimberi, Gudgenby, Namadgi, Coree

Maybe… Cantram, Capitram, Trampy tram, Olitician tram, Kanberra tram, TramCan, Rail Can.

Pork Barrel

Leon Arundell said :

I propose 5 names: Amanda Bresnan, Meredith Hunter, Caroline Le Couteur and Shane Rattenbury, without whom trams would not have been an issue at the 2012 election, and Katy Gallagher, whose government (a) sent Infrastructure Australia an analysis that showed that bus rapid transit would be a much better investment than light rail, (b) copied the Greens policy, and (c) kept its analysis secret until 9 months after the election.

Who knows, Katy may even end up driving one of the trams if she loses her Senate seat.

Rattenbury’s Retro Reverie in Red

Emma Chizit part 27:06 pm 07 Dec 17

My suggestion is BuzzLight rail.

How about “Still drive your car”

Red Bullet

Leon Arundell5:03 pm 07 Dec 17

I propose 5 names: Amanda Bresnan, Meredith Hunter, Caroline Le Couteur and Shane Rattenbury, without whom trams would not have been an issue at the 2012 election, and Katy Gallagher, whose government (a) sent Infrastructure Australia an analysis that showed that bus rapid transit would be a much better investment than light rail, (b) copied the Greens policy, and (c) kept its analysis secret until 9 months after the election.

Rattenbury’s Revenge

Whitey McElephant Face

“Jackie Tram”

Spiral said :

How about …… White elephant?

I looked up white elephants this afternoon and learned that Thai kings would sometimes gift them to minor nobles who displeased him. As sacred animals they could not be put to work and had to be well cared for, placing a large financial burden on the recipient.

ChrisinTurner3:03 pm 06 Dec 17

“Bye Bye Rapid Transit”

“A Streetcar Named Debt”

Elias Hallaj11:42 am 06 Dec 17

If you listened to Canberra’s funniest breakfast radio team on their regular Wednesday morning show on 2XX today you would have heard #Canberra comedian Tom Gibson suggest Jean-Claude Van Tram! That’s brilliant. I really regret not including that in the original list. Hey Editors – can we PLEASE add that option to the poll?!

The terminal tram.

Elias Hallaj6:59 am 06 Dec 17

A friend suggested Tramalamadingdong on my Facebook feed. Which I liked. This is a good suggestion. Now I’m also thinking about running a separate poll/survey for the tune of the stop bells on each LRV.

Tommy Southern6:42 am 06 Dec 17

I like Sky Tram. You could even have breasts down the side of each vehicle in honour of Sky Whale.

How about Govie Evictor or White elephant?

Nicole Moore8:52 pm 05 Dec 17

We vote for Shane Rattlebury…

The Snollygoster.

A Georgia editor kindly explains that “a snollygoster is a fellow who wants office, regardless of party, platform or principles, and who, whenever he wins, gets there by the sheer force of monumental talknophical assumnacy”.
Columbus Dispatch, Ohio, 28 Oct. 1895.

Maryann Mussared6:30 pm 05 Dec 17

I will never see any of the light rail vehicles without instantly thinking “Trammy McTramface”. I followed the wonderful explosion of indignation on social media over “Boaty McBoatface” achieving the most votes for the new Sydney ferry, although someone in the system overrode the majority and the new ferry will now be called “Ferry McFerryface”.

Trammy McTramface (well, someone had to say it).

Shane Rattlebury

NorthBourne Identity
NorthBourne Supremecy
NorthBourne Ultimatum
NorthBourne Legacy

The Dismissal
Walter
Marion

Maybe after some PMs?
Gough, Billy, Malcolm, Julia, Where’s Harold?

I’d really be happy if one was called “2AM Tuggeranong express”

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