Australian tram drivers to be re-trained to operate faulty "supertrams"

Australian drivers of Melbourne' s next-generation "super trams" are being re-trained to operate the bulky vehicles, following a review that exposed serious safety flaws in their design.

In a secret unpublished report, it was revealed on Tuesday that the city's new E-Class trams -- part of Melbourne's famous network of trams -- were the worst performing model on the network for passenger accidents.

Data showed the fleet of 33-meter trams, the longest in service, had the highest rate of travellers slipping, tripping or falling of any model on the network, according to the report.

The review, commissioned by Public Transport Victoria (PTV) and obtained by News Corp under Freedom of Information laws, put the Melbourne-built class' alarming incident rate down to design flaws under sudden acceleration and braking.

"There is a level of acceleration which can generally be withstood by a human and a level at which this becomes too great and balance cannot be maintained," the report noted.

On Tuesday, Victoria's Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said on Melbourne radio that engineers had been busy "smoothing out" these issues throughout the fleet, which the state government set aside 225 million U.S. dollars to construct in 2010.

There were 22 E-Class incidents recorded from January through to May last year, as per the report. It also suggested elderly passengers were the most likely to be thrown off their feet and hurt.

Earlier this month a separate report found that 47 people had been seriously injured in and around Melbourne trams in 2015 -- up from 31 the previous year.

The study's author, Graham Currie from Monash University, blamed the introduction of the E-Class trams.

"Modern trams have got very good acceleration rates and they're bigger vehicles as well, which means that it's hard for the driver to be aware of where everybody is in the tram," Currie told Fairfax Media this month.

At present, 25 of these trams have been rolled out, but PTV's acting chief executive Jeroen Weimar said another 35 were on the way.

"We have gone through a lot of work with Yarra Trams to ensure drivers are being trained properly and they understand how to manage a vehicle of that particular size," he said on Melbourne radio on Tuesday.

"I've got to say that the drivers do a fantastic job. It is always regrettable when you see people running in front of a tram across a street or when you see a car cutting in front of them.

"That is why accidents happen and that's why we ask people to please make sure (they) sit down or hold on as you travel on the tram."