Overcrowding a prime concern for Geelong commuters, as three-carriage services questioned

Overcrowding remains a persistent issue for commuters along the Geelong line, with three-carriage services questioned.

Commuters have questioned why three-carriage services are being run on the Geelong line, with overcrowding a major concern. Picture: V/Line.

Commuters are crying out for longer trains on the Geelong line, as overcrowding on shortened services causes peak hour ire.

One commuter on Tuesday’s 5.12pm service from Southern Cross, a three carriage service, said passengers were standing in the aisles and sitting on the floor.

“It didn’t stop at Footscray or Sunshine (to pick up passengers) due to being packed,” they said.

A post to media personality Jaqui Felgate’s social media account read:

“Peak hour train to Melbourne... only has three carriages and no seats left by the time it got to South Geelong.”

“Probably over 60 of us standing, can’t even lean against anything, we are just shoulder to shoulder down the aisles,” the post said.

Paul Westcott, the Geelong branch convener of the Public Transport Users Association, said the issue was a major gripe of travellers on the Geelong line, falling only behind coach replacement services.

“It’s the groan, internally and externally, that goes up when a three-carriage train turns up at the station,” Mr Westcott said.

“People just know (overcrowding) is going to be a problem, if not by the time you leave Geelong, then certainly by the time you get to Tarneit and Wyndham Vale.”

Mr Westcott said the association would like to see six-carriage services on “pretty well every service”.

“It’s got to the stage now... where people are bewildered by why three-carriage trains are still being run on the Geelong line. It’s head scratching.”

The state government’s fare cut, which came into effect on March 31, contributed to increased demand, Mr Westcott said.

A Geelong Advertiser poll in July found a large majority of the 400 respondents - 86 per cent - had experienced overcrowding on V/Line services.

More carriages were among readers’ most pressing concerns.

Wendy wrote: “They have never had enough carriages on the Geelong line especially after events in Melbourne on weekends.”

Jane said: “More carriages please. It’s not rocket science.”

“It seems to be to simple to add an additional carriage to the trains,” reader Kevin wrote.

A V/Line spokesman said the operator was acting to combat overcrowding.

“We’re running more services than ever before to meet demand on the Geelong line, with a train approximately every 10 minutes in the peaks and the busiest services scheduled to run with six-carriages,” the spokesman said.

“We always try to run trains with their scheduled allocation of carriages and during August, the vast majority of the 2370 services delivered on the Geelong Line ran with full carriage capacity.”

The Geelong Advertiser understands on Tuesday, six of the 116 services delivered on the Geelong Line ran with reduced carriages.

One of these services was in the morning peak period and reduced due to a broken train window after a rock throwing incident.

According to the operator, 4.6 per cent of passengers stood on services across the V/Line network in August 2023, which compares with 8.4 per cent of passengers in August 2019.

As of it’s current timetable, V/Line operates 392 services from Melbourne to Geelong a week, with 387 services going the other way.

Originally published as Overcrowding a prime concern for Geelong commuters, as three-carriage services questioned