Metro say they’re not to blame for Craigieburn line delays and cancellations

The Craigieburn line has had an atrocious month, with commuters suffering through daily delays and cancellations. And Metro have blamed the fiasco on one big thing beyond their control.

Craigieburn line delays and cancellations during peak hour have been dragging on.

Metro has blamed a month of daily Craigieburn line delays and cancellations on crime — and commuters are seeing red.

Crimes — specifically trespassing on lines, unruly passengers holding and forcing open doors, and police operations — was the main reason for increased delays and cancellations along the Craigieburn line in July, Metro stated.

Train faults and operational issues involving drivers were also to blame.

Craigieburn line delays this month.

Between July 5 and 31, three incidents involving police, one day of extreme weather, and a train fault at Ascot Vale station, caused significant delays on the line.

Despite a 2.2 per cent improvement in performance along the northwest train line, commuters say cancellations and delays during the peak morning period have occurred almost every day in August.

Moonee Valley resident Andrew Gunter catches the train each morning at Essendon station.

Up until mid-July he was able to board the train during the morning rush, but in recent weeks he’s had to skip multiple trains because of cancellations and delays.

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On August 26, there were four cancellations during the morning commute between 6am and 8am, causing disruptions to at least 13,000 commuters.

“When there’s anything more than one cancellation then I can’t get on (the train),” Mr Gunter said.

“If there’s a cancellation and a delay then there are lots of people left on the platform.”

He said train timetable disruptions started in mid-July, and had slowly become worse.

“You hear a lot of fellow passengers muttering under their breath when the announcement comes through. There is annoyance there,” he said.

It has also made Mr Gunter late for work more than once.

“If there’s one cancellation and not possible for the next train then I’d be 15 minutes late,” he said.

Other commuters have vented their frustrations on Facebook.

Monika Leban said cancelled trains happened “almost every morning” and it was “not good enough”.

David Glenny called for Metro to be penalised for cancelling trains during peak hour.

Many people said it was so common it was the new norm.

Metro spokesman Andrew Nelson said sudden changes to the timetable were “really frustrating”.

“This is only done as a last resort and can be caused by a number of issues outside of Metro’s control including trespassers, police operations, weather events, graffiti and vandalism,” he said.