Angry Cranbourne commuters lash out at Metro for ongoing delays caused by signalling faults
Furious commuters on the city’s worst rail line say the delays and cancellations are getting worse, demanding urgent upgrades on the Cranbourne line. It comes as Metro revealed that signal faults hit the line every four days.
South East
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The delay-plagued Cranbourne-Pakenham line suffered a signal fault every four days on average last year — and furious commuters have had enough.
Now the Public Transport Users Association has backed angry customers and called for urgent upgrades to signalling systems.
Questioned by the Leader after complaints from many commuters, Metro revealed 90 faults on the railway line, between Flinders Street and Cranbourne stations, in 2018.
That comes weeks after we reported just 86.5 per cent of Cranbourne line trains arrived on time in 2018, and only 85.3 per cent so far this year, against a network-wide average of 98.5 per cent.
Commuter Deshinie De Zilwa said signal faults dragged out an already very long commute.
“It takes over an hour to get to the city and with delays and cancellations, it exceeds this. It’s become worse over the years — it’s painful,” Mr De Zilwa said.
Working mum Teri Simpson said trains cancellations were “absolutely shocking”.
“Delays, excuses after excuses probably about two to three times a week. I have decided to move house when my son finishes his last year at school for this reason,” Ms Simpson said.
Jade Ni Linn said the delays were forcing her to drive to work, splashing hundreds of dollars on tolls and parking.
“I’m often late in picking up my children from childcare or after school care, which is why I’ve resorted to driving,” Ms Ni Linn said.
“Honestly a class action should be launched against Metro to pay back the amount of money people spend and lose.”
Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said the railway line’s infrastructure needed to be “urgently improved”.
“The line needs to be reliable so people can depend on it. It’s unfair that people are being forced to be at the mercy of these types of faults,” Mr Bowen said.
He said the compensation scheme needed to be widened to allow people on poorly performing train lines to claim compensation.
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“Most months it’s not payable even if a line such as Cranbourne has suffered long delays.”
Metro spokesman James Ireland said when an equipment fault occurred, the priority was getting services back up and running for commuters.
“We work hard to reduce the number of faults on the network, and quickly deploy teams to resolve issues as soon as possible,” Mr Ireland said.
He said Metro had dedicated teams of technicians on Cranbourne and Pakenham lines to respond immediately to equipment faults affecting train services.
“The State Government is making a significant investment in new signalling on this part of the network to improve reliability.”