Major Melbourne Metro train delays as equipment fault stalls services

A SIX-minute power outage due to planned maintenance work has been blamed for shutting down most of Melbourne’s train services this morning.

Passengers try to get to work at Clifton Hill after trains were delayed by signal failure. Picture: Ed Gardiner

A SIX-minute power outage has been blamed for shutting down most of Melbourne’s train services this morning

CitiPower spokeswoman Emma Tyner said the Jolimont rail yard was without power between 8.24am and 8.30am.

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“We were conducting planned maintenance work at a nearby zone substation, which meant the railyard was on single contingency,” she said.

“During this work, a feeder tripped, causing power supply to be interrupted.

“We had advised PTV of this work in advance and our control room spoke with the PTV control room immediately after power was disrupted.”

Services on the Alamein, Belgrave, Glen Waverley, Hurstbridge, Lilydale and South Morang line were halted about 8.25am after the temporary loss of power affected signalling between Flinders Street and Jolimont.

Passengers reported being stuck between Clifton Hill and Victoria Park stations for 15 minutes before returning to Clifton Hill because of “serious equipment failure”.

Metro spokesman Marcus Williams said: “Services resumed around 10 minutes after the power loss but we will have major delays as we work to recover the timetable.”

“This was an extremely rare occurrence and we’re investigating to get to the bottom of what happened,” he said.

“We apologise to our passengers as we understand how frustrating this was when they were trying to get to work or school this morning.”

Following the outage, tram and bus stops overflowed as Uber price rates surged, with a seven-minute ride costing about $60.

Trains are now moving again with a good service reported on the Hurstbridge and South Morang lines.

A crash at a major Footscray intersection is also causing big delays.

Route 82 trams were not operating between central Footscray and Gordon St due to the crash, which left a woman with a broken leg.

They have since resumed.

The MFB says the woman involved in the crash needed rescue crews to remove her from her vehicle.

Traffic is still delayed in the area.

‘De-trained’ at Clifton Hill, signal failures and no more trains on the south Morang during the morning peak #metro #cliftonhill #metrofail pic.twitter.com/Kbc3E6KRHd

— April Go (@AprilGoBravo) March 6, 2018