Workers urged to avoid peak-hour travel amid month of train pain

Commuters in Melbourne’s southeast have been urged to avoid peak-hour travel as a crippling shutdown for several train lines rolls on.

Commuters going from Caulfield station into the city have to catch buses during the major rail works. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Commuters in Melbourne’s southeast have been urged to avoid peak-hour travel as a crippling shutdown for several train lines rolls on.

It comes after half-hour commutes blew out to almost three hours yesterday as people living along the Pakenham, Cranbourne and Frankston train lines attempted to cram onto replacement buses at Caulfield station.

PASSENGER COMPO PUSH AS NIGHTMARE COMMUTE LOOMS

TRAIN PAIN NEW NORMAL FOR MELBOURNE

Morning progress = got on the bus at Caulfield at 645 and only got onto dandy rd at 659 to head towards the city; mind you this the EXPRESS service. ☺️ #TrainPain @metrotrains @ptv_official

— Miss Kattt (@katttzstiick) April 8, 2019

#trainpain is when the news & radio is saying it took 3 hours to get into the city yesterday when from Narre Warren it took 4.5 hours. It took 3 hours to get home that night. Y’all are being too kind to metro. Driving in today tho & it’s taken two hours. Honestly, Melbourne sucks

— Caitlin Dowling (@caitlin_dowling) April 8, 2019

The disruptions are part of a month-long construction blitz to improve and upgrade Melbourne’s rail network while demand is lower during the school holidays.

Public Transport Victoria acting chief executive Alan Fedda this morning told 3AW “if passengers do have the opportunity to change the time they travel and are able to travel before 8am or after 9am, they will find the trip to be quicker”.

Commuters going from Caulfield station into the city will have to catch buses during the major rail works. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The train pain was scheduled to coincide with school holidays. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Heavy traffic on the Monash Fwy as more commuters turn to their cars. Picture: Mark Stewart

“But (we’re) appreciating that we’ve got to move people throughout the day as quickly as we can,” he said.

Rail disruptions meant more commuters hit the Monash Fwy this morning but VicTraffic said school holidays meant the delays were about normal.

Meanwhile, commuters on the Werribee line were warned their trip could take up to another 20 minutes after a train was vandalised but delays later cleared.

Good morning! I'm not commuting today but it sounds like Caulfield is running a bit more smoothly than yesterday.
The City end still looks like a mess going into Fed Square though...with no protestors to blame this time? #TrainPain pic.twitter.com/1BMlJwNXcG

— Daniel Bowen (@danielbowen) April 8, 2019

Thousands of commuters were left lining up at Caulfield Station for replacement buses yesterday. Picture: Supplied

Passengers were greeted with more train pain this morning. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Yesterday, commuters found themselves facing heavy ­delays as more than 600 buses worked to provide replacement services for 100,000 daily trips.

Members of Melbourne’s peak bicycle advocacy group, Bicycle Network, tested the impact of the shutdown on Monday and found a journey from Oakleigh station to Flinders St station took two hours and 49 minutes when leaving from 7.30am.

By comparison, cyclists who rode from the same ­location were in the city within 48 minutes.

“Almost three hours to travel from Oakleigh to the city is far too long and the marquees at Caulfield station looked more packed than the ones you see at the racecourse,” Bicycle Network chief executive Craig Richards said.

“However, riding a bike is such a great way to avoid the pain. You’ll get there faster, cheaper and healthier and it’s easier than you think.”

Roads Minister Jaala Pulford said this morning the traffic conditions on the city’s roads had been “so far … so good”.

“The systems are working in the way that we had envisaged,” she said.

Batman Avenue became sea of buses as they replaced trains and caused traffic chaos. Picture: Mark Stewart

HOW WERRIBEE STATION BECAME A GHOST TOWN

Experts from the state’s road and rail departments and agencies have teamed up in a special disruption management centre to monitor traffic conditions while commuters are forced to catch replacement buses.

The management centre team can adjust traffic lights to relieve congestion and keep buses moving.

Despite huge crowds this morning around Caulfield station — a key chokepoint during the changes — the Transport ­Infrastructure Minister, Jacinta Allan, said conditions for commuters were “as ­anticipated”.

The Pakenham, Cranbourne, Frankston, Sandringham, Mernda and Glen Waverley lines in Melbourne and the Geelong, Warrnambool and Gippsland lines in regional Victoria are all affected by the construction blitz.

Ms Pulford said: “We want to thank passengers and road users for their patience during the works and urge everyone to plan ahead before they travel over the next two weeks.”

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