V/Line excuses for cancelled, terminated early trains, as Jacinta Allan’s cheap ‘choo-choo’ train fare tweet is derailed

V/Line has given an astonishing reason for abruptly terminating trains, stations before their destinations, as Dan Andrews’ pre-election $9.20 regional fare cap promise has quietly risen.

V/Line has claimed trains being terminated stations before their promised destinations — leaving passengers stranded on stations — is to keep timetables on track and for the good of commuters.

And it’s blamed cancelled regional services on infrastructure or train faults and “external factors” like vandalism, weather, animal strikes, trespassers and emergency services incidents.

It comes after a tweet by Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan earlier this week spruiking the one year anniversary of capped regional “choo-choo” train fares, that has been labelled childish, embarrassing and like something from a parody account.

The Herald Sun has confirmed the Twitter account is that of the Premier’s.

In the tweet, Ms Allan said: “Since we choo-choo-chose to introduce the regional fare cap one year ago, Victorians have saved more than $50m across 22 million train trips.”

While one commenter asked “are you 12?” another said “what trains? they’re never running”.

“I choo-choo-choose you” is a line that was used in the cartoon comedy, The Simpsons.

The daily cap on regional fares — promised to be $9.20 by former Premier Dan Andrews before the last election — has now quietly risen to $10.60.

Has Jacinta Allan channelled The Simpsons in a tweet about choo-choo trains?

Former Premier Dan Andrews and Jacinta Allan. Picture: Josie Hayden

It comes as a Herald Sun analysis of V/Line services on the Geelong line from Monday to 5pm Thursday this week revealed at least seven cancelled trains, two services with missed stops, three services where the train started from a station it wasn’t meant to and a shocking 12 instances of trains abruptly terminating at stations before the ones they were scheduled to travel to.

Since we choo-choo-chose to introduce the regional fare cap one year ago, Victorians have saved more than $50m across 22 million train trips 🚂

— Jacinta Allan (@JacintaAllanMP) April 9, 2024

Trains often terminate at Geelong station with no notice until the end of the journey, when they are promised to run through to South Geelong or Waurn Ponds stations — where commuters to Melbourne have parked their cars earlier in the day and expect to return to.

Commuters have also complained of only three carriages on many services — rather than the six that used to be provided — leaving them squashed and struggling for a seat.

“For our 10 bucks … sometimes the train runs, sometimes you get two train rides instead of one but usually you get a train and a bus. Just for a bit of fun it sometimes drops you where you don’t want to go,” said one commuter.

Another said: “Parked at Waurn Ponds in the AM. The VLine train was late but departed and took well over an hour to reach Southern Cross station. The VLine train home was also delayed, missed a station and then terminated its journey at Geelong station many kilometres from Waurn Ponds station. This is not uncommon. $10.60? Plus the cost of a taxi to fetch my vehicle three stations away in order to get home. Thanks Choo Choo Allan.”

On the Ballarat line over the same time frame, V/Line’s Twitter updates show there were also cancelled services and missed stops. Last week a number of services were also terminated early, at Ballarat station rather than travelling to Wendouree as promised.

V/Line did not provide the total service cancellation and early termination figures for the month of March to the Herald Sun for the busy Geelong and Ballarat lines, as requested.

A V/Line train at Southern Cross station Picture: David Crosling

However, it said it had exceeded its reliability target for the month, and past year.

“Over the past month, more than 96 per cent of our 8,428 scheduled services were delivered, exceeding the reliability target and ensuring our passengers continue to have a service they can rely on,” a spokesman said.

In a statement on Thursday night V/Line said it made every effort to run services as scheduled and ensure any cancellations or service changes had the least possible impact on passengers. This included, at times, terminating a service early — for example at Geelong station rather than South Geelong — “to help ensure we deliver the timetable as close to possible as scheduled for the maximum amount of passengers”.

Premier Jacinta Allan at the State Library Station Construction Site. Picture: Valeriu Campan

“V/Line will organise alternative transport usually in the form of replacement coaches if a train is unable to run as scheduled. Otherwise, passengers may be asked to catch the next service if that is a quicker option for their journey,” it said.

“And passengers on the Geelong corridor are now paying a maximum of $10.60 per day — down from up to $27.60 for a return trip to Melbourne before March 2023 — thanks to the regional fare cap,” it added.

In announcing its pre-election regional capped fare promise, the then Andrews Labor government promised to: “Cap the cost of a daily ticket on the regional network at $9.20 for a full fare or $4.60 for a concession – the same price as a metro daily fare.”

The capped fares — that have since risen — came into effect on March 31 last year, but the Herald Sun has revealed an enormous number of services have been cancelled or changed in the time since.

In July last year alone, more than 500 V/Line services were cancelled, terminated early or did not depart from where they were meant to, causing commuter hell for regional Victorians and making a farce out of the new cheaper fares on offer.

V/Line said March 2024 was the busiest month for patronage on record, “demonstrating the popularity of V/Line services”.