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Melbourne train delays: Metro Trains says due to infrastructure fault

LATEST: TRAIN commuters are demanding compensation after Melbourne’s entire network grinded to a halt, causing peak-hour chaos.

Genevieve Alison and Cassie Zervos
4 min read
July 13, 2017 - 11:58PM
Computer glitch halts all Melbourne metro trains

LATEST: TRAIN commuters are demanding compensation after Melbourne’s entire network grinded to a halt, causing peak-hour chaos.

A computer fault brought down Melbourne’s entire train system on Thursday afternoon, with services across all suburban lines affected.

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Passengers cheered — and some were seen clapping — as the first train departed Flinders St station, with the 5.15pm Dandenong service completely packed with fuming commuters just wanting to get home.

Metro apologised for the disruption in a tweet just after 7pm, when passengers were still stuck on crowded trains getting home.

Services did not return to normal until after 10pm.

TWITTER MELTDOWN: HOW MELBOURNE REACTED TO OUR TRAIN FAIL — AND METRO’S APOLOGY

A packed Werribee train at Flinders St. Picture: Stacey Penny
A packed Werribee train at Flinders St. Picture: Stacey Penny
Flinders St Station at 6.05pm. Picture: Cheryl Critchley
Flinders St Station at 6.05pm. Picture: Cheryl Critchley

ARE YOU STILL STUCK? SEND YOUR PICTURES TO NEWS@HERALDSUN.COM.AU

A Metro Trains spokesperson said the catastrophic system failure, which brought the entire train system to its knees shortly after 4pm, was due to a computer fault.

The spokesperson said the majority of trains were able to be brought back to nearby stations but there were an unknown number became stuck between stations.

Some of these trains were understood to be stuck in the City Loop but the spokesperson said they did not know how many were trapped.

When all the trains stopped Metro Trains released a series of tweets and continue to urge commuters to seek alternate transport

Metro was forced to plead with commuters stuck between stations not to attempt to open the doors of their train.

Uber initiated a 3.6x price surge, with a fare from Southbank to Cheltenham costing more than $130 shortly after trains stopped.

Metro Trains’ website crashed, further adding to the chaos.

Melbourne trains came to a standstill this afternoon. Picture: Jake Nowakowski
Melbourne trains came to a standstill this afternoon. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Train passengers resorted to running from each platform in hope a service will start their commute home.

Several commuters told the Herald Sun they were racing to each platform to “try and get a seat on a train”.

“The sun is going down and it’s starting to get cold ... this is horrendous,” one train passenger yelled while sprinting to a platform.

People cram at a tram stop outside Flinders St station. Picture: Twitter/lamourette folly
People cram at a tram stop outside Flinders St station. Picture: Twitter/lamourette folly
Reader Gaurav Mehra sent in a picture of people stuck on a train in Melbourne's city loop
Reader Gaurav Mehra sent in a picture of people stuck on a train in Melbourne's city loop
People try and find other transport in Richmond. Picture: Jake Nowakowski
People try and find other transport in Richmond. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Passengers travelling on V/Line services also experienced delays as many regional trains travel on metro tracks out of the city.

Glen Chambers said he had been stuck on a Shepparton-bound train for more than an hour.

“There’s no sign of movement,” Mr Chambers said.

“I still have a two hour trip home,” he said.

Justin Rodda said he had been on a Bendigo train for 70 minutes and had been told it was due to a signal fault.

Packed platforms at Southern Cross station. Picture: Linton Kern
Packed platforms at Southern Cross station. Picture: Linton Kern

Commuter Linton Kern, who took a photo of a packed Southern Cross platform about 4.30pm, said it took him about two hours to get home

“It was pretty crazy when I got to Southern Cross,” he said.

“The photo I took was looking at the platform but behind me there was people everywhere trying to work out what to do.”

Stranded commuter Aran Pinney says the computer glitch will leave him “without a way” of getting home to Frankston.

“I just checked how much it’ll cost me to get an uber and it’s about $250 to get me home,” he said.

“That’s basically my day’s pay ... I shouldn’t have come into work today.”

Mr Pinney said he looked at catching a bus but wasn’t sure whether buses ran to Frankston.

“I’m pretty much stranded here until the services start again,” he said.

“This is just shocking ... especially during peak hour when people just want to get home.”

Lines for taxis grew as commuters give up on Metro Trains.

Some told the Herald Sun they were too “angry” and “exhausted” to speak and just “wanted to get home”.

“We’ve been waiting for more than an hour ... it’s absolute bulls***,” one angry passenger said.

“We’re cold, we’re tired and we just want the day to be over.”

Commuters crush on to a train at Melbourne Central station. Picture:
Commuters crush on to a train at Melbourne Central station. Picture:
Commuters wait for trains at Richmond station. Picture: Jake Nowakowski
Commuters wait for trains at Richmond station. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Greg and Phil Danvers, visiting from Newcastle, described Melbourne’s train system as “utter crap”.

“We’re here for three days and everything has been great until today,” Mr Danvers said.

“We’ve been waiting for a taxi for more than half an hour.”

Mr and Mrs Danvers said they were meant to meet friends for dinner but would be “lucky” to get there.

Mirek Bielinski, another frustrated Metro commuter, said he “might as well go back to work for a few hours”.

“Who knows how long it’ll take to fix and, once it does, the trains will be packed,” Mr Bielinksi told the Herald Sun.

“I think I’ll just call up some mates and hit the pub ... that’s probably my best option right now.”

BY THE NUMBERS

.

■ 415,000 passengers use the train network each day

■ 15 lines affected

■ 45 minute standstill for all trains

■ Thousands of passengers trapped on trains between stations for up to 90 minutes

■ Uber surcharge hiked to 3.6 per cent immediately after outage

■ One hour wait time at CBD taxi ranks

■ More than 60+ tweets from Metro Trains following outage

Public Transport Users Association’s Tony Morton said commuters should be compensated for the “catastrophic failure”.

“It’s a fair call,” he said.

“With an incident of this magnitude, you would anticipate either a refund for people who’ve touched on today on or a free travel day declared at a future time.

“There should be some kind of compensation coming for people caught up in this mess.”

Mr Morton called for a root and branch review of Melbourne’s train network.

“Unfortunately it is far from the first time we’ve had an incident like this in the last few years,” he said.

“It reminds us about the lack of resilience in the suburban rail network and that work needs to be done to bring it up to scratch.

“We need to investigate the issues in our network — the catastrophic failures that happens on a day like today and the routine failures that happen on a day-to-day basis.

Stranded passengers took to social media to vent their frustration at the lack of communication from Metro:

Originally published as Melbourne train delays: Metro Trains says due to infrastructure fault

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/melbourne-train-delays-metro-trains-says-due-to-infrastructure-fault/news-story/aed0de4f55c774376ce93190823a600b