Short term pain for footy fans on Geelong line as weekend trains canned

Buses will replace trains between Southern Cross ahead of a do-or-die Cats clash at Marvel.

Passengers on a train leaving Southern Cross following a game at Marvel Stadium on August 6

Cats fan heading to Saturday night’s do-or-die clash against St Kilda have been warned of significant delays across the public transport network.

Trains will run between Wyndham Vale and Geelong, with buses replacing trains for the rest of the journey to Southern Cross due to an ongoing level crossing removal at Deer Park station.

Fans heading to Marvel Stadium for the 7.25pm game have been told to an allow an extra 45 minutes of travel time each way.

V/Line will run extra coaches before and after the game to accommodate for the expected spike in demand.

It won’t be the first weekend of pain for footy fans commuting from Geelong.

V/Line customers were forced to stand for the entire journey from Southern Cross to Geelong following three separate games at Marvel stadium between July 30 and August 7.

None of the three observed services were following games that involved the Cats.

According to V/Line, a regular time table was followed on these two weekends as there were significant upgrade and improvement works taking place across the lines, inhibiting the possibility of extra services.

“V/Line closely monitors expected attendances for AFL games so we can plan ahead, regularly scheduling additional Geelong line services, including extra coaches when train services are disrupted,” a V/Line spokesman said.

“We have run hundreds of additional special services across the network since April, in support of the AFL season and major events – including on the busy Wyndham Vale corridor.”

Last Friday night, two additional services were scheduled to get passengers home from the Collingwood and Geelong match, while a further two services ran with additional carriages to increase capacity.

It was reported on Thursday scores of regional train services have been cancelled or terminated before their destinations over between August 15-17, leaving passengers stranded on platforms and forced to wait for later services, or fork out money for a cab to the next station, where their car is parked.

Many V/Line services have also started from different stations than the ones were meant to over the same time frame.

V/Line encourages passengers to keep up-to-date on service changes via the website, app and Twitter feed, as well as announcements at stations and on-board services.

While the short term pain will certainly sting on the weekend, the works are nearing completion.

From next year, trains between Geelong and Melbourne will run every 20 minutes between 8am and 9pm on weekends as part of the roll out of almost 200 extra regional weekend services.

Originally published as Short term pain for footy fans on Geelong line as weekend trains canned