Commuters call it quits

COMMUTERS enduring delay-plagued rail travel to and from Geelong are considering quitting their jobs in Melbourne.

The Geelong Advertiser is aware of multiple commuters who have either found new jobs in Geelong or are considering their working future in Melbourne due to constant delays and cancellations on the Geelong line.

“It has nothing to do with the job and everything to do with the commute,” a Geelong-based passenger who holds a senior role in Melbourne said.

“The whole system is in crisis. I am (sometimes) doing the equivalent of 15 to 16 hours on the train (per week) and it’s making me reconsider where I work. The regional rail link was promised to Geelong as a great saviour but it’s been built to support (Melbourne’s) western suburbs.”

It comes as V/Line say commuters able to prove they were delayed for over an hour by Tuesday’s Geelong line meltdown will be compensated.

It is understood a defective communications router crippled V/Line’s three busiest lines, including Geelong, by interrupting signalling on the regional rail link.

Trains were delayed or cancelled for three hours as the router which could not be fixed remotely was manually re-set by signal technicians.

V/Line diverted trains via the Werribee corridor but some commuters were delayed by more than 90 minutes.

V/Line CEO James Pinder said technicians worked through the night to replace the faulty signalling equipment.

“Our crews worked as quickly and safely as possible to rectify the fault and our immediate priority was to get people to their destination safely.”

V/Line chairman Jeroen Weimar acknowledge the rail operator needed to “do better”.

“We’re working with the engineers and specialists across the network to ensure we can prevent this type of fault from happening in the future.”

Meanwhile, V/Line trains were stopped in both directions on a Melbourne section of the Geelong line yesterday for about 20 minutes.

Emergency services asked V/Line to stop trains between South Kensington and Foot- scray about 2:20pm.

A MFB spokeswoman said smoke was spotted coming from underneath a Metro train carriage 300m from South Kensington Station about 2.15pm.

Punctuality on the Geelong line reached a five-month high in September but was still below its set target.

“There was smoke issuing from the rear carriage,” the spokeswoman said.

To claim compensation call 1800 800 007.