V/Line reliability sinks further

V/LINE has blamed levelcrossing chaos for its failure to meet key benchmarks on the Geelong line.

Roughly 14 per cent of Geelong services — more than one in eight — arrived late in August, with local passengers enduring one of the least reliable lines on Victoria’s regional train network.

The figure is noticeably down from July’s results.

CEO James Pinder claims Geelong’s commuters suffered because of two separate levelcrossing incidents where boom gates were struck by cars and damaged.

“We’re calling on the community to take extra care around level crossings and be patient because these types of incidents can have significant consequences,” he said.

“Not only do they delay services, which is frustrating for us and our passengers, it’s also extremely dangerous because it takes a train up to a kilometre to come to a complete stop when the driver hits the emergency brakes.”

Mr Pinder says a spike in patronage has also forced trains to wait longer in order to let passengers board and depart.

Public Transport Users Association Geelong convener Paul Westcott said the dwin- dling punctuality of V/Line services was disappointing, given the $3.65 billion spent on the Regional Rail Link.

“People are concerned because they plan their journeys on the basis of timetables,” he said. “Given that trains are allowed to be six minutes late and are still considered on time, they are relatively generous reliability and punctuality figures to meet.”

Commuters say carriages are often packed to capacity.

“The amount of times we’re told that it’s standing room only is a joke,” Geelong’s Clement Forbes said. “I’d hate to think what disabled people would do on some of those trains.”