Jewellery theft

Gippsland train travellers endured another month of disrupted travel in January.

Just 67.9 per cent of trains between Traralgon and Melbourne ran within six minutes of scheduled times.

And for long distance trips between Bairnsdale and Melbourne it was also only 67 per cent that met the target of arriving within 11 minutes of times they were due.

The Gippsland figures were by far the worst of any of the regional lines.

Once again the replacement of many services with coaches due to upgrading projects in the metropolitan network impacted travel times between Gippsland centres and the city.

The Traralgon line punctuality score of 67.9 per cent was well down on the target of 92 per cent arriving punctually.

Other regional lines pushed close to the target.

On the Geelong line 91.7 per cent of trains arrived within the target range, on the Seymour line it was 90.3 per cent, Ballarat 87.7 per cent and Bendigo 87.3 per cent.

Public Transport Victorian chief executive officer Jeroen Weimar said the performance figures for January were impacted by a major construction blitz, much of which was in preparation for the new High Capacity Metro Trains this year.

He said as well as those works Gippsland train users, as well as those travelling on eastern suburban lines endured significant delays on January 14 due to an unexpected issue with overhead train lines at Malvern.

Mr Weimar said the regional rail network continued to improve its ability to manage services during times of extreme weather.

The introduction of extreme weather timetables have provided more certainty for passengers, he said.

A quantity of jewellery and a laptop computer were stolen from a Drouin jewellery shop last week.

The burglary at Larsen’s Jewellery in princes Way occurred at about 8am on Wednesday morning. Police said a witness heard the alarm activated and saw a smashed window and opened door.

The shop owner attended at the store and discovered a quantity of jewellery and a laptop computer had been stolen.