By Alesha Capone
The Werribee train line recorded the worst punctuality out of Melbourne’s 16 metropolitan train lines during June, with hundreds of services failing to arrive on time.
During June, 865 of 4903 trains – 17.6 per cent of scheduled services on the Werribee line – failed to arrive on time, according to data released by Public Transport Victoria. In contrast, in June last year, just 8.2 per cent of trains on the Werribee line were not punctual.
The second-worst performing metro train line was Cranbourne, with a punctuality rate of 83.1 per cent. The state government’s punctuality target for Melbourne’s trains is for 92 per cent of monthly services to run on time.
The state opposition’s metropolitan public transport spokesman, David Davis, visited Laverton train station last week, where he described the Werribee line’s punctuality figures as “a shocking performance”.
“The Werribee line has the dubious honour of recording the worst punctuality of the 16 metro lines in June,” Mr Davis said.
“If you’re a commuter, that’s pretty bad.”
Mr Davis said that in addition, during June there were 341 train services which were cancelled, run short or skipped or bypassed stations on the Werribee line compared to 64 services in June last year.
“It’s a shocking record, you would expect the local MPs to be angry about this and that they would be intervening on behalf of their constituents on this line,” Mr Davis said.
According to PTV, a number of incidents contributed to the result, including an overhead power issue near Aircraft Station on June 3 and ill passengers who required medical assistance.
A state government spokesperson said that train operator Metro Trains could be fined more than a million dollars per month, if it failed to meet set targets. “We will continue to work closely with Metro Trains to ensure its performance returns to the levels our passengers deserve.”
