Vandals caused a meltdown of Ballarat line train services last Thursday, leaving commuters stranded after cables were cut near Melton station.
Transit Crime Investigation Unit detectives are investigating the incident, which happened just before 2.30am and caused major signalling problems.
Despite working quickly to fix the problems, V/Line technicians were not able to rectify them until about 6.45am. Commuters bore the brunt of the chaos well into the following afternoon, when services returned to normal.
V/Line spokeswoman Ebony Jordan said more than 10 services were disrupted, with some trains experiencing delays and others being replaced by coaches.
The damage also caused nearby boom gates to malfunction, creating major traffic congestion and train cancellations.
“This type of reckless behaviour is extremely frustrating and won’t be tolerated,” Ms Jordan said. “We are working closely with police to find those responsible.
“This is something that was out of our control, and we share our customers’ frustrations when this happens.”
V/Line worked throughout the morning to bring trains back on schedule, but some morning commuters waited for up to an hour as a result of the vandalism.
Many public transport users were forced to switch modes and drive to work following the announcement of service cancellations.
Sergeant Jason Wombell, of the Transit CIU, said police believed the offenders were possibly from the Melton area.
“We’re keeping an open mind, but I would think [the offenders] would have a fairly good knowledge of the area,” Sergeant Wombell said.
He said the costs of the damage hadn’t been calculated yet, but “as you can imagine the costs to V/Line come from delays in trains and how long the network has been inactive for”.
“The after-effects cost a lot more than just the damage itself.”
Contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or Sergeant Wombell on 9247 3622 with any information about this issue.
