COMMUTERS have voiced their anger over Melton’s train services, labelling them unreliable and demanding that V/Line take action.
Diggers Rest resident Heath Eldridge, who uses the network daily to get to work, said the service was getting worse.
“Trains are late, occasionally cancelled [and we get] poor communication and flimsy excuses when they run late,” he said.
“I catch the 6.33pm train from Southern Cross to Kyneton and it’s almost always late, often by more than 20 minutes.”
Melton’s Stephanie Farmelo said she used trains at least four times a week.
She urged the train operator to increase the frequency of its services.
“It would be great if there were more services, especially on the weekends and at later times. On Sunday, it is pretty terrible. You’re lucky if it there is a train every two hours.”
Another commuter said she sometimes had to stand the entire journey from Melton to Melbourne.
A V/Line spokeswoman said punctuality and reliability figures for last month showed services on the Ballarat (Melton) and Bendigo lines (Diggers Rest) were just 3 per cent shy of its 92per cent target, mainly due to congestion across the metropolitan network. “Between Melbourne and Watergardens [Kyneton train] we compete for space on the tracks with the Metro trains,” she said. “It’s a busy network and a missed pathway can mean delays for our customers.”
She said having to slow or even stop trains due to trespassers illegally accessing tracks was a problem but reliability would improve with a dedicated new line for regional services into Melbourne from Sunshine. “Diggers Rest will also be electrified as part of the Sunbury electrification project and people from that station will be able to join Metro trains from later this year.”
Responding to complaints about a lack of seating, V/Line has created an online page so people can see which trains have the most seating. “Some of our trains are definitely reaching capacity,” the spokeswoman said.
