By CASEY NEILL
MORE than 10 per cent of Pakenham and Cranbourne line trains were late during January, Public Transport Victoria figures show.
South East Metropolitan Greens MP Nina Springle said it was unacceptable that only 87 per cent of Pakenham line services and 89 per cent of Cranbourne line trains arrived on time in January.
“Given a train can be five minutes late and still considered on-time, this is a disastrous result,” she said.
“How can people rely on trains to get them where they need to be when so many just don’t turn up?”
Ms Springle said many of Metro’s performance problems could be blamed on Melbourne’s “ancient” train signalling system.
“The signals fail when it’s hot, when it’s wet, when it’s windy and often for no reason at all,” she said.
“It’s well and truly time to follow the lead of many cities around the world and upgrade to a modern digital system.”
A spokesperson for Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said the previous Liberal State Government “didn’t start a single major public transport project”.
“We know there is pressure on Cranbourne Pakenham line services,” they said.
“That’s why the Andrews Labor Government is investing nearly $3 billion on 37 new trains, nine level crossing removals, five new stations and new signalling on Melbourne’s busiest rail line.”
