By Cam Lucadou-Wells
The State Government has defended its contract with rail operator Metro Trains after “frustrating” performance figures for the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines.
Both lines have failed to meet on-time performance targets for each month of 2019.
In August, Cranbourne’s line was worst in metro Melbourne with 83.4 per cent of services on-time.
Pakenham services were second-worst, with 85.4 per cent of trains on time.
Added to that were 214 unscheduled train cancellations and ‘no shows’ for Cranbourne, and 245 for Pakenham in August alone.
Opposition public transport spokesperson David Davis said performance had “plummeted” even since the Government had spent $2 billion on level crossing removals on the line.
“It’s a lack of focus by the (Public Transport) Minister and the loss of passing loops … the impact is huge.
“This is a shocking performance.”
Mr Davis said the lines had struggled to meet benchmarks for the past eight months, with 1438 unscheduled cancellations, skips and bypasses on the Cranbourne line this year and 1688 on the Pakenham line.
“The Government wrote that contract (with Metro Trains) and signed that contract in 2017.
“At the end of the day the Minister and the Premier is responsible for the performance of the system.”
Metro Trains was ordered to compensate passengers for its August failings – it failed to meet overall benchmarks for the third month this year.
It is also liable for fines of up to $1.25 million a month.
PTV noted factors such as passenger illnesses, police operations and people straying on tracks for the delays.
The best solution was to deliver punctual and reliable services, Mr Davis said.
“I’d just like them to run trains on time.”
A Government spokesperson said the results “aren’t good enough, they’re frustrating for passengers and Metro needs to do better”.
Public Transport Minister Melissa Horne directed the Department of Transport to work with Metro Trains to improve reliability, the spokesperson said.
“We introduced tough new contracts that introduce big penalties when Metro doesn’t hit its targets – they will be penalised for this month’s results.”
Under the previous Liberal Government’s contracts, Metro Trains would have been unpunished for the results, the Government argues.
More services were running on Cranbourne and Pakenham lines than ever before, it claims.
