By Jonathan McQuie
Recent results released by the Department of Transport show that the all three train lines which pass through Dandenong are under-performing compared to the rest of the state.
Throughout Victoria, train punctuality was impacted by track and signal faults, along with significant weather events, including the heavy rainfall throughout the city.
Additionally, on Monday 17 and Thursday 20 February, the rail, tram, and bus unions launched four-hour industrial actions, disrupting services on lines state-wide.
During the month of February, trains on the Cranbourne line were punctual only 83.7 percent of the time, while trains on the Pakenham line arrived on time only 86.2 percent of the time.
Both of these performances are under the state-wide average of 90.3 percent, and fall below Metro’s mandated 92 percent targets.
However, south-east Victoria’s V-Line service was even more subpar, only out-performing the Albury line, which replaced rail services with bus services after the 20 February train derailment at Wallan.
Only 73.6 percent of services on the Gippsland line arrived on time, 15 percent below the state average.
However, this still marks a six percent improvement in punctuality for the entire line compared to the month of January.
According to Jeroen Weimar, the Head of Transport for the Department, more work is required to ensure Melbourne’s train network performs satisfactorily.
“We continue to work with Metro Trains to ensure punctuality improves in line with what passengers expect from our metropolitan network.”
