Article: Despite service, Connex coins it

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From the Melbourne Age click here!

Despite service, Connex coins it

Despite service, Connex coins it

    * Clay Lucas
    * February 21, 2009

RAIL operator Connex earned $175 million in payments from the Brumby Government and in ticket sales in the final three months of last year, when hundreds of trains were cancelled.

The Department of Transport yesterday released its Track Record quarterly performance results.

The results showed that $6.34 million had been deducted from Connex's payments, for the operator's shoddy performance in the final three months of last year.

But, despite an average of 20 cancelled trains a day, Connex still raked in $175 million in payments from the Government for services provided and in ticket sales.

The lucrative payment shows how Connex in 2007 ? the last year for which its financial records are public ? managed to turn over $589 million in revenue in payments from the Government and in ticket sales. That year, it sent home $11 million in profits to its French parent company Veolia.

Veolia is currently tendering for the multibillion-dollar Government contract to run the city's train system for the next 15 years.

Competing against it are Hong Kong's MTR and French transport giant Keolis, which is half owned by France's public railway operator SCNF.

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky has conceded it is no cheaper to keep privately operated companies running Melbourne's rail system.

But she says the Government wants the trains and trams kept in private operation, rather than returned to Government hands, because of the international expertise and innovation companies like Connex bring.

Yesterday's Track Record report showed that Connex cancelled 1 per cent of all scheduled train services between October to December. On weekdays, Connex runs about 2000 services.

Many of the cancellations, it now seems apparent, were caused by a destabilising battle between the warring divisions of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.

This week train drivers revolted against train controllers (the two groups are in different and competing divisions of the union), leading to a nine-hour shutdown on the Sandringham line on Wednesday.

Ms Kosky, who has close ties to the secretary of the union, Trevor Dobbyn, failed to resolve the dispute, which caused headaches for thousands of commuters.

Also revealed in yesterday's Track Record report was Yarra Trams' poor performance. It was paid a total of $65 million, but had payments of $1.96 million deducted for running too many trams late.

The publicly operated V/Line was forced to pay $128,000 in penalties for late and cancelled trains.

The Track Record report covered the period from October to December, and did not include any data on last month's meltdown of the rail system.