Article: Off-peak trains plan put on hold

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From the Melbourne Age click here!

Off-peak trains plan put on hold

Off-peak trains plan put on hold

    * Clay Lucas
    * April 27, 2009

A CONNEX plan to increase off-peak services on overcrowded train lines has been delayed at least two months because the Government doubts the operator can deliver the changes.

In a business plan handed to the Government in October, Connex said it would add a small number of off-peak services next month. But the changes have been delayed, probably until July, because the Department of Transport wants to be certain Connex can deliver the extra services without mass cancellations or a big jump in late trains.

Extra services were added last November, but the additional trains were swamped by a surge in cancellations, leaving passengers worse off.

Connex added 328 weekly services in November, but this was quickly overtaken by a corresponding increase in cancelled services, averaging 370 a week in the three months to March.

This month, the number of trains being cancelled has fallen, after the train drivers' union signed an enterprise agreement with Connex.

The Connex business plan, obtained by the Opposition, states that Connex planned to increase off-peak services on sections of the Werribee line next month, to a train arriving every 10 minutes. It also planned to put extra off-peak trains on the Frankston and Dandenong lines.

The Government and Connex have disagreed over whether services should be increased during the mid-morning off-peak window, or during the mid-afternoon (the extra services are now likely to be in the afternoon).

A spokesman for Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said she had been "briefed on some minor changes to the timetable and has (asked) the department to do some more work on the proposal".

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said far too many public transport projects had run late while Ms Kosky was minister. "Like everything Lynne Kosky touches, this is running late," he said.

Another recently leaked Connex business plan showed that the State Government had been warned of a chronic shortage of trains on Melbourne's rail system for the past four years.

Connex had reported to the Government that, since 2005, it regularly has not had enough trains to meet its plan for coping with morning and afternoon rush hours.

Despite this, the Government will not deliver its first new train for Melbourne until December.

Connex also announced last week that it failed to run 14 per cent of its trains on time in March.