Article: Packed trains adding to ill-passenger delays

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Packed trains adding to ill-passenger delays

Packed trains adding to ill-passenger delays

OVERCROWDING on Melbourne's trains is causing more passengers to faint or fall ill, resulting in lengthy delays to peak-hour train services as drivers wait for ambulances to arrive.

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union says it is now imperative that the State Government reinstate station attendants.

"When the stations were manned, drivers had someone to leave sick passengers with," the president of the union's Locomotive Division, Terry Sheedy, said yesterday. "Now, if someone goes down in a train, everybody has to wait."

A peak-hour train was delayed for 20 minutes at Alphington yesterday morning because a passenger had a fit.

The train remained at the station until an ambulance arrived, with other train services backing up behind it. When the ambulance arrived, the passenger did not want to be transported, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Ambulance Service said.

Sick passengers are an increasing source of delays and cancellations on Melbourne's train system. In April, 30 passengers fell ill, causing delays and cancellations to 946 trains.

In March, 25 sick passengers held up 894 services, and in February, 828 services were held up or cancelled because of passenger sickness.

A report from the Labor Party's transport policy committee to the ALP's state conference on May 24 has called for staff to be brought back to every Melbourne metropolitan station.

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky yesterday refused to say whether she supported the push to restaff Melbourne's train stations.

Spokesman Stephen Moynihan said the Government had increased the number of premium stations on the network ? those staffed from first train to last ? from 59 to 72. "We've also reversed the massive job losses imposed during the Kennett government," he said.

Connex this week pointed to "an unfortunate sequence of ill customers" as one reason it had failed to meet a monthly target to run at least 92% of Melbourne's trains on time (within five minutes of their scheduled time).

Passengers with a monthly, six-monthly or yearly ticket can now claim a free daily ticket as compensation.

Mr Sheedy said passenger illnesses were now "happening daily". "People are squashed in, and some people just can't hack it and faint," he said.

"Drivers used to be able to drop those who weren't too ill at stations with staff. If someone was crook and they could still walk, you could put them out with the station attendant until the ambulance arrived."

Any delay to a peak-period service caused problems down the line, as trains behind were also made late, Mr Sheedy said.

Connex spokesman John Rees said that if a passenger became ill, drivers could not move the train until an ambulance arrived.

"We have to wait. We do not have drivers who are trained medical staff. You wouldn't want to take the chance that you are doing more damage," he said.

"And you'll frequently find that the passengers won't want to get off the train and lose their spot."