Article: Report confirms peak hour trains a nightmare

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Report confirms peak hour trains a nightmare

Report confirms peak hour trains a nightmare
Article from: Herald Sun

Ashley Gardiner

February 20, 2009 12:00am

THE city's trains are more crowded than ever and passengers on the Pakenham and Sydenham lines are suffering the most.

State Government passenger counts last October found trains were becoming more crowded in the morning peak.

But the introduction of new services was believed to be responsible for an improvement in the afternoon.

The Department of Transport's latest load standards survey shows that passenger growth appears to be slowing.

During the 12 months to May 2008, train passengers grew by 7.7 per cent in the morning peak.

But passenger numbers in the morning peak grew by only 2.4 per cent in the 12 months to October 2008.

Overcrowded trains are counted as "rolling hours". In October, trains were overcrowded for 40 hours, up from 38 the previous year.

A train is considered to be overcrowded when carrying more than 798 people.

The most crowded sections of track were between Pakenham and Hallam, and between Sydenham and Middle Footscray.

The survey found trains to be overcrowded as late as 10pm.

The survey also found a 40 per cent increase in early-morning train patronage.

"This rapid increase in passenger loads across the network during this time period appears to have been caused by the introduction of the Early Bird ticket," the survey report says.

The survey was conducted in October, when cancellations were much lower than the meltdown that occurred last month.

Overcrowding was, at times, much worse in January because of the regularity of train cancellations.

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said timetable changes had delivered a better service.

"It's pleasing to see that the number of overcrowded trains in the (evening) peak period has declined," she said.

"This is a result of additional services added in April at a time when patronage is growing at 12 per cent."

Ms Kosky said further changes introduced last November, in which 328 services a week were added to the timetable, would see a further improvement.

Overcrowding would be further reduced by the 38 new trains on order.