Article: Cancellations outnumber extra train services

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From the Melbourne Age click here!

Cancellations outnumber extra train services

Cancellations outnumber extra train services

    * Clay Lucas
    * March 16, 2009

HUNDREDS of extra train services introduced by Connex have been swamped by a surge in cancellations, leaving passengers worse off.

An extra 328 weekly services were added in November. But a big increase in services that failed to run meant that weekly train cancellations averaged 370 over the three months to March.

Before the timetable changes, Connex usually cancelled fewer than 100 services a week.

Premier John Brumby and Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky regularly point to November's extra services as proof the Government is acting to reduce overcrowding on trains.

But analysis of cancellations since November shows service levels are going backwards.

About 4800 trains were cancelled in the three months to March, meaning on average 370 services did not run each week.

Connex executive chairman Jonathan Metcalfe in January blamed drivers for about 80 per cent of all cancellations.

However, Connex's inability to fix broken-down trains quickly enough is believed to be a key reason behind the mass cancellations.

Since the timetable changes, maintenance crews have had less access to Melbourne's run-down trains.

Trains are being driven more and, as a result, are breaking down more frequently.

Connex planned for this, and pledged to put more maintenance staff on overnight shifts at the main rail workshops.

But staff at workshops in Westall, Bayswater and Epping have told The Age there has not been enough staff to deal with the deluge of malfunctioning trains since November.

Connex has confirmed that Bayswater and Westall, two of the city's main repair workshops, do not have round-the-clock maintenance crews.

Connex spokeswoman Lanie Harris said it was wrong to say trains were not running because they were not being fixed quickly enough.

"We rebut the notion that a lack of maintenance staff is keeping trains out of service," she said.

Contrary to what workers at Epping had said, there were night shifts operating. North Melbourne was also operating around the clock, she said.

Connex recruited 36 extra maintenance staff last year, in the expectation that more work would need to be done on trains. But some have not yet finished their training.

Connex's maintenance partner, the United Group, has abandoned it in the contest to win the lucrative government contract to run Melbourne's trains.

The contract starts on December 1, and will generate revenue of at least $9 billion over its 15-year life.

While United continues to maintain Connex's trains, it is bidding with rival Hong Kong metro operator MTR for Melbourne's new train contract.

United stands to win maintenance work worth at least $100 million a year if MTR is successful.

Connex received $175 million in payments from the Government and in ticket sales in the final three months of last year.

While Connex had payments of $6.34 million deducted for its performance in the final three months of last year, it still raked in $175 million in Government payments and ticket sales.

In 2007 ? the last year for which Connex's financial records are public ? the rail operator turned over revenue of $589 million, from government payments and ticket sales. That year, it sent home $11 million in profits to its French parent company, Veolia