Article: Connex delays exposed in State Government documents

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Connex delays exposed in State Government documents

Connex delays exposed in State Government documents
Article from: Sunday Herald Sun

Stephen Drill

May 24, 2009 12:00am

A SECRET State Government document has revealed the reasons Melbourne's train system has all but ground to a halt.

Faulty brakes, broken doors, signal problems and level crossing incidents have caused delays as have vandals, drug-affected and drunken passengers and trespassers wandering near train lines.

The information comes from a Public Transport Safety Victoria document obtained by opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder.

The 851-page dossier shows brake problems with Siemens trains caused thousands of delays between July and December last year.

Each incident causing a train to stop can affect up to 23 services.

Of the 2746 reported incidents, 917 were caused by faulty brakes and faulty passenger doors.

Mr Mulder said the State Government had failed to put enough money into the public transport network.

"It's a combination of not enough trains and too much pressure on the operator," he said.

Mr Mulder said Connex did not have enough trains to replace the ones that needed repairs.

Connex spokeswoman Lanie Harris said the operator had improved its proactive maintenance program.

"We're working the rail network harder than ever. In 2008 we added 433 new services to the timetable without any new trains. It is only through operational improvements we've made that we can achieve this," she said.

Ms Harris said almost half of the delays were caused by vandalism, unruly behaviour and trespassers, which were difficult to avoid.

Stephen Moynihan, a spokesman for transport minister Lynne Kosky, said because the city loop took trains from 10 different lines any breakdown had a domino effect.

"The Brumby Government has a $38 billion plan to improve transport in Victoria," he said.

Reasons for the delays

Train faults .........................917

Vandalism .......................... 638

Unruly passengers ............ 441

Trespassers ....................... 219

Ill passengers .................... 157

Track faults ....................... 114

Level crossing incidents ... 111

Signal problems ................ 111

Overhead faults ................. 10

Driver error ....................... 7

Fire .................................... 7

Lost children ................... 4

Driver illness ................... 3

Missing person search .... 1

Hit dog ............................ 1

Syringe in train ............... 1

Derailment ....................... 4

TOTAL .............................. 2746

SOURCE: Public Transport Safety Victoria, Jul. 1-Dec. 31, 2008.

-- with Katharine Rivett