Article: Labor MPs blame chief transport bureaucrat for problems

[ozbob]

From the Herald Sun click here!

Labor MPs blame chief transport bureaucrat for problems - not Martin Pakula

Labor MPs blame chief transport bureaucrat for problems - not Martin Pakula

   * Ashley Gardiner
   * From: Herald Sun
   * June 09, 2010 12:00AM

LABOR MPs have pointed the finger at Victoria's chief transport bureaucrat as the person most responsible for our train system - not minister Martin Pakula.

In a new report, government MPs say the buck stops with Department of Transport secretary Jim Betts.

The MPs - Jennifer Huppert, Shaun Leane and Matt Viney - dismissed the findings of a Liberal-dominated inquiry into trains as political.

"(They) ignore evidence clearly stating that the secretary of the Department of Transport is responsible for the delivery of Victoria's train services," they wrote in their minority report.

Asked about the statement, Mr Betts pointed to evidence he gave to the inquiry.

"We plan the system, we fund it, we regulate it and we choose the private-sector firms with whom we partner. The buck stops here," Mr Betts told the inquiry last July.

Mr Pakula said: "The secretary has an important role administering the department, but ultimate responsibility lies with me."

Greens MP Greg Barber said it was not clear who was running what. "The inquiry demonstrated that the buck actually bounces all over the place," he said.

The committee saw constant attempts by railway managers to mask poor performance with self-congratulation and complacency, he said.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the buck should stop with Mr Pakula.

"Trying to fob this off to an unelected bureaucrat who is not directly answerable to Victorians is unacceptable," Mr Mulder said.

"This claim by Labor MPs backs up what the Opposition has been saying all along: the Brumby Government ministers refuse to accept responsibility for their key role in delivering basic public services."

In their majority report, Liberal MPs gave new operator Metro a blast for its poor performance since taking over Melbourne's trains last year.

"Metro has failed to meet its 88 per cent punctuality performance targets in each month since taking over," the report said.

"The trend of continued poor performance by Metro has occurred despite network improvements and upgrades over the past six months, including the introduction of additional trains."

The report blasted the Government for its failure to buy enough new trains to cope with increasing patronage, which started growing in 2004.

"It is, therefore, of concern that the Government has only begun to increase investment in new trains following major operational problems and the introduction of a new (operator)."

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

The buck stops with too many: rail system report

The buck stops with too many: rail system report
June 9, 2010

VICTORIA'S rail system is badly run because no single authority steps in to take responsibility when things go wrong, a parliamentary report has found.

And severe overcrowding on Melbourne's suburban trains was not surprising, the upper house report found, because there had been only 14 per cent more services added in a decade - while passenger numbers jumped by 72 per cent.

Responsibility for the system was ''fragmented'' across a bewildering array of government and private agencies, the report found. These include the Department of Transport, Metro Trains, V/Line and at least four other agencies.

Poor strategic planning has also caused many problems, including the purchase of 36 trains made in Austria by manufacturer Siemens that were ''not appropriate for Melbourne''.

A minority report, by Greens MP Greg Barber, blamed senior managers for ''strategic misrepresentation'' of facts. ''The evidence shows constant attempts by the professional and political managers of Melbourne's rail system to mask poor performance with self-congratulation, complacency and strategic misrepresentation,'' he wrote.

A second minority report written by three Labor MPs who also sat on the committee attacked the findings of the report as purely political.

■ Passengers were hit by delays last night, with trains on the Belgrave line between Bayswater and Belgrave suspended due to damage to overhead powerlines.

A power failure at Caulfield station stopped all trains on the Pakenham, Cranbourne and Frankston lines for 12 minutes during peak hour.

CLAY LUCAS