METRO Trains has denied trains skipping stations on the Frankston line is a regular occurrence.
Melbourne’s rail operator was criticised last week after it was revealed an average of 15 trains skipped scheduled stops at stations in an apparent effort to meet punctuality quotas.
A Metro spokeswoman said there were 19,127 scheduled train services on the Frankston line from October to December and just 60 were “altered to run express”.
“Altering a service to run express is only used to assist when recovering from a major disruption, or to avoid a knock-on effect that will ultimately lead to a major delay,” the spokeswoman said.
“When we alter a service, we ensure that our drivers and station staff are made aware of the changes to make announcements, and aim to express services running in the off-peak direction, impacting only the minority of customers.”
Public transport reliability along the Frankston line is regarded as a pivotal concern for state election voters. Both parties have suffered the wrath of electorates along the train line at the past two state elections.
Labor won back the seats of Frankston, Carrum, Mordialloc and Bentleigh from Liberal MPs last November, contributing to the Coalition government’s demise after one term in power.
At the 2010 state election, the Liberals won Labor seats along the Frankston line.
Labor Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan blamed the previous Coalition government for trains skipping stations.
“The previous Liberal Government built their punctuality figures off the back of station skipping and timetable manipulation,” she said.
“The Andrews Labor government is awaiting detailed advice from Public Transport Victoria as to the most effective way to reduce station skipping and deliver more services to the public.”
Liberal opposition public transport spokesman David Hodgett said a previous Labor government “signed a contract with Metro to allow station skipping, now they blame everyone else.”
He said Labor should stop making excuses and “fix it”.
Metro advised it monitors “how often and which services are altered to run express and resort to the practice as infrequently as possible… we are actively trying to reduce how often it occurs.”
Metro told The Times that, on average, 20 out of 6365 train services on the Frankston line each month are switched to an express service.
Ms Allan said: “Ultimately, we want trains stopping where they should stop, so the public can plan their journey with confidence.”
2 Comments
There are 4 critical swinging seats along the Frankston line, ( Frankston, Carrum, Mordialloc and Bentleigh) but for some reason it gets little to no attention from state politicians.
The line is the most neglected in the state and has the most level crossings of any metro line.
The surrounding road infrastructure is nearly as bad with ‘proposed’ roads all over the place but never built. Freeways come to dead ends all over the place.
Each weekend the bayside roads are taken up by cyclists who battle for space with cars decending on the beach from surrounding suburbs.
Its about time state governments started taking the bayside community more seriously if they want to stay in power.
Kingston leg of the Dingley By Pass was fully funded by he previous Coalition government and well on to completion;
A bike lane will be built parallel to the Kingston Leg of the Dingley Bypass
$ 11.5 Million was set aside to advance the Mornington Peninsula Freeway Extension but under Daniel Andrews, this has stalled.
The Frankston Line received over a $100 Million upgrade and PSOs on every station, making use of public transport safer.
Level crossings along the Frankston line will be next to impossible to grade separate – water table is one reason and the other is a lack of space around some promised stations.
These are just the things that I know. So Craig, fair crack of the whip! The Coalition did more in 4 years than Labor did in 11.