Train delays double trip times

By Victoria Stone-Meadows

Morning commuters on the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines faced major train delays with trip times extending to more than double their regular times on Monday 29 May.
Metro Trains have released warnings to commuters to expect delays of up to an hour and to listen to announcements, blaming a signal fault near Huntingdale for the chaos.
The 9.57am service from Pakenham to Flinders Street had to be cancelled owing to the ongoing issues.
Spokesperson for Metro Marcus Williams apologised to passengers for the delays.
“We are very sorry to our passengers and motorists who were impacted by this morning’s delays, and we understand how frustrating this was,” he said.
Metro confirmed that two signal faults near Huntingdale caused major delays on the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines from around 7am.
“This caused significant train congestion between Clayton and Hallam that meant boom gates in the area were down for extended periods while those trains moved through,” Mr Williams said.
“The faults were rectified about 9.30am.”
“However, the issues had knock-on effects that caused some further delays across the network.”
According to the latest statistics from Public Transport Victoria, the Pakenham and Cranbourne train lines are the second and third worst performing for on peak services behind only the Stony Point line.
During April 2017, only 82 per cent of peak train services were delivered on time on the Pakenham line and 80 per cent on the Cranbourne line.