• Customers found compensation to be insufficient and irrelevant

A one way travel voucher is the form of compensation we usually offer in line with our Customer Charter. Two return vouchers were provided in this instance due to the very lengthy disruption. V/Line is focussed on plans to decrease the number of unplanned disruptions and delays to reduce the need for compensation in the first place.

• Why couldn’t the train move slowly (either forward or back) to get customers off at the nearest location?

In the case of the 17:08 and 17:21 trains from Melbourne it was too dangerous for us to get people off the train because they had stopped between stations.

The safety of customers comes first. We couldn’t have people getting off the train in areas where there was nothing but paddocks, very little light and in some cases track on both sides of the train where freight trains might still be running on the Australian Rail Track Corporation network.

What we should have done, and will do in the future is allow the trains to move at a much slower speed on caution orders. This would have significantly reduced the amount of time you would have spent on the train.

We have reviewed our procedures and will now do this in the event it looks like there could be a significant delay to trains due to signalling, or any other fault.

• Customer needs must be considered as part of the action plans during times of disruption. What is the plan of action to minimise impact on customers?

We acknowledge customers were delayed significantly on 3 April due to the electrical cable fault. With changes now made to caution orders customers will be moved as soon as possible to minimise any delays.

• What maintenance plan does V/Line have in place?

We regularly do preventative maintenance across the network. The cable that caused the signal problems on 3 April was up to 30-years-old and had a small hole in it where water later leaked in and corroded the wiring. We believe the laying of fibre optic cabling during the upgrade of the track for Regional Fast Rail may have caused the damage which wasn’t detected until it failed. This was due to the cable being underground. The cable on the corridor is progressively being checked over the coming weeks.

• Why don’t bus drivers know where they are going with replacement journeys?

• Why was this incident handled so much better than the week before?

On this occasion we had many more hours to plan for the disruption (it began from midday) and during this time were able to gather more than 60 buses for the two peak trips from and to Melbourne.

• Number of services needs to be increased during the peak and later into the evening

Geelong is our busiest rail line and also has the most number of trains to cater for this.
We continue to work with government for the acquisition of new trains and are hopeful there will be an announcement in the upcoming state budget.
Regional Rail Link will provide us with the ability to add more Geelong trains on dedicated V/Line track.

• What are the benefits of RRL? Will it be faster? Will it be more punctual? What will the impact be for Geelong customers?

Regional Rail Link will for the first time mean V/Line has a clear path to get into Melbourne on our own tracks.

It will mean greater reliability and more services for all passengers who travel from Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat.

Footscray Station will become the new hub for regional customers to transfer to a Metro city loop train.

Journey times are expected to be similar to current times however reliability will be significantly increased.

• Marshall need more staff on in mornings. Long queues to purchase tickets. Announcements made on train to purchase tickets on weekends. Customers offended by this.

A business case for the funding of extra staff at Marshall Station has been presented to the Government. In the meantime, we encourage customers to purchase their tickets at times that are less busy such as in the evenings. Tickets can also be purchased online at http://www.vline.com.au/fares-and-tickets/tickets/wheretobuy.html