V/Line improves amid Victoria’s public transport woes

While Victorian public transport has recently been in the spotlight for its shortfalls, V/Line has managed to exceed the targets set for it by the Department of Transport.

In August, V/Line surpassed its 96 per cent delivery target, achieving 97.3 per cent reliability.

The railway and bus operator also showed improvement in the amount of services they delivered on time. In August they were on time 87.8 per cent of the time, up from the 86.9 per cent in August 2018 and 87.2 per cent average over the past year.

On the Geelong line, services had 96.9 per cent reliability and 91.4 per cent punctuality (which was under the 92 per cent target). A service is considered punctual if it arrives at any point from on time to five minutes and 59 seconds late.

Department head of transport services Jeroen Weimar said he was pleased to see V/Line making these changes.

“It’s encouraging to see this improvement following the ongoing infrastructure upgrades that continue to be carried out across the regional train network.”

In August, the Department of Transport made Metro Trains compensate customers for the third time this year for failing to meet monthly targets. Figures were also down for Yarra Trams, after workers took industrial action for better pay.

Throughout spring, V/Line are carrying out some major construction projects on their tracks.

As a result, from September 29 to October 4 coaches will replace trains on the Geelong line for either part or all of the journey.