Signal faults played havoc with services on Melbourne's busiest rail line for several hours this morning and caused heavy delays for traffic at boom gates in the south-eastern suburbs.
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The delay was sparked by a track circuit failure at the Koornang Road level crossing in the morning peak, just after 8am.
Metro reported major delays of up to 60 minutes for Cranbourne and Pakenham services.
UPDATE: Cranbourne/Pakenham lines: Major delays ongoing due to signal faults between Carnegie & Murrumbeena. Info https://t.co/fE9E9Hyp10— Metro Trains (@metrotrains) April 26, 2016
Passengers complained on social media that delays were proving even longer than an hour, as the rail operator scrambled to fix the fault.
Seriously @metrotrains? I wish the delays were only up to 60 minutes, approaching 80 minutes late now.— Lizard Queen (@MeaJay94) April 26, 2016
@metrotrains It took me 3 hours 2get 2work 2day. Sick of apologising at work 4 being late. Well, never again !!! pic.twitter.com/033DnbQF8R— Diana Gaze (@diavolic78) April 26, 2016
"Clayton, Murrumbeena and Grange Road boom gates were down for long periods as there was a backlog of trains needing to move through and get passengers to their destination," Metro spokeswoman Sammie Black said.
Trains were banked up along the line as they crawled along the tracks, thanks to a 15 km/h speed restriction through Carnegie.
@metrotrains - view city bound & outbound from Murrumbeena footbridge, trains queued up city bound pic.twitter.com/8Kj1ce3URZ— Lou Cooper (@Louella_Cooper) April 26, 2016
Boom gates stayed down at the three level crossings for long periods, creating major delays for motorists too.
VicRoads warned people to steer clear of the area.
Avoid travel near rail line Clayton to Caulfield. Heavy delays in the area. @metrotrains advise boom gates are down due to signal fault— VicRoads (@VicRoads) April 26, 2016
The level crossings are among the nine that are to be removed within 2½ years as part of the Andrews government's $1.6 billion sky rail project. The contract for that project was signed last week.
The project will include an upgrade to signalling infrastructure. Signals are one of the main causes of train delays in Melbourne. Metro Trains once calculated that there is a signal fault five times a day on average.
Metro announced shortly after 1pm that the signal fault had been fixed. Delays had reduced to 30 minutes.
UPDATE Cranbourne/Pakenham lines: Signal fault between Murrumbeena & Caulfield has been fixed. Check https://t.co/fE9E9Hyp10 for latest info— Metro Trains (@metrotrains) April 26, 2016
There will be signal works this weekend, forcing travellers to catch replacement buses instead of trains.
"Buses will replace trains between Caulfield and Westall stations," Ms Black said.
"During this time, we will carry out signalling upgrade works to the train detection system on the Cranbourne/Pakenham line. This forms part of a broader program of signalling upgrade works on the line."
Early works on sky rail will also happen.
"The Caulfield to Dandenong level crossing removal project will also be working this weekend, taking the opportunity to carry out preparatory works, such as vegetation removal and grubbing and the installation of track delineation fencing," Ms Black said.
