Ballarat’s V/Line train service has continued its woeful start to the year with another month of poor punctuality, with just 81.5 per cent of services arriving on time.
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The figures are just 0.1 per cent better than those returned in March and are 10.4 per cent lower than V/Line’s stated target for the line.
V/Line is continuing to put the blame on an increase of trespassers on the line, forcing trains to stall. Across April, 25 instances of trespassing occurred on the Ballarat line alone.
In a statement, V/Line chief executive James Pinder said trespassers were putting their own lives in danger by venturing onto the tracks, while also causing a big inconvenience to commuters.
“The railway is not a playground so we urge people to stay away from the tracks and remember that trains can come from either direction at any time,” Mr Pinder said.
The punctuality results are notably lower than the state’s two other major V/Line routes, in Geelong and Bendigo, which returned figures of 87.6 and 87.9 per cent respectively.
Public Transport Users Association Ballarat branch convener Ben Lever said while trespassers on the Ballarat line had contributed to the poor performance, it was not the key factor in trains repeatedly arriving late.
“The vast majority of the time, late or cancelled trains are being caused by track and signal faults or train faults, not trespassers, as the delay notifications on V/Line's own Twitter account clearly shows,” Mr Lever said.
“V/Line seem to be using these trespassers as an excuse to cover the systemic problems that the train fleet and the infrastructure are both stretched to capacity.”
The continued poor punctuality figures come a week after the state government pledged to further invest in additional carriages for some of the state’s most overcrowded lines, with an additional 39 V/Locity carriages set to be built at a cost of $311.1 million.
The Ballarat line has been the main recipient of the 18 carriages delivered from the previous commitment of 48 carriages.
Across April, the Ballarat line did see a slight rise in reliability, with 98.7 per cent of services delivered compared to 97.1 per cent in March.
