As part of the first business day of the new timetables, the former 7.41am service left five minutes earlier at 7.36am.

But it was not the earlier start that had travellers upset.

The train, designed for people starting work at 9am, arrived 16 minutes late at 9.04am – a total travel time of 88 minutes.

V/Line came under fire when it announced its new timetable last month, with some services taking almost 10 minutes longer than they did two years ago.

With yesterday’s delay, which came on the first day of the new timetable, the journey took 24 minutes longer than it used to.

The delay was caused by signal faults at Sunshine, although other services were not affected.

Many passengers on the busy service vented their frustration on social networking site Twitter.

Other commuters also registered with Ballarat West MP Sharon Knight’s lateagain.com.au website.

Twitter user @kiltuser posted “Well done #VLine. The new timetable is a triumph. Leave Ballarat 9 mins earlier and we get to Melb as late as ever. Bravo.” 

Meanwhile, V/Line fell one per cent short of its punctuality performance measures in October, making it the best performing line in the state.