Figures released on Monday show that V/Line services had a punctuality of 85.2 per cent in August, a slight reduction of the 85.9 per cent recorded in July.

But whichever way you look at it, it still remains well below the target of 92 per cent, which has not been hit since November 2016.

At least throughout August, V/Line was not the cause of many of the issues that plagued the line.

V/Line CEO James Pinder said on-time performance had been tracking around 90 per cent but one-off incidents impacted the monthly totals for both punctuality and reliability.

On August 9 the line was suspended after a woman was struck by a train and killed at Lake Wendouree.

Another incident saw a vehicle damage a boom arm at the Robinson’s Road level crossing at Deer Park on August 16 which disrupted the afternoon peak.

“There was also a fatality at Melton in the afternoon peak on August 15 which suspended the line, and at the same time a signalling issue at Southern Cross affected some Ballarat line services,” Mr Pinder said.

A train fault at the Paynes Road level crossing also occurred one morning at Rockbank.

Across the network for August, punctuality achieved its highest result since October last year with 86.9 per cent of services arriving at their destination on time.

A total of 96.8 per cent of services were delivered across the network, exceeding the reliability target of 96 per cent. Ballarat however was slightly down for reliability with 95 per cent.

Mr Pinder said V/Line’s performance managers were looking at opportunities to make improvements.

“We’re looking at ways to improve our response to incidents,” he said.

“The new V/Line timetable, which started on August 26 has also improved the pathways for some Ballarat line services.”

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