Tag Archives: metrotrains

Metro Trains Melbourne: Live from 1995!

Melbourne’s suburban train operator Metro Trains Melbourne (MTM) has copped a lot of flack in recent days over its decision to drop sending service updates on Twitter for anything other than “major delays” – which they are defining as “20 or more minutes”. They are telling customers to “regularly check their website” for details of […]

Bad Maths? Bad Information?

Spotted this on the information screens at Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station one day last week. So, it is 10:47am and the Williamstown train is due in six minutes – which would be at 10:53am, right? Yet it is supposed to arrive at 10:54am – an “early” Metro train? Hardly likely. So is this bad maths, […]

Metro Trains Audio Fail

I noticed a woman press the “Next Train” information button at Newport station this morning, and she had this really strange look on her face as she listened. Curious, I went and pressed the button myself, and I discovered the reason for the bewildered look on her face. Listen to the audio below: Seems the […]

New Timetable Improves Little

The much-hyped new train timetables running in Victoria were heralded by the government, V/Line, and Metro Trains Melbourne as a breakthrough for passengers getting around more efficiently. We were promised by V/Line that “these changes follow several months of work with Metro and feedback from our customers”. Oh really? Customers asked for slower trains? Obviously, […]

Single Point of Failure

Well, yet again this morning, thousands of commuters from the western suburbs of Melbourne and Geelong had their daily travel severely disrupted, after a power failure at Newport station disabled signals and points. Now, I’m the first to accept that unexpected things happen all the time, and that running an integrated public transport network is […]

The Little Engine That Could Not

Yesterday’s massive rail debacle in Melbourne affected almost every running train service in the entire state of Victoria. Hundreds of thousands of commuters were delayed, some for extended periods of time. I have no doubt that most people in the calm light of day appreciate that in any system, things do go wrong from time […]