THE Australian Rail Track Corporation “can’t ensure a signalling problem won’t happen again” after last Tuesday’s V/Line fiasco which caused delays and forced passengers onto buses.
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The admission came in an email from the corporation to Member for Indi Cathy McGowan on Thursday.
The email said: “We can’t ensure a signalling problem won’t happen again — all railways have to manage signalling disruptions from time to time.
“Our aim is to rectify any problem as quickly as possible when they do happen.”
But Ms McGowan said the reply was “not good enough”.
“We need our main rail service to tell us the signalling is perfection,” she said.
“If there are any problems then they need to have a fall-back position, so it doesn’t stop the trains.
“We need to have a guarantee that the signalling is working as it needs to.”
Ms McGowan is demanding a full report on what caused the signalling fault resulting in the passenger train crawling up to 25km/h between Wodonga and Chiltern.
“We need to know what caused the fault so that it doesn’t happen again,” she said.
“I will be taking this to Canberra on Monday and following it up with the minister Warren Truss about how we get this to happen.”
Victorian independent senator John Madigan offered his thoughts on the matter during his visit to Wodonga TAFE yesterday.
“It is an issue that needs to be addressed and not with Band-Aid fixes,” he said.
Ms McGowan is encouraging people to contact her, Member for Benambra Bill Tilley or Murray Valley MP Tim McCurdy with evidence of the inconvenience the V/Line service is causing.
“The more collaborating evidence, the better,” she said.
Two weeks ago Ms McGowan met Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews over the concerns.
“It’s a state issue as well,” she said.
“I asked about his long-term plans for this line.”