THE North-East railway line is headed for one of its worst monthly reliability results for 2017 with a disastrous end to December.
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V/Line is still to publicly release the December reliability and punctuality results, but a string of train cancellations between Christmas and New Year, which have continued into the new year, will be further pain for the rail service operator.
The figure, which was well below the 96 per cent target, was blamed on V/Line’s fleet of ageing N-class locomotives encountering mechanical issues.
The same problem has surfaced again.
The North-East line recovered from the May dramas with three successive months above its target followed by another three above 90 per cent including 92.8 per cent in November when 167 out of 180 scheduled services operated as trains.
But the punctuality target of 92 per cent dipped to 81.2 per cent.
V/Line blamed the condition of sections of the track owned by Australian Rail Track Corporation for the poor result.
Mr Joyce’s department referred questions on the North-East line to ARTC on Friday.
A spokesman said $100 million was a “significant” investment.
V/Line has confirmed the number of trains cancelled and replaced by buses since Christmas Day has climbed to 37 with the four services between Albury and Southern Cross on Saturday changed to buses due to extreme heat.
Border Rail Action Group convenor Bill Traill said the run of Christmas-New Year train cancellations was one of the worst in a decade.
The Border Mail has also been told of instances of passengers being forced onto buses becoming abusive towards drivers due to last minute cancellations.
Wandong Bus Lines, which has been operating buses between Albury and Southern Cross in recent days, couldn’t comment and directed queries to V/Line.
"Any physical or verbal abuse of staff, including coach drivers, is offensive and will not be tolerated by V/Line,” a V/Line spokesperson said.
“Staff deserve respect at all times."
No official complaints of passenger abuse on the North-East line have been received by V/Line.