V/Line has been having a tough public relations time of late.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Everywhere you turn, there is someone with a horror story of trains running late or an attack on the organisation.
In the last week of Victorian Parliament for the year alone, two Northern Victoria MPs had V/Line in their sights.
Wendy Lovell called the North East line "a joke" and Tania Maxwell described it as having a "third-world performance".
Just a couple of weeks ago we had reports of travel on the line running an hour late because of delays to the replacement coaches from Seymour.
The Border Mail was told that during the leg where the train had been running between Melbourne and Seymour, people were sitting in the aisles of the carriages because it was so full.
"The general mood was passengers are over it. It just happens continually," one passenger said.
IN OTHER NEWS:
There are many reasons for delays: damage to carriages, works on the track, vandalism and - this week - heat.
But when it comes down to it, passengers are sick of hearing excuses.
It has been accepted that the Victorian government's new rolling stock will come into use in 2021 after the Australian Rail Track Corporation finishes work on upgrading the track. That is a good long-term goal for a solution, but why do we not have other ways to help passengers over the next two years?
Summer will be a big test for V/Line.
With temperatures rising, and extreme heat days already coming up in November and December, the train system will be under pressure.
Already this week V/Line has enacted its heat policy for the Seymour section of the line, based on advice from the ARTC, which means delays of about 20 minutes but thankfully not replacement coaches - yet.
A 20-minute delay because of heat is pretty acceptable and will not cause too much backlash, but if V/Line and the Victorian government want to avoid seeing passengers have the angry kind of meltdown this summer, they will want to make sure it does not get much worse.