There were reports of up to four-hour delays at Albury from those planning to get on the 5.20pm train.

Some took to social media to express their frustrations.

V/Line apologised for the inconvenience and blamed a rail equipment fault, first saying there would be a 120-minute delay, then 130 minutes and later a 160-minute delay while the train was held near Donnybrook.

"So why are the countdowns on platform 2B completely inaccurate? Have watched it countdown to zero only to reset again 3 times. If you know it's 160 minutes late - put that on the countdown," one commuter said on Twitter.

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Passengers heading north were stuck on the train while the Australian Rail Track Corporation worked to fix the fault in the track.

This also caused delays for the 6.02pm train to Albury.

The problems come just before work is about to start on the major $235 million upgrade to the track, which is meant to solve the regular problem of train delays.

Infrastructure Australia has chosen to not put the project on its priority list, saying the cost would outweigh the benefits.

But state and federal politicians and Border Rail Action Group have criticised the organistion for having a lack of understanding of the issues that train commuters have to face.

Benambra MP Bill Tilley said that while the rail upgrade would go ahead regardless, the report was a signal for the Victorian government to get on with delivering new rolling stock.

"I'd argue the Infrastructure Australia report didn't tell us anything we didn't already know - trains run late, they are past their use by date and the line needs fixing," he said. "Clearly sitting in Infrastructure Australia's ivory tower in Sydney they have little appreciation for the importance of this rail line to our community."

He said he was concerned the new VLocity trains for the line, promised to be ready for when the track upgrade was completed next year, had not been designed yet - although it was announced in October the design was underway.