A communications fault halted V/Line services early Wednesday morning, with delays expected as trains resume.
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The rail network tweeted about 5am that no services were operating across all lines, but a Department of Transport update two hours later indicated some improvement.
"Following a communications outage which resulted in a suspension of V/Line services, a temporary fix has been found to allow trains to resume across the network," the department said.
"Significant delays are likely throughout the morning as services get back into position for the normal timetable.
"Some services may be replaced by coaches.
"Passengers are urged to check the V/Line website before travelling.
"The Department of Transport and V/Line thank passengers for their patience."
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Euroa MP Steph Ryan described it as "complete chaos" with a third complete network outage in the space of five weeks.
"Quite frankly, all regional communities want to know is that a train is going to turn up and it's going to get them where they need to go," she said.
"At the moment, they can't be guaranteed of that. The government saying that the network is getting back on track, but the reality is, when you look at those cancellations, there are trains that are scheduled, even for this afternoon, which have been cancelled.
"The government needs to front and explain what's happened here and why for the third time in five weeks, we have had a complete outage across the network.
"This is a source of endless frustration to regional people, we should be able to expect that a train going to turn up and get us where we need to go on time.
"The government has cut funding out of V/Line in recent years and I think the impacts of that are showing, but, first and foremost, we need to understand why there can be communications faults that are throwing the entire network out in the 21st century."
Northern Victoria MP Tim Quilty was also unimpressed.
"Regional Victorians rely on the train service for work, for critical medical appointments. It is an essential service for country people," he said.
"Every time we book a ticket, we should not have to wonder whether or not the train is going to turn up. In 2022, this is a service that we should be able to rely on.
"Only last week I was asking the minister to stop posing for election year photos with in the new standard gauge VLocity carriages, and to commit to fixing the trains and the lines.
"The government needs to stop dodging responsibility and fix the tracks and the trains so regional Victorians have a train service that not only runs but runs on time."
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