[Melbourne, VIC] Metro takes over Connex trains and Keolis takes over Yarra Trams

[Aussie_Rail]

View at: Heraldsun Website

Metro takes over Connex trains and Keolis takes over Yarra Trams

Matthew Schulz, AAP, Herald Sun, November 30, 2009

PREMIER John Brumby was one of many commuters hit by public transport delays arriving 20 minutes late to launch the new Metro train service this morning.

Mr Brumby blamed the Tullamarine Fwy for the delay when asked whether the tram's late arrival at Flinders St was a bad omen for the new system.

He said heavy traffic had delayed his arrival at work, which forced the freshly painted Yarra Trams tram - sporting the new livery - that was delivering Mr Brumby to Flinders St to wait for the Premier, delaying it by 20 minutes.

Melbourne commuters awoke today to new private operators for the city's troubled train and tram networks, but for many nothing had changed with the usual delays and overcrowding facing commuters.

French-owned Connex Trains and Yarra Trams handed over their operations to Hong Kong-based consortium MTR and a new French tram operator, Keolis, at 3.01am this morning.

Metro's chief executive Andrew Lezala admitted the dozen cancellations this morning was not a great start for the new service.

Among cancellations this morning included two cancellations on the Frankston line, and one on each of the Epping, Hurstbridge and Pakenham lines.

Others faced delays on the Sandringham and Werribee lines, while others coped with the usual sardine-like conditions on peak hour trains.

“We've had too many cancellations this morning,'' Mr Lezala said.

“They are liability faults with rolling stock, so clearly we've got a lot of work to do to address those and put some long-term fixes in place.''

Premier John Brumby said both operators would deliver continuous improvements to the metropolitan public transport network, but stressed commuters should expect a delay in the roll out.

“You're not going to see changes overnight, KDR and Metro took over the system at 3.01 this morning,'' he said.

“You're not going to see changes in days, you're going to see changes in weeks and changes in months, they understand the challenge, will meet the challenge and I am confident you will see improvements in public transport over the course of the year.''

This morning, Mr Brumby inspected the one rebadged Metro train that is operating on the network this morning, trailed by dozens of officials from the new operators.

While the train had a new lick of paint, it still showed signs of earlier vandalism with graffiti scratched across at least six windows.

He said among those upgrades included new Xtrapolis trains, which would join the system from December.

We're paying the price of a lack of investment - Opposition

Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu was at Flinders St Station this morning, where he blamed the failure to invest in new trains and infrastructure for frustrating delays in the train system.

Mr Baillieu said he caught three trains this morning to trial the system, with a Sandringham line city-bound train arriving 12 minutes late.

He said it was overcrowded and said many trains were late.

"People will give the new operator a go but they don't trust the government to deliver," Mr Baillieu said.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said passengers had every right to be hopeful the new system would be a significant improvement, based on the performance of the Hong Kong system.

But he said there was still a long way to go to improve punctuality and reliability.

Same trains, different name

Commuters Ray Darmanin, of Roxburgh Park and Peter Waite, of Sydenham, said the service was much the same just with a different name.

Michael Byrne, 56, of Endeavour Hills said there was no difference at all in his journey.

James Stapleton, 29, of Taylors Lakes said he had been to Hong Kong and the new female voice reminded him of the trains there.

“It was a bit funny; they mispronounced one of the station’s names. But it’s definitely clearer, a lot like MTR in Hong Kong,” he said.

Williamstown commuter said the announcement of a cancelled train was very detailed, giving the exact reason why the train was malfunctioning.

Kelly Skliros, of Viewbank, said she thought the train was much cleaner and was happy it had been on time.

“It’s a much nicer voice clearly saying what station you are at. It’ll be much easier for tourists travelling on the trains,” she said.

But others like Robert Gray, of East Ringwood, 76, said the new voice was “a bit grating”.


Connex ended its troubled eight-year run early today with a cancelled train to Werribee, which it replaced with a bus.

Both companies were plagued with timetable and reliability problems that earned the ire of commuters.

The Yarra Trams name, which is owned by the government, will remain.

Metro Trains has had 28 senior staff working with Connex in recent weeks in a bid to begin devising ways to improve Melbourne's train system.

Although some people are very glad to see the back of Connex, in all reality a new operator really means just a new name and nothing else. Although some minor changes have been noticed they are not the major changes needed to fix the dilapidated system run down from years of poor, or the lack of investment from the incompetent State Government.

If anything needed to change it was the Government and not the operator, the operator does just that, operate, they are like a factory worker operating a broken, rundown, poorly maintained machine that breaks down all the time and fails to perform. The Government are the ones that own that machine, and it is their responsibility to ensure it works and to invest money in it. Unfortunately that does not happen here.

People are willing to give MTR/Metro Trains are go, they are new and they have made plenty of promises and to fair, they cannot be any worse than Connex, the only problem is that dumb, incompetent drooling vegetable of a Government that do diddly squat and then blame the operator when ever there is a major cock up.

It will be years before any real changes are noticed and not just the colours of the trains or what the staff wear but major long term investments like new tracks, signals and other projects to ensure that trains run on time and cancellations are far and few.

And the same can be said for Yarra Trams too.

 

[Waddon]

Is Connex the world's worst rail operator? They lost all their UK contracts several years ago.

 

[MCR247]

Is this the same 'Keolis' that jointly run fTPE with First?

 

[Mojo]

Yes. They are a famous transport company from France and also form part of the GoVia consortium that operate Southeastern, Southern & London Midland with Go-Ahead.