THE ongoing pain for Ballarat train commuters shows no sign of slowing down with delays still plaguing the line.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Some commuters have asked the Victorian government to return the line to older timetables following the failed Regional Rail Link launch.
While other regional lines have seen some improvement in services, Ballarat commuters have experienced long delays and excessive overcrowding.
Two carriages were added to the Ballarat fleet on Monday to try and stem the anger from commuters.
Despite this, daily commuter Margaret Hjorth said her 6.20am train was cancelled.
“Yesterday (Monday), I had my thank you all prepared, but I got there and my train was cancelled,” she said
“We were all standing there looking at each other and we are just like ‘whatever’, we are all so stressed.”
Ms Hjorth said she knew of commuters who were having their pay docked because they were now arriving late to work, others were forced to cut their lunch breaks in half to try and make up time.
“I think they (Public Transport Victoria) might just be taunting us, how far can you push people before they crack?” she said.
“I think we are some kind of experiment.”
She said she wanted to see an extra service prior to 6.20am to help with the problems.
Despite the long run of problems for commuters, it is believed there is no quick fix for the line.
In an interview with The Courier last week Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan admitted to being disappointed with the roll-out of the RRL service.
However, without an increase in the production rate of carriages or a plan to improve rail infrastructure on the line, it is expected problems will continue to occur.
Intermittent commuter Peter Klages said the changes had been obvious to commuters who saw trains shrink in size.
“Since June 21 they have cut the carriage numbers from five to three, they insisted the added extra service would take passengers off the train,” he said.
“But they were already full, it is just insane.”
Mr Klages said the problem stretched back further than the current government who have made a substantial order for new carriages.
“They certainly, in the most recent budget, have put away capital to add more carriages for regional areas.
“I still can’t understand how we could introduce a new timetable that takes carriages off trains and think it will be ok.”
