V/Line punctuality hits decade low on northern routes amid free travel

The latest monthly V/Line performance data reveals punctuality on Victoria's northern routes has dropped to its lowest level in nearly a decade in the wake of the state's first month of free public transport.

V/Line's April data showed 56 per cent of services on the Swan Hill and Echuca line in April arrived within 11 minutes of the scheduled time.

It was V/Line's worst punctuality rating on the two routes since July 2017 and well below its target of 92 per cent — which has not been met since March 2022.

Punctuality was also well below the previous month, where 72 per cent of services arrived on time.

The last time V/Line's punctuality dropped that low was back in June 2024 on the Warrnambool line, where only 41.7 per cent of trains arrived on time.

The ABC understands temporary speed restrictions for safe operations were the greatest cause of delayed services on both lines last month.

The speed restrictions were put in place on the network for a range of reasons including to ensure safe line of sight for drivers at level crossings.

Other factors that contributed to delayed services across April included trespassers and incidents requiring emergency services.

The results revealed a similar situation on the Albury/Wodonga line.

Despite a 98 per cent reliability score, punctuality nosedived to 64.3 per cent on the Albury line in the month of April.

So far this year, service punctuality on that line had not reached 80 per cent, and the last time the 92 per cent punctuality target was met was in November 2023.

The ABC understands vandalism along this part of the rail network, infrastructure and train faults were the main causes of delays on the Albury line.

In a statement, V/Line said April was a popular month with free travel in place across the three lines.

"We work closely with the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) to reduce delays and cancellations on the Albury Line, and acknowledge there is room for improvement on recent performance results," a spokesperson said.

"We make every effort to reduce delays and cancellations on the Swan Hill and Echuca lines and acknowledge there is room for improvement on recent performance results."

Punctuality was also lower on the Shepparton, Bairnsdale and Ararat/Maryborough lines during the first month of free public transport, compared to March.

The data also revealed punctuality was much lower than V/Line's target of 92 per cent for long distance routes.

It was a similar trend on shorter routes such as Geelong, Ballarat, Seymour and Gippsland, where trains were more often late in April compared to March.

However, punctuality did improve on the Bendigo and Warrnambool lines, despite buses replacing trains on the Warrnambool line.

Calls to do better

Victoria's Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said the April data was disappointing for passengers.

"If you've got so many trains running late, it's very hard to plan your journey and hard to make connections, get to appointments," Mr Bowen said.

"People trying to use the trains do need to have a reasonable idea of when [the trains are] going to get them to their destination.

"No-one likes being stuck on a train that's delayed for a long period."

He said the delays had potential impacts on passengers.

"They might have specific plans, appointments they need to get to on time, so if there are long delays then that obviously does cause problems for people," he said.

Mr Bowen said the state government and V/Line needed to do better to keep trains running on time.

"They need to really look at the source of each delay, whether it's an infrastructure problem, train fault, overcrowding or trespasses on the track … they need to look at what the causes are of those delays and look at what they can do to resolve them," he said.

"There has been a push from the rail industry to increase the amount of fencing around rail lines, metropolitan and regional and that sort of thing can help reduce issues with livestock or trespasses," he said.

Mr Bowen believed free public transport had added to the delays.

"In some cases, there are issues with people trying to board at stations and having to wait to board or even not being able to board because the train is too crowded," he said.

"You have to assume that is adding to delays at stations."