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A ‘communications fault’ cut off all early V/Line train services on Wednesday.
On the morning of Wednesday, V/Line tweeted that “no train services are operating across all lines due to a communications fault.”
All regional lines had their trains stopped at first because it was unsafe for them to move forward without drivers and controllers being able to communicate.
CEO Matt Carrick apologized to passengers for the delays, although he claimed that the cause of the outage is still unknown.
Carrick said, “There was a communications fault this morning which has impacted the whole network. That resulted in quite a number of cancellations and delays across the whole network, and that’s really impacted our customers.”
Trains were able to continue operating normally after V/Line and VicTrack worked together to implement a temporary communication solution.
According to Carrick, a communication fault meant drivers and controllers could not get in touch, endangering their safety.
He said, “The way that our operations centre can communicate with drivers was affected, so they couldn’t actually communicate with the train safely.”
“There were issues identified with the firewall around our communication system.”
A V/Line spokesperson said, “We sincerely thank passengers for their patience while we worked to get train services moving again as quickly and safely as possible following a communications fault this morning.”
V/Line announced in a tweet that coaches will replace all trains from July 2–14, 2022.
Communication issues in the 21st century?
Carrick claims that a record amount of money was invested in Victoria’s whole train network to enhance services, add more services, and upgrade infrastructure.
“A lot is being done, but clearly, we need to focus in on what’s happening on the communications.”
The suspension was the third total network failure in the previous five weeks. But Carrick insisted that three incidences were unrelated.
Asked on 3aw about the danger of the incident happening again, Carrick said, “Because they are unrelated, it’s impossible to say whether it’s likely to happen again.”
According to Carrick, two statewide train suspensions in five weeks is “not good enough.”
Public Transport Users Association regional spokesperson Paul Westcott has previously stated that it’s critical to determine the causes of the cancellations and delays.
Westcott said, “It’s really important that passengers are given explanations as to what’s happened rather than just a train fault.”
On the other hand, Shadow Minister for public transport Steph Ryan suggested that the V/Line network needs further funding from the government.
“It’s clear the V/Line network is aging; it’s clear that it needs additional investment. First and foremost, we need to understand why there can be communications faults throwing the entire network out in the 21st century.”
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Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.
