Latest news with #MetroTrains
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
Major commuter train lines to resume but derailment cause still unknown
Services will resume for more than 100,000 passengers on two busy Melbourne train lines on Monday without a public explanation from rail authorities as to what caused a carriage to derail near Clifton Hill station last week. A Metro Trains spokeswoman confirmed services would resume on the Mernda and Hurstbridge lines from first service on Monday morning, but neither the Department of Transport nor Metro met The Age's deadline for answers to questions about whether passengers had been offered an explanation for the derailment or reassurances about their safety. An investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and Victoria's Office of the Chief Investigator is under way. On Sunday, an ATSB spokesperson said the organisation was 'not expecting to give any substantive updates until the publication of a preliminary report in about two months'. The disruption occurred when a carriage on a city-bound X'Trapolis 100 train came off the tracks between Rushall and Clifton Hill stations about 10.30pm last Sunday, bringing rail services on the Mernda and Hurstbridge lines to a halt. The carriage hit trackside pillars and damaged about 100 metres of track. No one was injured. Loading The ATSB said last week that the train had hit multiple stanchions (support structures carrying overhead wires), rather than a single stanchion as had been previously believed – resulting in 'substantial damage to the overhead infrastructure'. Damage to the undercarriage and a wheel meant the affected carriage had to be removed by crane on Tuesday afternoon. Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said while last Sunday's incident appeared to be a 'freak accident', it was vital that a detailed investigation took place. 'They do need to thoroughly investigate and identify what has caused it because, obviously, it may mean there are infrastructure or procedural changes that should come in to prevent something like this happening again,' he said.
The Age
4 days ago
- General
- The Age
Major commuter train lines to resume but derailment cause still unknown
Services will resume for more than 100,000 passengers on two busy Melbourne train lines on Monday without a public explanation from rail authorities as to what caused a carriage to derail near Clifton Hill station last week. A Metro Trains spokeswoman confirmed services would resume on the Mernda and Hurstbridge lines from first service on Monday morning, but neither the Department of Transport nor Metro met The Age's deadline for answers to questions about whether passengers had been offered an explanation for the derailment or reassurances about their safety. An investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and Victoria's Office of the Chief Investigator is under way. On Sunday, an ATSB spokesperson said the organisation was 'not expecting to give any substantive updates until the publication of a preliminary report in about two months'. The disruption occurred when a carriage on a city-bound X'Trapolis 100 train came off the tracks between Rushall and Clifton Hill stations about 10.30pm last Sunday, bringing rail services on the Mernda and Hurstbridge lines to a halt. The carriage hit trackside pillars and damaged about 100 metres of track. No one was injured. Loading The ATSB said last week that the train had hit multiple stanchions (support structures carrying overhead wires), rather than a single stanchion as had been previously believed – resulting in 'substantial damage to the overhead infrastructure'. Damage to the undercarriage and a wheel meant the affected carriage had to be removed by crane on Tuesday afternoon. Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said while last Sunday's incident appeared to be a 'freak accident', it was vital that a detailed investigation took place. 'They do need to thoroughly investigate and identify what has caused it because, obviously, it may mean there are infrastructure or procedural changes that should come in to prevent something like this happening again,' he said.
7NEWS
15-07-2025
- 7NEWS
Mernda and Hurstbridge lines not resuming until next week following Clifton Hill train derailment
Thousands of passengers in Melbourne's northeast will face lengthy delays on their daily commutes until at least next week as engineers work to repair damage caused during a train derailment. Both the Mernda and Hurstbridge lines, which service 110,000 people on a daily basis, will remain suspended until next Monday after a train came off the tracks at Clifton Hill on Sunday night. Metro Trains chief executive officer Raymond O'Flaherty said it was too early to say exactly what caused the train to derail. 'We're confident that we'll resume passenger services on Monday morning, next Monday,' he said. ''This network is safe, I stand by Metro's strong safety record over the last 15 years.' The impacted carriage was only lifted from the tracks on Tuesday. Passengers have been forced to use replacement buses resulting in delays of up to 45 minutes. 'I usually wait like seven minutes for the train, but now it's like a long wait in the cold, its terrible,' one passenger told 7NEWS. The derailment happened on what has been described as one of the tightest corners of the train network at Clifton Hill. Around 55 passengers were on board at the time and no injuries were reported. 'That part of the rail network was originally built in the 1880s and the alignment of the tracks has not really changed significantly since then so the infrastructure could well be a factor,' Daniel Bowen, member of the Public Transport Users Association, said. Hurstbridge Line passengers will need to use buses between Eltham and Parliament stations, while those on the Mernda Line will use buses between Reservoir and Parliament. 'We ask passengers to check station platform displays, listen for announcements, and allow extra time for their journey,' the Department of Transport and Planning said. Works that were already planned as part of Victoria's Big Build mean that buses will replace trains on the Hurstbridge Line between Heidelberg and Eltham until July 24. Over 100 major road and rail projects are being developed through the Big Build, including the Metro Tunnel.
ABC News
15-07-2025
- ABC News
Train derailment disruptions continue in Melbourne as last carriage removed from tracks
The final carriage of a derailed train that has shut down services for tens of thousands of Melbourne commuters has been removed from the tracks, but services are still not expected to return to the Hurstbridge and Mernda lines until Monday. Five carriages came off the tracks when a train carrying 55 passengers derailed as it approached Clifton Hill station, on the north-eastern edge of Melbourne's CBD, on Sunday night. The driver safely brought the train to a stop and no one was injured. But the incident caused substantial damage to the rails and overhead equipment and wiring. All train services to Melbourne's north-east and parts of the north have been suspended. Metro Trains on Tuesday apologised to commuters but said any decision on compensation would not be made until the end of the month, when punctuality and reliability data would be assessed according to normal contract arrangements with the state government. Replacement buses will continue to operate all week. A significant recovery operation has been underway since Monday and the last of the carriages was lifted off the tracks overnight. That work required a partial closure of the busy Hoddle Street thoroughfare. It has now fully reopened. A Metro Trains spokesperson on Wednesday morning said re-wiring and other overhead works would now take place ahead of track repairs. The works have been described as significant and would require testing and recommissioning of the line, which was expected to take place on Sunday. The cause of the derailment was still unknown but Metro said it did not believe it was related to recent maintenance works.
The Age
15-07-2025
- General
- The Age
‘Something underneath failed badly': Safety investigators to probe train derailment
Safety investigators will probe how a Metro Trains carriage swung far enough off the tracks to collide with a pillar during a derailment that will paralyse two of Melbourne's key rail lines for more than a week. Metro Trains has confirmed services on the Hurstbridge and Mernda lines will remain suspended until at least Monday while it repairs infrastructure damage incident at Clifton Hill on Sunday. A crane was used at the site on Tuesday afternoon to remove the derailed carriage, allowing Metro Trains to assess the extent of the damage. The Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator is investigating the incident. Metro Trains CEO Raymond O'Flaherty said it was 'too early to pinpoint what's caused this'. The partially derailed train became stuck on the tracks at a bottleneck on the Melbourne network on Sunday evening. The city-bound X'Trapolis 100 train had 55 passengers on board and was travelling on the Mernda line towards Clifton Hill station about 10.30pm on Sunday when the fifth carriage came partly off the rails. O'Flaherty said one bogie – a series of four wheels – on the train's fifth carriage came off the rails. The carriage hit a trackside stanchion (a rail pillar), causing significant damage and the train's pantograph – the antenna-like structure – became entangled in overhead wires.
