Latest news with #RaymondO'Flaherty


7NEWS
5 days ago
- 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.

The Age
5 days ago
- 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.