More than one-third of regional Victorian platforms are too short to accommodate V/Line’s six-carriage VLocity trains.
V/Line runs passenger trains to more than 90 stations across the state, 36 of which have at least one platform that is too short to accommodate the rail operator’s most up-to-date service.
But that is not where the shortfall ends, according to Victoria’s Public Transport Users Association (PTUA).
“Some [of those] platforms can’t even accommodate three-carriage trains, so there’s a problem there,” PTUA spokesperson Paul Westcott said.
Regional Victoria has at least 13 stations where the trains in operation overhang the station.
Mr Westcott said that put commuters at risk.
“It’s obviously a big safety problem,” he said.
V/Line runs a mix of trains across its network, with six-carriage VLocity services mainly running between major cities within a few hours of Melbourne.
“Obviously, the patronage is also lower the further you get out from the centre [of Melbourne], but in the end, the principal limitation is the unavailability of platforms,” Mr Westcott said.
Stations need to be at least 159 metres long to accommodate a six-carriage VLocity service.
How long?
The danger associated with short platforms was highlighted when Daniel Kelly broke his leg after stepping off a V/Line train at Pyramid Hillon the Swan Hill line, north-west of Echuca.
The train was longer than the platform. Mr Kelly fell onto the tracks, breaking his tibia.
V/Line has since introduced new safety measures on the Swan Hill line, including the use of “pull-up banners” to block carriage doors at short platforms.
The PTUA said four of Victoria’s shortest platforms — Dingee (72m), Elmore (73m), Pyramid (77m) and Heathcote Junction (45m) — could not safely accommodate a three-carriage service.
V/Line said it had more than 90 stations across the network, with many platforms built decades ago and designed for Victoria’s rail system and rolling stock at the time.
In a statement, the Victorian government said announcements and assistance were available for passengers when boarding and exiting the train at stations where the platform was shorter than the train.
Build it and they will come?
The PTUA wants the state government to extend short platforms, arguing it would future-proof the network and ease overcrowding on three-carriage services.
But some regional advocates say more carriages are the priority.
Border Rail Action Group spokesperson John Dunstan said north-east Victoria was suffering from overcrowding and a lack of rolling stock.
Most services were overbooked, with passengers either put on buses or forced to stand all the way to Melbourne, he said.
“Given the lack of money and interest [from the] Victorian government in spending money on regional rail, we’re not going to be asking for these platforms to be extended because whatever millions are spent on that would not be going to new carriages,” Mr Dunstan said.
He said V/Line should investigate modifying its control systems to lock certain doors when trains pulled into shorter stations, as an additional safety measure.
The ABC understands station upgrades are prioritised based on patronage, demand, regional growth, safety and accessibility.
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The escalation of standards for rail infrastructure, well beyond practices in Europe for example, is a big contributor to everything being so damned expensive and the prospects for rail expansion being virtually zero. Advocates shouldn’t be buying into this.
The platforms lengths are a issue with the not fit for purpose IMU VLocity rail cars that reconfiguring the train would be able to rectify with other issues, but again pollies and their beancounters in DOT turns a simple engineering issue into a political problem!
As for the unfortunate safety incidents for Mr. Kelly, he seemed to be aware the train was too long at Pyramid unquote from article involving falling out of a train….
“When I opened the door, I was just going to climb down the steps and then walk up to the platform, but when I turned around, I tripped and landed out of the train,”
Was he drowsy at the time, whist taking short cuts to get home as quickly possible as he would arrive in Pyramid in the dark and one can disorientated in the train at night when come outside landmarks and which side the platform are?
Did he ignore the PA advice to alight car A and B away or from direction of travel that resulted his accident?
If he did, there will be no compo as he chose to climb the carriage steps instead of walking to car B and A like most people do whist travelling.
As he was travelling on the late evening service which arrive quite late at night at Swan Hill.