ALTONA-bound commuters say they were ‘kidnapped’ last week when their train changed direction after Newport and dumped them at Laverton.
The incident occurred as figures obtained by the Greens under parliamentary questions on notice show there were 316 late or cancelled trains between Newport and Laverton from August to February.
The figures also showed that in the same seven months, the lifts broke down 81 times at Laverton station and 10 times at Footscray.
Altona resident Shelley Kerr said she felt “kidnapped” after catching a Laverton train, supposedly stopping-all-stations, at 5.17pm on June 25.
“The train was running five minutes late. We had departed from Newport on our way to Seaholme. Halfway, there’s a junction point where the train stopped.
“The driver then announced, ‘Sorry folks, this train is now going express to Laverton’.
“The passengers on the train were not notified at Newport or given any other warning so that we could disembark from the train at Newport.
“Metro has taken me to a destination that was against my will, to a place I didn’t want to go to, a place that I am unfamiliar with and therefore makes it unsafe and jeopardises my safety. This is called kidnapping.”
Several members of the lobbying Altona Loop Group used the same term in online posts.
“As we arrived at Laverton, the driver advised the train was terminating,” Ms Kerr said.
“We disembarked onto the platform with no shelter, in the freezing cold and darkness.
“There were no announcements to advise what platform to be on to take a city-bound train or any other announcements to assist.”
Ms Kerr said Metro had failed in its duty of care and what should have been a 26-minute journey took over an hour.
“Metro, their system’s just absolutely appalling. It’s horrendous what we’re experiencing on this line. We had no warning, no choice, no nothing.”
Western suburbs Greens MP Colleen Hartland said the peak-hour “kidnap” trains affected commuters the most. She said it was “dangerous to dump people at Laverton station, where anyone who can’t climb stairs is stuck, considering the number of times the lifts break down”.
Metro spokeswoman Geraldine Mitchell said the June 25 incident was a mistake.
“It appears this was a result of an error at our control centre,” she said.
“We apologise to all customers who were affected by this error and want to reassure our customers that processes are in place to ensure any change to a service is communicated with the driver and customers on board the train and at stations.”
Ms Mitchell said train changes were only considered “to help the network recover from a significant disruption”. She said one out of 600 daily services may become express, while major mechanical renewal works had “dramatically” reduced the number of lift breakdowns at Laverton.
