SENIOR citizens lobbying for improved train services on the Werribee line were last Friday ordered by a Metro employee to leave an Altona railway station platform.
The directive came minutes after the last of 161 signatures was collected on a letter calling on Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder to restore direct trains between the city and Altona loop stations (Seaholme, Altona and Westona) in the new November timetable.
But under Metro’s new timetable, released this week, the biggest change for Altona loop passengers will be a three-minute reduction in waiting times at Newport. Altona loop commuters currently have to change trains at Newport or Laverton in non-peak times. Altona Loop Group members and commuters who signed the letter are calling for punctual trains, no bypassing of Altona loop stations, and partial duplication of the single track to provide a more frequent, reliable service.
The letter states: “The train service is consistently poor with frequent cancellations, bypasses, and signal faults. We’re often ‘kidnapped’ when the train bypasses the Altona loop unannounced and we’re often dumped at Newport station when the train fails to go through the Altona loop.”
Last Thursday, Western suburbs Greens MP Colleen Hartland told Parliament that every customer satisfaction survey since the train timetable changed last year showed Altona loop commuters were the most dissatisfied on Melbourne’s entire network.
On Friday about 9.15am, a man dressed in a Metro uniform, who refused to give his name, ordered the Weekly and members of the Altona Loop Group to leave the platform.
He claimed that a permit was required for senior citizens — including Margaret Rice, an 80-year-old Altona woman with a walker — to be on the platform. Ms Rice said she had lost the confidence to catch a train by herself because there were so many train changes instead of one direct train from Altona to the city. She said it was difficult getting on and off up to three trains just to travel into the city.
“I’m just not confident enough to do it by myself,” Ms Rice said. “I’ll be catching a train tomorrow morning, but with a friend who can help me. It’s all right to get on the train here [at Altona] where there’s not many passengers getting on, but when you get off at Newport you’re getting on to an already crowded train and you’ve people behind you pushing.
“I used to go in and out by myself quite often, but now I’ve just lost confidence entirely.”
Miriam Hicks said that on Thursday she departed Parliament station at 4.20pm.
“We had to get off at North Melbourne. We had to stand there for about 15 minutes, change lines, change platforms. Then we had to get off again at Footscray and wait there to get a train to Newport and then from Newport we finally got to Altona at 5.40pm — from 4.20pm.
“It’s not good enough . . . old people need better transport, direct transport.”
Allan Williams said he signed the letter because “the service has gone to crap in the last 18 months”.
Seaholme resident Abbie Kinniburgh, who has a condition called Disorders of the Corpus Callosum, said the train changes were making it difficult for her to get to classes at Footscray’s Victoria University — four stations away.
The Weekly asked Metro why people were ordered to leave Altona station on Friday. It said it needed to gather more information before commenting.
