In another major stuff up, the Department of Transport and Planning confirmed today in Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) hearings that five out of six Melbourne trains will be unable to use the new Metro Tunnel.
The Department also confirmed that Melbourne’s newest suburban rolling stock, the Xtrapolis 2.0 – which are currently under construction – will also be unable to use the new tunnel, despite the design of these trains being produced after the tunnel’s designs were known.
The hearings also revealed that the new safety door barriers at each Metro Tunnel station are only designed for the use of High-Capacity trains, despite them constituting just 65 of Melbourne’s 460 train sets.
There is no ability for the shared use of these safety doors by Melbourne’s High-Capacity trains with the other Siemens, Xtrapolis, Xtrapolis 2.0 or Comeng sets.
Shadow Minister for Public Transport, Matthew Guy, said: “It beggars belief that for reasons of patronage, safety, ease and connectivity, the Labor government did not seek a multi-modular design when choosing these new platform safety doors. It takes a special kind of incompetence to build a piece of rail infrastructure costing taxpayers at least $13.87 billion, which can’t be used by 85 per cent of Melbourne’s trains.
“It’s even more stunning that the Labor government is currently building new trains, which stunningly also can’t use the new Metro Tunnel, even though their designs could have been made to do so long before these trains were being built.
“Given the Metro Tunnel is the most expensive piece of rail infrastructure ever built in Victoria’s history, it is totally incompetent that the government would have chosen a design for platform safety doors that could not be used by all trains on the network, or at least the majority of them.
“Building platforms too short, building paths then ripping them up, reducing seats on country trains and now delivering the biggest rail project in the state’s history that can’t be used by five out of six suburban trains – Labor’s incompetence knows no bounds.
“The responsibility of this decision lies squarely with the Minister. The Minister who made the decision to lock 85 per cent of Melbourne’s trains out of the biggest piece of rail infrastructure in the state’s history is now the Premier.
“Labor cannot manage money, cannot manage the public transport system, and Victorians are paying the price.”
