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Metro Trains fined $1.2m after July network outage

Melbourne’s train operator has been fined $1.2 million after a computer malfunction left thousands of passengers stranded in July.
July Train Delays in Melbourne

Metro Trains has been fined $1.2 million after a computer malfunction temporarily shut down Melbourne’s train network in July.

Tens of thousands of passengers were left stranded for up to two hours on 13 July after Metro Trains’ system crashed.

The $1.2 million fine is the maximum possible punishment for Metro’s failure to reach its monthly performance targets.

Public Transport Victoria (PTV) said that the network wide collapse caused the cancellation of more than 220 trains. Almost 380 trains were delayed.

July was Metro’s worst performance in service delivery standard in five years, according to Jeroen Weimar, chief executive of PTV.

“Tens of thousands of our passengers were inconvenienced and as a result, we’ve used our contract to full effect and penalised them for their very poor performance,” Weimar told ABC News.

The fine is separate to the $627,000 in refunds Metro Trains owes to the 175,000 affected passengers.
 
Late last month more than two-thirds of passengers affected by the outage were still waiting for their refund.
 
PTV spokesperson John Lindsay said the delays to refunds were unfortunate. But he said all affected customers would receive their compensation.
 
“We apologise that this is taking longer than first anticipated but we can reassure all eligible passengers that they will be compensated,” Lindsay told The Age.
 
PTV has advised affected passengers to continue to touch on their myki as normal even if they haven’t received the refund yet.

 

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