Residents in some of Melbourne’s biggest growth corridors are battling with the most unreliable train services in the city, according to fresh Public Transport Victoria data.
The data, taken from March 2022 to February this year, revealed commuters travelling on the Craigieburn line in Melbourne's north experienced the highest number of late trains with 10.6 per cent of services not on time.
In the city's south-east, the Pakenham line saw 3.1 per cent of trains cancelled — the highest number of cancellations in the metropolitan network, excluding Stony Point which has a lower number of services than other lines.
The best performing lines in that period were Glen Waverley, where 97.1 per cent of trains arrived on time, and Sandringham, where 96.6 per cent of trains were on time.
Parwana Ahmadzai is a resident of Craigieburn and uses the train to get to work and to study.
She feels like she is constantly running late to her lectures and often needs to message her manager to tell them there has been an issue with her train.
"It makes me feel nervous and upset to know that I have to go and talk to my manager again, I have to go and talk to my tutor again about how I'm … facing train delays," Ms Ahmadzai said.
A few weeks ago, Ms Ahmadzai was waiting on the platform at Craigieburn station as the rain began to bucket down.
"I feel like it's very challenging, especially ... when we have rainy days and bad weather because that's when I feel like people rely more on public transport," she said.
"But then, prior to any decisions we make, we get an announcement saying that the train has been delayed or there will be a bus replacement."
When Ms Ahmadazi arrives late for university she needs to stay back to catch up on what she has missed.
She said it all added up, given her train and bus journey home often took 90 minutes.
"The time where I have to get to the station that adds up, the time where I have to get back to Craigieburn that adds up, and then where I have to catch my bus," she said.
What are the leading causes of train delays?
Monash University researcher Graham Currie leads the Public Transport Research Group and said external factors were often the leading cause of train delays and cancellations.
"Things like trespassing on rail lines, passengers being ill, the weather is actually the cause of the biggest disruptions. And lines that have got more exposure to these sorts of problems have more of the problems," Professor Currie said.
The Pakenham line is the longest on the network at 57 kilometres, which Professor Currie said led to more opportunity for issues to arise from delays or cancelled trains.
Professor Currie said the Craigieburn line, along with other trains on the Northern Loop, used some of the oldest trains on the network.
"These are the Comengs … and those trains are 30 to 40 years old. They do tend to have less reliability and punctuality, so that might be the reason for those," he said.
It's something regular commuter Atif Ali has been noticing on his travels to and from work along the Pakenham line.
"I was expecting a train should be in 10 minutes or 15 minutes, but the train is actually 21 minutes away," he said.
"Especially when I actually finish from my office. So it took me a little bit more, maybe 30 minutes more to reach home … the trains are actually sometimes late, especially the Pakenham line."
The Department of Transport said trespassing and illegal activity were other factors affecting services, and accounted for more than a third of incidents that led to delays and cancellations.
"We're working hard to deliver safe, fast and reliable train services to get passengers where they need to go," a spokesperson said.
"We thank passengers for their patience when disruptions do occur, particularly as a result of trespassing and illegal activity near the rail line, which is incredibly selfish and dangerous behaviour."
'Frequency, frequency, frequency'
Professor Currie says there was something that commuters cared about above all else: frequency. He said the biggest thing that affected patronage was frequency of service.
"I often say there are three things that passengers want frequency, frequency and frequency, and that's been getting a bit better on trains," he said.
The Department of Transport has indicated the frequency of Craigieburn services may improve over the next few years, with the Metro Tunnel creating 27 per cent more peak capacity for passengers.
But until then, Ms Ahmadzai will be arriving late for her classes, and staying back longer to make up for what she's missed.
"I need to make use of every minute," she said.
