There were a number of unsolicited submissions made to the State Government Parliamentary Inquiry into Rail Maintenance held on the 9th of February 2016.

Reports in the Mainstream Media indicate that a con-job was done on the Members of Parliament involved, with Train bosses passing the buck and spinning a web of mistruths. Despite these submissions being sent to those Members of Parliament, it appears as though none of the important questions were actually asked.

Here is one such submission:

There are many problems with the rail system in Victoria, and I truly hope the inquiry

on 9th of Feb gets to the bottom of them. Some points to consider:

The level crossing issue: Metro, as is typical of them, has pointed the blame at

V/Line. Fact is it’s their level crossings affected, and their maintenance regime at

fault. Because they can’t or won’t maintain tracks to a proper standard, it causes

problems with track circuits. The “solution” is to wind back the voltage to the bare

minimum that will detect a 6 car suburban train. This may result in shorter trains

(eg, 3 car v’locity) not being detected.

John Holland: Where to start with that problem. Their reputation within the industry

is one of poor workmanship, often resulting in track conditions worse than before

the works were carried out. The Victorian Railways Construction Branch could

carry out all tasks allocated to John Holland properly the first time and at a fraction

of the cost. The simple solution for now: nobody from John Holland should be

allowed within 500 meters of any railway line in Victoria.

Senior Management: Do a google search on Andrew Lezala and tell me if you

honestly think he is the right man for the job. Any wonder Metro is as dysfunctional

as it is. The simple fact is the privatised model does not work and costs Victorians

millions of dollars every year that goes straight to the Chinese government. It is

only driven by misguided political agendas that don’t have the functionality of the

transport system as their primary goal.

V/Line: Getting rid of Theo was a step in the right direction, but he was only a

small part of the problem. Appointing Craig Dance as supervisor of drivers when

he has no driving (or any other practical railway) experience at all is causing it’s

own predictable set of problems. Judith Sturman who has bestowed herself the

title of “Operations Manager” (a position normally held by someone with many

years practical experience in the operations field) has demonstrated time and

again her ineptitude in that job. Carol Anne Nelson whose purpose in the

organisation is unclear, and as a result of her total lack of railway experience can

only issue staff with a new, impractical, not fit for purpose uniform at a cost of

nearly $1 mill. Once Theo was appointed as CEO (a political appointment by the

then Liberal government with an eye to privatising V/Line again) he went about

removing everybody in management with a railway background and replaced them

with his “entourage”. The result has been a learned, institutionalised helplessness

that couldn’t have even realised their may be a problem with wheels or tracks or

whatever, because nobody had the industry background to even know what

problems may arise. This spills over into the lack of maintenance over the entire

network and fleet.

PTV: As overarching body controlling all facets of public transport in Victoria, this

body is the main cause of all the problems. Through PTV’s lack of direction,

ignorance of their statutory obligations, lack of industry intelligence, or just plain

ignorance brought about by lack of experience and understanding, the whole

situation has been allowed to degenerate to what we have now.

It is time now to realise that political agendas have caused the mess we are in today,

and a very serious change of ideologies is required urgently.

The “Victorian Railways” was designed and maintained by insightful, knowledgeable

people who, despite political attacks from the time of Henry Bolte onwards, somehow

managed to maintain a reliable and safe system.

Only since privatisation, and the resulting fragmentation of a system designed to

operate as a whole, have these problems emerged. The appointment of senior

management on the basis of political expediency since the Kennett crisis rather than

“most suitable” applicant caused a loss of industry “memory”.

Would it surprise you to know that many of the problems encountered now were

already solved many times over in past decades. I suspect that nobody in

management at V/Line, Metro or any of the freight operators would have any

knowledge of these issues at all.