The public was given plenty of warning about the marathon shutdown of the Frankston line, which began on Saturday night and will extend until July 31. But Glen Eira ploughed ahead with roadworks in the middle of the first peak-hour of the shutdown. The council was repairing a drain on Sir John Monash Drive, a busy road next to Caulfield station, where about 70 buses were dropping off and collecting thousands of passengers in the morning which, incidentally, was a wet one. Daniel Bowen, a Public Transport Users Association spokesman, said the road works compounded delays and clearly should not have happened during peak-hour on a day when the rail line was out of action.

"It's poor planning to do these sorts of road works when you know it will cause delays, and on the first Monday of the shutdown," he said. Mr Bowen, a Frankston line commuter, estimated the traffic jam held up the bus he was travelling on for four to five minutes. A spokesman for Glen Eira said asphalt works were undertaken by the council between 7am and 10.30am, on one side of the roundabout, in the final stage of emergency works to reconstruct a large stormwater pit that had failed. The work had been scheduled for Saturday, but was interrupted by poor weather. "This route is not on the train replacement bus route and is a local bus route only. During the works, buses were still able to drive through the roundabout under contraflow traffic management. The road was fully open from 10.30am," the spokesman said. Metro and the Level Crossing Removal Authority were told about the upcoming works last week, he said.

The Frankston line, one of Melbourne's busiest, is closed between Caulfield and Moorabbin while three level crossings are removed and the stations are rebuilt at Ormond, McKinnon and Bentleigh. It is the first time in Melbourne that three level crossings have been removed in one hit. Metro has warned commuters to add an expected 45 minutes to journey times along the line. Commuters also reported train overcrowding on the Sandringham line, as many travellers opted to use it to get into the city instead. The Andrews government, meanwhile, acknowledged the road works were poorly timed, but said it was already taking steps to improve co-ordination between road and public transport authorities.

The government coincidentally launched a new department on Monday, Transport for Victoria, which will take over much of the planning work being done by Public Transport Victoria and VicRoads. Jacinta Allan, the minister for public transport, told reporters: "That's a really good example of what we need to get better [at] planning so that we can address where we have major shutdowns, which we will continue to have as we do these major infrastructure projects ... particularly when it puts more pressure on the road network." VicRoads said the impact of the road works on congestion levels was minimal. Metro reported few unexpected delays in the morning commute, except for a 20-minute delay at about 7.30am due to a trespasser at Highett.