Theo Taifalos, the chief executive of V/Line, has resigned after losing the confidence of the Andrews government, as a crisis continues to grip the state's regional rail operator. Seventy train services a day have been replaced by coaches until further notice because of rapid wheel wear on VLocity trains and all but a handful of Gippsland services are banned from the city limits because of a dangerous boom gate malfunction in Dandenong. Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said Mr Taifalos had resigned this morning. Ms Allan said she was furious about the wheel wear problems, having been given false advice by V/Line last week that a solution to the problem was imminent and that services would begin to return to normal by the end of this week. "I was given inconsistent and unreliable advice on that issue," she said. Instead, regional commuters face major disruption until at least the middle of February and the government now expects that it will take months before services fully return to normal. Only Seymour line commuters have avoided pain, because the line exclusively uses older trains. Longer haul routes to towns such as Warrnambool, Albury and Bairnsdale are also unaffected. The regional rail crisis has dragged on since early January, when V/Line was told by VLocity manufacturer Bombardier that train wheels were suffering rapid wear rates. A solution to the problem has not been found, but extra lubrication of curved sections of the new Regional Rail Link has reduced the severity of the problem. A 25 km/h speed limit has also been imposed on the sharply curved rail flyover near North Melbourne station. Ms Allan also had bad news for Gippsland travellers on Thursday. Metro's ban on VLocity trains west of Pakenham will be enforced for six more weeks. The ban was imposed on January 15 after boom gates failed to lower for a VLocity train at the Progress Street level crossing in Dandenong. Just four services a day between Traralgon and Melbourne in each direction are running on older locomotives, with the vast majority having been replaced by coaches, adding up to an hour to journeys. The Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator has told the Andrews government an interim safety measure must be put in place on all 21 level crossings between Pakenham and the CBD before V/Locity trains can safely return to the line, a process expected to take six weeks. Axle counters will also be installed at the crossing as a more permanent solution, at a cost of $21 million. This will take six months. V/Line boss Theo Taifalos has resigned. Photo: Darren Howe The crisis has also ruined the government's short-term plans to boost regional public transport services. A planned V/Line timetable upgrade, due to start on Sunday, has been deferred until further notice. Ms Allan said she did not have confidence the change would have gone smoothly given V/Line's current deep problems. She apologised to regional travellers. "V/Line passengers are furious and so is the government. What has happened is not good enough," she said. Free travel on all V/Line services has been extended for one more week, until February 7. The timetable change would have added extra peak services to the Bendigo line, where Ms Allan's electorate is located. There were also minor changes planned for Geelong and Ballarat services. Gary Liddle has been named interim chief executive of V/Line. He has been interim chief executive of Public Transport Victoria in recent months and was VicRoads chief before that.

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