PHOTOS: OAKS DAY COMMUTER CHAOS At least one train ground to a halt between stations and some frustrated commuters walked along the tracks to escape. VRC chairman Rod Fitzroy yesterday said he was very disappointed in the breakdown of the train service from Flemington after the Oaks Day meeting. He said it was a Connex and State Government matter. "They refuse to put the necessary funding required to upgrade the service because it is only a spur line to Flemington," he said. The trouble started at 4.15pm when a points failure near Kensington station caused a number of delays at North Melbourne and on the city loop.

About an hour later an empty train became tangled with overhead wires near North Melbourne station and power was cut, stranding a packed train between Kensington and North Melbourne. Services on the Cragieburn and Upfield lines were also affected, along with some V/Line services. Some racegoers were directed to Newmarket or Macaulay stations, where they found no trains operating; some went by bus to Footscray station. Mr Fitzroy said that after a small hiccup on Derby day he had been assured by Connex officials that the trains would run on schedule for the rest of carnival. "The problem is they just don't tell you the truth," he said.

"Even today when the service broke down after the last race, they said it would be down for 20 minutes, and an hour later they said the trains had been cancelled." Paul Kearney, who was on a packed train that ground to a halt between Kensington and North Melbourne stations, said people waited helplessly, "sardine-style", for a quarter of an hour before climbing off the train and walking. "When the power went down, the doors unlocked and because people were leaning against the handles, the doors started to open and people almost fell out," he said. Trains began running again after 7pm, but the chaos earlier meant long delays for commuters well into the night. Connex spokeswoman Kate De Clercq said the delays could not be foreseen and were exacerbated because trains cannot run when there are people walking on the tracks.

"This is just not something we could have planned for," she said. "It happened at the worst possible moment." Jason and Lou Cochrane, from Tasmania, left the races early at 5pm but were told to get off at Kensington station before finally catching a taxi an hour and a quarter later. Mrs Cochrane said many people were forcing open the train doors and jumping off, and some people appeared close to passing out. Mr Cochrane said the situation was frustrating. "The fella said: 'Whoever wants to stay on the train, you can, but we're not going anywhere'.

"(He said) 'The lines have come down on the track and we don't know how long it's going to be'," Mr Cochrane said. Yesterday's Oaks Day crowd was down more than 5,000 on last year. Mr Fitzroy put the smaller crowd down to the economic situation. Loading "I think it's simply a case of some bosses telling their staff that only two could perhaps go to the Oaks rather than four, which had been the case in previous years," he said.

With LARISSA HAM