Passengers “big winners” of Melbourne’s new rail contract

MTM, led by Hong Kong’s MTR Corp, will replace Connex from November 30th.
Information released by the Victorian Government shows that MTM will receive an average of $474 million each year of its eight year contract (with a possible seven year extension). This is a reported 19 per cent increase on the $398 million paid to Connex in the last year of the present arrangement.
MTM are bound by performance benchmarks for reliability and punctuality and will be fined up to $1 million a month for poor performance. If performance exceeds the target benchmarks of less than two percent of services cancelled and more than 92 per cent of services on time, the operator will reportedly receive a bonus of up to $1 million a month.
Under the present system there is no limit to fines on Connex for missing performance standards – it was reportedly fined more than $30 million in the year to the end of March.
Under the eight year contract, MTM has also pledged to deliver an extra 100 customer service staff and 100 maintenance workers; a ten per cent reduction in crime across the network; a $5 million annual program to target graffiti; a $2.5 million redevelopment of Caulfield station; as well as overseeing the roll out of the new 38 X-Trapolis trains and a new timetable.
As part of its $38 billion Victorian Transport Plan, the State Government will fund a $100 million upgrade to air-conditioning systems on the fleet’s Comeng trains to ensure they work at temperatures of up to 45 degrees.
An additional $400 million will be spent on maintenance during the eight year contract bringing the total investment to $1.8 billion.
“MTM are already working to identify how the network can be improved and [are] preparing to minimise disruptions to passengers in the hot summer months,” Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said.
“We have worked hard with the incumbent rail operator Connex to plan for this summer and MTM have committed to carrying on this work.”
MTM chief executive Andrew Lezala reportedly said that the group’s first priority will be to “get the basics right” and the network operating to its full intended capacity.
There will be some immediate improvements, however some of the fixes “will take some time”, he said.
Kosky said that Melbourne’s metropolitan rail network’s patronage is up 6.3 per cent in the past financial year to 213.9 million trips.