Public Transport Victoria has advised commuters to delay or defer non-essential travel after the Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for heavy rain across Victoria on Friday.
The BoM has warned an “unprecedented” amount of rain is expected to fall in the state over Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with forecasts up to 300 millimetres.
PTV on Friday reminded all passengers to take extreme care on public transport, and to not travel if it was at all possible.
“Heavy rain can cause flooding on our roads, impacting tram and bus services, and some station subways and tracks can flood,” PTV warned.
“PTV is working with public transport operators to minimise the impact on services over the weekend and keep passengers moving safely.”
PTV has activated its Incident Control Centre, and is working with Emergency Management Victoria and the BoM to gather intelligence about the likely impacts to public transport.
The BoM has particular concern over the level of rainfall expected in the state’s northeast, with the area now facing a “significant” flood event.
Melbourne is also expected to experience up to 160mm of rainfall.
“The operators are undertaking preparatory work to increase the network’s resilience, which includes drain clearing in high risk areas and positioning standby buses to keep passengers moving in the event of unplanned disruptions,” PTV explained.
“Over the weekend, additional staff will be located across the network to provide assistance to passengers.”