Thousands of Melbourne commuters demand refunds after nightmare peak-hour transport chaos triggered by track faults

  • Thousands of commuters have experienced major transport delays at peak hour 
  • Melbourne trains suffered major delays due to faults at Flinders Street Station
  • Chaos started at about 4pm on Wednesday afternoon and continued in evening
  • Metro Trains urged commuters allow plenty of travel time while they fixed delays

By Zoe Zaczek For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 06:46 EDT, 24 October 2018 | Updated: 06:51 EDT, 24 October 2018

Thousands of commuters in Melbourne have been left stranded on packed platforms at peak hour after multiple track faults at Flinders Street Station brought the city to a halt.

Commuters were warned of major delays as the track faults brought the Alamein, Belgrave, Lilydale, Glen Waverley lines to a standstill on Wednesday afternoon.

The train chaos started at about 4pm and seeped onto tram stops as commuters desperately tried to get home.

Thousands of commuters in Melbourne have been left stranded on packed platforms at peak hour after multiple track faults at Flinders Street Station brought the city to a halt

Thousands of commuters in Melbourne have been left stranded on packed platforms at peak hour after multiple track faults at Flinders Street Station brought the city to a halt

Commuters were warned of major delays as the track faults brought the Alamein, Belgrave, Lilydale, Glen Waverley lines to a standstill on Wednesday afternoon

Commuters were warned of major delays as the track faults brought the Alamein, Belgrave, Lilydale, Glen Waverley lines to a standstill on Wednesday afternoon

The train chaos started at about 4pm and seeped onto tram stops as commuters desperately tried to get home

The train chaos started at about 4pm and seeped onto tram stops as commuters desperately tried to get home

Buses replaced trains from Parliament to Clifton Hill until about 5.30pm when trains resumed.

Commuters on the Hurstbridge and Mernda services continued to experience delays of up to 30 minutes.

Metro Trains urged commuters to allow for extra travel time while they worked to clear the delays.

'There are Major Delays while we recover from the earlier track faults at Flinders Street,' Metro Trains said on Twitter.

 Lilydale, Belgrave, Alamein and Glen Waverley lines were also affected and commuters were forced to face delays of up to 15 minutes. 

'Please listen for announcements and check platform displays as services will depart alternative platforms at Flinders Street,' Metro Trains said.

Metro Trains urged commuters to allow for extra travel time while they worked to clear the delays

Metro Trains urged commuters to allow for extra travel time while they worked to clear the delays

'There are Major Delays while we recover from the earlier track faults at Flinders Street,' Metro Trains said on Twitter

'There are Major Delays while we recover from the earlier track faults at Flinders Street,' Metro Trains said on Twitter

Frustrated commuters took to social media to share their disappointment on Wednesday afternoon

Frustrated commuters took to social media to share their disappointment on Wednesday afternoon

They also suggested commuters consider alternative transportation. 

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said the delays were disappointing, the Herald Sun reported. 

'It is very disappointing that an infrastructure fault has caused such chaos on the train network in the middle of peak hour,' he said.

'You'd hope Metro would consider refunds. 

'Metro needs to rectify the situation as quickly as possible, investigate how and why it happened and make sure this doesn't happen again. 

Hurstbridge commuter Moshidi Manaka told the Herald Sun her travel time was tripled to 90 minutes.

Ms Manaka said people should be compensated and argued trains should run for free on Thursday. 

Frustrated commuters took to social media to share their disappointment on Wednesday afternoon.

One commuter said they got on a train before being notified the train was 'suspended from the city to the eastern suburbs'.

'World's Second Most Liveable City *as long as you don't expect public transport to work,' tweeted another. 

One commuter said they got on a train before being notified the train was 'suspended from the city to the eastern suburbs'

One commuter said they got on a train before being notified the train was 'suspended from the city to the eastern suburbs'

Metro Trains suggested commuters consider alternative transportation amid the chaos

Metro Trains suggested commuters consider alternative transportation amid the chaos

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Thousands of commuters in Melbourne are left stranded as track faults bring trains to a halt

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