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Chaos for commuters in Melbourne’s west

Written by Sarah Aquilina

Commuters in Melbourne’s west faced hours of delays today after a tech fault at Flagstaff prevented five lines from running through the city loop.

Williamstown, Werribee, Upfield, Sunbury and Craigieburn trains bypassed the city loop, travelling directly to Southern Cross or Flinders Street Station.

Passengers were forced to swap lines or make alternative arrangements to reach their destination causing chaos at Southern Cross.

“Everyone was pushing to get to a city loop service,” RMIT student Stefan Harsic told City Journal.

One commuter witnessed people “punching the train door” as they were unable to board a city loop service.

According to Metro Trains Twitter account, @metrotrains, delays began at 8:43am and were not resolved until 11:24am.

Metro acknowledged delays were extensive but Metro spokeswoman Sammie Black says “safety is number one, when there is a track fault” and “diligence” must be followed.

Unhappy university students took to social media to express their frustration.

It was a “stressful” way to start the semester, Harsic says.

Confusion levels were high as it was incorrectly reported that all city loop services had been cancelled.  

Metro confirmed all other lines ran as normal.

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Sarah Aquilina

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