20-stop stand-off

By Melissa Grant
PEAK hour trains on the Pakenham line are becoming more crowded, with some rail commuters standing for at least 20 stops before finding a seat.
Preliminary figures from the Department of Transport reveal that the line is the most crowded in metropolitan Melbourne during peak times.
Pakenham line commuters are cramming into trains like sardines with an average nine peak services carrying more than 798 passengers each during May, up from seven in May last year.
Tim Kercheval, who regularly travels from Pakenham station to the city, said it was easy to get a seat in the morning as Pakenham was first on the line, but difficult to get one on the way home.
“Coming home it’s a nightmare,” he said.
“Most of the time I can’t get a seat until Narre Warren or Berwick.
“I try to catch a V/Line wherever possible.”
University student Sarah Yetman, who catches the train from Berwick to Parliament Station four times a week, said she sometimes stood the whole trip home.
“About 4.30 in the afternoon onwards it’s so hard to get on the train, let alone get a seat,” she said.
“Once you get on the train you’re packed up against the windows – you can’t move.
“One time I couldn’t get on the train, I had to wait until the next one came.”
Ms Yetman said she found it easy to get a seat on her trip to university, but the carriage was usually packed by the time it reached Dandenong. Mr Kercheval and Ms Yetman are not alone – half of the first 100 respondents to a recent train survey by Bass MP Ken Smith said they wanted more peak hour services, with most complaining of overcrowding.
On average, there was a 17 per cent decrease in overcrowding across the network over the past year, dropping from 48 services to 40. The only other line to record an increase in overcrowding was Cragieburn, with four overcrowded services during peak times.
A Department of Transport spokeswoman said the State Government had 38 new trains on order for the metropolitan rail network, with the first to be rolled out later this year. She said overcrowding would ease at the completion of the Westall Rail Upgrade project, which will enable trains to start and finish journeys at Westall station.
This would help ease overcrowding and reduce delays for the entire Dandenong line as passengers would be more evenly distributed over services commencing from Cranbourne, Pakenham, Dandenong and Westall station, she said.