Metro Trains Melbourne has issued an apology to passengers who endured a terrifying evening commute after a series of explosions erupted on a train. The cause has been traced to a fault in an ageing carriage that has been in service since the early 1980s.
Chaos unfolded on the Craigieburn line on Monday evening when loud explosions rang out from the roof of a carriage, sending smoke into the train and triggering panic among commuters.
“I was on the floor trying to get under the seats, but there were lots of people on the floor, so it was very chaotic,” passenger Lachlan Newman said. “Everyone was ducking because it kept happening over and over again.”
Passengers were left huddled inside the train, stuck just after North Melbourne Station for almost an hour as the driver worked to calm their fears. “G’day folks, apologies for that. We just had some overhead power issues,” the driver announced over the intercom. “It is still not working fully properly, so I’m going to have to get you all off the train.”
Eventually, passengers were allowed to disembark at Kensington Station. “We just saw the spark. We didn’t have much time to think what was happening,” one passenger said. Another added, “It’s just a loud bang, some sparks, and people panicking. The driver did a really good job though. He remained calm.”
Newman praised the driver for keeping passengers informed throughout the ordeal. “He was saying that he was resetting the things on the top of the train,” Newman said.
The component on the roof is called a pantograph, which connects to the overhead power line, but it had malfunctioned. “When we realised that, the driver did the right thing and dropped the pantograph,” Metro Trains’ Pete Gleeson said. “It took us time to safely reinstate the power.”
The affected train is now undergoing repairs. It is part of the Comeng fleet, Metro Trains’ oldest, with carriages first introduced in 1981 when Malcolm Fraser was prime minister. “Our initial investigation has identified the failure. But we need a little bit more time, and once we’ve confirmed, we’ll release the train back into the fleet,” Gleeson said.
Metro Trains spends $13 million on maintenance every week. “I would like to apologise on behalf of Metro Trains Melbourne for any distress that it did cause to our passengers,” Gleeson said.
