Metro Trains today welcomed the appointment of Martin Pakula as Minister for Public Transport.
"The connection between the rail franchisee and the Public Transport Minister is vital and we look forward to fostering a productive relationship with Minister Pakula," said Metro CEO, Andrew Lezala.
Applying fresh, proven engineering solutions to old problems will be key and Metro will be working with the Department of Transport and the new Minister to identify funding priorities for rail upgrades and maintenance works.
"Government has been enormously responsive to the need for greater investment in the rail network, and the fruits of that can be seen, for example, in the additional $100 million that was allocated under the new franchise in rolling stock projects," said Mr Lezala.
"We've already started to use some of that funding to improve the performance of Comeng air conditioners in hot weather, and a full overhaul is planned. We also continue the rollout of rail strengthening works that have already paid dividends in reducing track buckling in extreme heat," he said.
"We look forward to sitting down to discuss Metro's priorities with the new Minister, but we do not waver on our resolve to deliver the long term commitments which are outlined clearly in our franchise agreement," he said.
Making the system less susceptible to the extremes of temperature in Melbourne is a priority, as is improving the quality of customer information when there are disruptions.
"The disruptions we've seen since we took over the network are not acceptable. We're moving to a reliability-centred maintenance regime, including the investigation of each fault to find the root cause so that we can apply long-term solutions," said Mr Lezala.
"Reducing equipment failures to prevent disruptions is the first step towards greater reliability of the train network," said Mr Lezala.
In parallel with improving the reliability of the signals, points, overheads and trains, Metro will be looking at simplifying the timetable.
"Making timetables simpler and more consistent will go a great way to minimising the knock-on effect of disruptions, and enable us to more efficiently move double the number of passengers during the life of our franchise," said Mr Lezala.