Metro Trains Melbourne has apologised to train passengers left badly shaken by a series of explosions during their evening commute, with the cause narrowed down to a fault on an ageing carriage that’s been in service since before Bob Hawke was prime minister.
Peak hour chaos erupted on the Craigieburn line on Monday evening when explosions rang out from the roof of a carriage, sending smoke filtering into the train and commuters into panic.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Carriage chaos: What caused ageing train to explode during evening commute
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“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.”
Explosions rang out from the roof of a carriage on the Craigieburn line on Monday. Credit: 7NEWS
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 told passengers over the intercom.
“It is still not working fully properly, so I’m going to have to get you all off the train.”
Passengers were eventually allowed out at Kensington Station.
“We just saw the spark. We didn’t have much time to think what was happening,” a passenger said.
“It’s just a loud bang, some sparks, and people panicking. The driver did a really good job though. He remained calm,” another passenger said.
Newman said the driver kept them informed throughout the ordeal.
“He was saying that he was resetting the things on the top of the train,” Newman said.
Passengers were all ducking at the time. Credit: 7NEWS
The thing on top of the train is 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 train in question is now being repaired, but it is part of the Comeng fleet, which is Metro Trains’ oldest. The carriages were rolled out 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.
