Connex: Melbourne's Worst Rail Operator 

Since I am getting many comments about this: Yes I am well aware the issues (and recent improvements) were more to do with the governments than the operators. This video however is about the trains not the politics If you're looking for a video on how the Kennett government was dumb, Bracks/Brumby government did nothing, and more recent governments have improved the service, this is not it, look elsewhere

Should’ve delayed the video by an hour to give the authentic connex experience

I grew up in Perth, which, of course, didn't have fantastic public transport when I was young. I moved to Melbourne is 2007 and got to experience Connex firsthand. Holy moly, Connex made TransPerth look like Swiss Railways. When I see stories of Melbourne's entire public transport network being split up and sold off to separate companies it makes my head spin. I now live back in Perth, and you can easily see how full government ownership is supremely beneficial. Having one organisation manage busses, ferries, and trains makes the system far more efficient and capable of providing a much better service by setting long term goals (like the three or four new rail lines under construction here).

They did an appalling job of running the commuter services in Southern England into London as well (Connex South Eastern and South Central) they were so bad the government took their franchise away after a few short years

Kennett has a lot to answer for, and he knows it.

Kennett: “That’s it! We can’t have unions, an external entity, stopping trains running!” Private companies: “ Hey we’re gonna stop running trains. Also, that’ll cost you $2 billion”

im expecting this video to be up in atleast 7 hours after all its connex

It's such an interesting example of what can go wrong when governments are influenced too much by corporations. The government effectively failed to listen to urban planners and other experts and then sold off public assets to a private corporation that didn't seem to understand what public reputation was, or risk management and planning for the future.

You're taking me back to my uni days! You even showed my old uni! Train delays, good times.

Excellent job on this one. You've helped bring back a flood of long-suppressed unpleasant memories from that decade for me, lol… but also a reminder of how much better it's gotten since then (from really shit, to mediocre-but-i-remain-optimistic).

As someone who has never set foot in Victoria, I miss the Met. Best PT branding in Australia. I admired it from afar.

I remember Jan in 09, working on national bus buses, mk ii man's and the cb30 bodied man's overheated to the point of needing to come past the Fitzroy shop to be cooled off to go back out. Or ac's switched off. Privatization is a farce.

What an excellent balanced well researched and logical post. Well done and congratulations on the quality of your work. I look forward to the next one

Excellent work. I knew of some if this, but it’s great to see it all in a concise timeline and history.

Good video, that 2008 Oak's Day & 2009 Heatwave debacle was what single handedly killed the Bracks/Brumby Government. Guessing the VictoriaTrainDebacle channel was used for that 09 heatwave news footage. That channel is basically a Connex/early Metro archive

The postscript to this story is that Connex’s parent company (Veolia) merged with Transdev (who part-held the Yarra Trams franchise at that time), then won the contract to run the former MMTB/MTA/PTC bus network - with pretty much the same result.

Excellent video! Very informative and well presented.

I know you're trying to leave politics out of it, but suggest a name change to "Victorian Liberal Party, Victoria's worst rail operator". Kennett was only interested in making his mates rich via the F1 race and Crown. Zero interest in building or maintaining any public infrastructure (paging Transurban and Citylink...). Low ride patronage in the 90's was also partially a result of the state/country being in a recession. Also telling was a letter written by the Connex CEO after finding that Metro was taking over - thanked Melbournians for the opportunity to serve them and hinted that they were held back by government shenanigans behind closed doors. If we're honest though, Metro is miles better but it's a very different government in power now and a different economic period.

Gosh I remember so Connex trains that would overheat. Going to high school and dying on those 38-40+ degree heat days lol. In fact, the trains were guaranteed to have issues if the temperature ever went above 35 degrees...

Thank you very much for this very interesting and informative video presentation which is very much appreciated by the people.

Mate, brilliant video. Just stumbled across this and learn alot. I was only 12 or 13 when connex ended, never understood just how bad they were.

Very interesting analysis - thanks! 👍

Connex were far from Melbourne’s worst train operator. Every single issue that they had that was blamed on them came straight from years of government neglect. Governments believed they could ditch funding and maintenance for the rail network and blame any issues on the operator. If Connex (Transdev) got back the contract, they’d be more than capable of operating the exact same level of service (or potentially better?) that metro delivers. Every person’s perception of the company is because of their poor experiences in the past, which again were mostly the issue of the state government.

So excellent , very much appreciated. Well done.

As someone who commutes most days to Uni, it's incredibly interesting to learn about the history of Melbourne's rail network. Thank you! Also, as i have an untrained eye, what's the best indicator for the type of train i'm riding in. On the Frankston line for examplethere is a combination of powered manual doored as well as push button doored trains. Each either having an LED ticker or an LCD ticker. However the newer high capacity trains have yet to be seen on that line at least in my time using it.

Such a great video,,,about the metro train history. I do remember going on board those Hitachi trains b4 connex,,,despite no air conditioning,,,and real noisy in travelling speed,,,those trains were pretty reliable back in the day when it came to getting to where u want to go on time. As I've experienced travelling on the metropolitan trains for over 30 years,,,and just about been on nearly every service to each destination,,,along with the transport buses to get out further where the metro train service ends on the network lines. But still wouldn't mind travel ling on those old red rattlers,,,,gotta bring them back in occasional service more often.

This RU-vid channel is the saying worth the wait.

Great video man! 🥳

I was working at Flemington races that day, it was nightmarish and we started sending people to Footscray

delay the premiere it’s true to connex tradition

M-Train and connex were probably the worst companies together, The Met ended up somewhat shocking and despite their rough start Metro is the best operator that we have had in terms of electric trains.

Hello MMM,1/ having worked on the VR and successors between 1974 & 2016, I would point out that the whole split and privatisation process was, and is, a money making racket for alleged "efficient" ( NOT ) private sector operators. 2/ Under Connex, track maintenance was NOT a Connex responsibility, it was contracted out. The contractors managed to relay underagauge track by not allowing for either heat expansion or gauge widening on curves ( pretty basic stuff really ), hence the track problems, this was NOT Connex's fault. Not allowing for gauge widening has been a recurring issue ever since, and has also affected the V/Line network to this day. (The supply of new and defective rail has not helped either.) Under Connex, and Metro, some overhead wiring was installed that was not compatible with the track layout, and in each case neither Connex, nor Metro, were advised, and this had serious operational consequences. Getting it fixed to spec was time consuming, and there was nothing either Connex, or Metro, could do to speed that up. 3/ air conditioning overhaul was done as a long term contract, basically air con sets were regularly swapped out. At the time you mention there was an unavailability of necessary imported parts that neither Connex, nor the air con contractor were able to resolve. If the parts are not forthcoming, then the item cannot be repaired. The contractor, who was previously quite reliable, was unable to source an alternate supplier, and the existing units had / have a quite tight volume to fit into, and it is highly unlikely that an alternate manufacturer's unit would fit the same space, bearing this in mind, what alternative was available ? ( It is noticeable that the Connex Xtrapolis sets have an a/c unit that is NOT set into a confined space unlike the Comeng a/c units.) 3/ whenNational Express/ NX and Connex did the Comeng upgrade, the units were NOT allowed to be compatible, this was to ensure "effective competition".Also NX and Connex were not allowed to share trains, or lend trains to each other, again for "effective competition" reasons. 4/deliberately splitting the network, and banning interworking, meant that the existing split fleets had less availability overall than the previously combined fleet. The requirements to have non compatible train sets exacerbated this problem, therefore both NX and Connex had to maintain a service with insufficient numbers of train sets to meet the time table. The Kennett Government refused to see that this was a problem. ( Connex UK had a worse problem, insufficient trains to run the existing services, and being prevented by UK DfT from adding additional train sets, hence why Connex UK failed. ) The Kennett Government also did not authorise a replacement train set for the written off set. When NX left, a further upgrade programme to the Comeng fleet had to be undertaken to ensure compatibility, and interoperability within the recombined Comeng fleet, this took time and cost millions to do. ( And guess who had to pay for that ? Everyone look in a mirror. ) 5/ the Siemens brake problems were denied by the manufacturer, who blamed the train drivers.When a Siemens Brake Test Train failed with Siemens staff on board, they promptly blamed the track conditions. It took testing by BREL Derby Rail Research UK to ascertain the faults, and for a permanent fix to be instituted, again, this was NOT Connex's fault. It later turned out that similar Siemens equipment on a number of European railways had the same problems, and the same denials by Siemens. 6/The Siemens trains were NOT ordered by Connex, but by NX, Connex inherited a train they did not like, did not want, and which was delivered late, and delivered with defects, and incompatible with other trains and with the existing platform heights. The Connex Alsthom Xtrapolis sets were also delivered late, and the driver's seat issue was apparent from the first delivery, but proved to be very difficult to alter. The removal from service of the Hitachi sets was part of the contract requirements, and was based on agreed delivery schedules of replacement trains. All replacement trains are owned by a seperate company from whom Connex was required to lease the trains from.It was NOT Connex's fault that the replacement trains were delivered late and defective. 7/ Connex's failures were generally not of its making, and despite intense efforts by senior Connex ( mainly xVR ) managers, the splintered privatised system effectively prevented them from enforcing other organizations to fix the problem.Splintered privatised systems allows each participant, especially suppliers of goods and services, to find excuses not to do something, or they find that their suppliers cannot deliver to schedule. 8/ Trains and railways are not like motor vehicles where you can go down the road and possibly get an alternative. If the train maker delivers late, there is no alternative, trains are made to order, they are generally not off the shelf, this includes "standard" diesel locomotives, everything is made to order.If it is from overseas, you are also reliant on availability of shipping space. Australia and New Zealand are at the end of the shipping route, and that shipping route generally goes via a transhipment port (Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai) where bigger markets get priority. Even worse, if there is a shortage of shipping, well, your container will be off loaded if a more profitable container is available to the ship owner, and your container will be delivered at some, usually unforeseeable time, in the future ( don't call us, we'll call you ! ) ( This has recently happened to a major timber supplier in Australia, whose container got dumped in Shanghai, with no indication as to when delivery will now take place. ) 9/interesting video, but as outlined above, too many underlying causes were outside of Connex's control, and it was not due to a lack of Connex management and staff efforts to get things fixed. Both NX and Swanston Trams left because the privatised structure did not work, and definitely cost them money, they were here to make money from day one, they lost money from day one, and they left, they are a multinational business who happens to run trains and trams respectively, they are not a charity, so they left. Connex and Yarra Trams had to be paid more money for the same reason, they also are not a charity, nor for that matter are Metro Trains Melbourne/MTM. 10/while it is true that your video is about the trains, but the politics, and the economic theory behind these politics are the underlying cause for what you have detailed in this video, they are tightly interlinked and are inseparable from each other. Regards to all.

Connex were running the busses in my town 20 years ago in a small northen Swedish town. Never thought I would see them again😂

Great video!

at least connex apologizes for inconveniences

made for some frustrating trips home if you lived in Lilydale. Down trains would get cancelled anywhere between Ringwood and Lilydale, often with the train having to wait in Moorlbark for the next up (city bound) train to leave Lilydale. As for train replacement buses, often these never arrived leaving one having to walk home to Lilydale. There was stories of drivers not being qualified to drive some or all of the Lilydale line, having to cancel their train or be fined.

Some of the problems in 2009 were insulation failure on substations. The old electrical kit experienced degredation in the heat and began failing over the next few months.

Connex was no better in The UK when they ran their South Central and South Eastern where they were eventually stripped of said franchises in 2003 after "A loss of confidence in the company" announced by The Strategic Rail Authority there.

Excellent video

Nice video mate. Interesting history about Connex. After hearing about all the issues they had I'm glad they are not around anymore! At least Metro Trains Melbourne were able to fix the mess that Connex had caused.

I really would love a video on the 4D.

Jesus, after hearing about the train issues during the 2009 heatwave, I’m never complaining about PT issues again. …Okay I’ll still complain, but I’ll be a bit more grateful for how much they’ve improved. 2009 was the year I started taking PT on my own for the first time, so right at the very end of the Connex days.

Jolly good. Bully!! Keep it up

fire vid king

I remember going on Connex trains when I was a kid. My mum and I used to go to the footy a lot and I haven't been to an actual AFL game since 2007 (the EJ Whitten Legends game in 2015 doesn't count, but it was a good game)

Thanks Jeff

Connex were dark days…thanks for reawakening those awful memories 😢

I remember back when the comeng had AC issues my friends and i would often pull the door open a bit and jam skateboards in it to get some fresh air.

The first image with the Tangara got me laughing so hard LMAO 😂

I can testify to this 😂 The X'Trapolis trains are terrible. Their suspension is out of whack, bogeys are terrible, plus these trains are excessively noisy. These trains are the most unstable trains, I live on the Mernda line. These trains need to be scrapped and replaced imo. I've traveled on the Siemens train multiple times over the years, in 2004 multiple times, 2007-2010 as well as 2021-current, that train is a lot more smoother (When I lived in Coburg from 2001-2006 I took this train a lot when it was introduced, when I took the Frankston and Sandringham lines, I took this train quite a lot as well, I love this train. I also love the Comeng fleet for their nostalgia (Used to run on the Mernda line before getting displaced altogether). The Comeng and the Siemens trains were my childhood.

Their government ordered "meet the managers" held at parliament, Melbourne Central and Flagstaff signalled the end of Connex.

IIRC, the air conditioners were only rated to 40° or 42°, a temperature that was regularly being exceeded in early 2009. Being too hot for air conditioning was a great look.

Very nice video it's good how Metro managed to improve the stuff Connex caused even tho it was all timing it is good that we don't have a fucked up railway system anymore

Connex South East and Central: "haha, that's cute" great video btw

It's funny how Connex Melbourne and Connex Southeastern (in the UK) have such bad reputations, while Connex Auckland (later rebranded to Veolia Transport, and after a subsequent merger, Transdev) massively improved the service on the Auckland rail network compared to the previous operator, TranzMetro. In the days of TranzMetro, it was common to hear an announcement if you travelled on the 7:30am express train to the city that we were delayed because the previous train broke down/had to be pushed by the Silver Fern/had to be pushed by a freight train/we're pushing it, or if you asked the nearest clippie why we were stopped, to have them reply "dunno" before they walked off. After the handover, regular commuters would get to know the GM of Connex Auckland by sight, if not by name, because if there was a significant disruption going on, he'd leave his office to come down to the platforms at Britomart Station to talk to the passengers personally about what was going on. Definitely a few passengers weren't happy to receive the news when he was transferred back to Melbourne. More than twenty years later, Connex/Veolia/Transdev still run Auckland's passenger rail services, and have developed a sufficiently good reputation that GWRC have moved the Wellington rail contract from TranzMetro to Connex/Veolia/Transdev as well.

Lol oh the days of Connex, this brings back memories 😂, I miss those little mini newspapers though can’t remember what they were called now though. Been so long since I’ve caught a train.

6:30 not only were they brought back the shells were bought back from a farmer that had bought them EVEN TAKEN THE BOGIES OFF and put them on his farm 💀

remember a quote about Metro when they took over, it was like asking a chef to cook an entire restaurant service in a household kitchen. Did Connex just have the same problem but never got the government funding to upgrade the rail infrastructure?

I moved away from Melbourne at the end of 2007, having used Melbourne and VRAIL public transport fairly extensively in 2007 and also 2006. Looks like I dodged a public-transport bullet! A detailed history of how and why Connex let everything go to hell and their successors managed to improve matters would be fascinating.

"Hillside trains would like to apologize for the operator which replaced us".

Melbourne's railway network 2009: Putting the con in connex

At 1:02 is that jollymont train sidings?

In the UK Connex was Connex South eastern when it just became south eastern that’s when Connex moved into Australia

Australian infrastructure should be run by the government (it is their job after all), not sold off to international conglomerates.

There are two companies you do not want to run your public transport network: Connex and FirstGroup. These two companies screw up every single rail system they touch with few exceptions.

Privatising public services is always a bad idea

Me and my friend always talk about Connex's crap air-conditioning.

As an person on M>Train's side of things this video makes me laugh seeing all of Connex's BS.

The MET was one of a kind system, you can really feel that enthusiasm and sense of optimism in the old ads....But that was a different melbourne in the 1980/90's here, it suits those era/decades gone by was part of a once alive melbourne. I could say and would love to see a MET system back in public hands here but what's the point now as there's nothing in the melbourne cbd anymore and the area is now a ghost town. Dare I say that Connex and others played a perdurable part in melbourne's destruction till the koof (covid) or Dan Andrews/Sally Cap etc. There's nothing to come back to the city anymore anyhow and I used to go into the city from 1988 till 2019, then I finally had enough...

If the government wanted to re-nationalise it, it would be easy as no rebranding would need to be done: the Metro brand is owned by the State of Victoria

Honestly, most of the issues had very little to do with how the operator went about their business. This is the reason for privatisation, to move the blame away from the government. Yet, the government sets the funding level and buys the trains. The operator is not responsible for buying new trains, it's not even responsible for any of the infrastructure. All of the issues with the trains can be linked directly to the government at the time. Another thing here, the problem with the air conditioning, is that the electrical network that drives the trains was designed around non-air conditioned trains. Air conditioning draws more power, legitimately they were having an issue that during summer there simply wasn't enough power. The power network relies on a bunch of sub stations, and these simply weren't good enough, and this falls under government spending, they literally weren't interested in spending the money. Next, the Siemens trains had regenerative braking, but the power network was unable to support this, as you know, power feeds into the train via the overhead power, but then it goes down into the tracks and back into the sub stations. Literally the sub stations could not support this. So, this feature was disabled. The brakes were a nice system with anti-lock brakes. This unfortunately had problems during a certain season during the year, where wheels were more prone to slipping. The braking system refused to allow the wheels to flat spot, so would just overshoot the platform. I don't think Connex is the issue here, and Metro got such a way better deal financially.

They were/are by Veolia Transportation,... Here in the UK they ran Southeastern franchise from London Cannon St/Charing Cross to Kent and also the South Central from London Victoria to Brighton and Sussex. Basically they were soo poor at running the service and financial mis managment they lost the contrat for both and never bid or a had franchise in the uk since

Connex really messed up my line in the UK, the south central, or london to brighton. Over arojjd 4 years there was no new rolling stock and trains were never on time. If that was private operation, we wanted what we had before back, Network Southeast divisionof the old state owned british raill

very strange seeing the tangara and Comeng? next to one another 😂

I went to university during the end of the connex period. It was so unreliable you had to get to exams in excess of 30mins before reading time due to frequent delays and service cancellations. It's also worth noting that late is only considered after 7 minutes. Hardly a reasonable metric for a modern metro system.

RIP Connex 1999 - 2009

Connex was also one of the worst UK train operators. Despite media reports and concerns raised to the then (2003) minister for transport in Ireland that Connex had been stripped of it's UK contracts due to using old trains that they never cleaned or serviced, lack of drivers & guards but plenty of authoritarian ticket inspectors & poor time-keeping, before the launch of the LUAS tram system in Dublin, Connex (as Transdev) were awarded the contract to maintain & operate the system. It has since faced objection from the public & press alike and the government still refuses to award the contract to CIÉ or a better private operator. Transdev has also hampered the introduction of an Oyster type card system because they want their version instead but Irish rail, Dublin Bus and Bus Eíreann have said the Transdev solution will add 5% to all existing fares

This is a very biased look at Connex. I make the following points: * In talking about Connex taking over and being required to replace "all" the Hitachi trains with new trains, it shows shots of both the X'Trapolis trains that they bought, and Siemens trains bought by M>Train (who had to replace their share of the Hitachi trains). * In a sense you're right that the one-for-one replacement of the Hitachi trains with new trains wouldn't cater for the claimed future increase in patronage, but the excuse was that patronage would be increased in off-peak and weekend times when trains were available for extra services. And basically the government _required_ them to promise a big increase or they wouldn't get the contract. It was never realistic, although weekend traffic did increase substantially, to the point that the three-car trains typically run on weekends were replaced by six-car trains, which were still often full. * The claim that the X'trapolis trains were built "incredibly cheaply and of poor quality" is questionable. It's true that they don't have air-bag suspension nor stainless steel bodies, but they have nevertheless proved to be pretty reliable, with the government placing several repeat orders, clearly favouring the X'trapolis over the Siemens trains bought by M>Train. Of course keeping jobs going at Ballarat where the X'trapolis trains were built might have been a factor! But the X'trapolis' problems were minor compared to the clearance, braking, and electrical issues of the M>Train-bought Siemens trains. * The claim that the X'trapolis trains were not designed for Melbourne is misleading. It is a standard Alstom model, although of course tailored for Melbourne. * "The trains literally had the driver's seat in the wrong spot, requiring Connex to modify every signal on the Hillside network just to let the trains run in the first place." Rather, they had the seat in a _different_ place (presumably being per the standard X'trapolis design), but yes, it did result in signal sighting issues that required modification to signals. However, it was not "every signal". Rather, it was only signals at the ends of platforms that could not be seen when the train had to pull up close to that signal, plus signals in some sidings which were not visible from the driver's cab. The latter issue required some signals to be placed on poles rather than the ground, and others to be moved. The first issue simply required the signals to be adjusted (rotated) a little. Given that the video claims that Connex was the "worst" operator, which means that comparisons are being made with the other operator, it is an omission that there is no mention (except later where it could be inferred that it was a Connex problem) of M>Train's new trains not actually fitting in some platforms, a significantly bigger issue. Also, the signals did not have to be modified just to let the trains run. Some trips in the early days were run with a second driver who could see the signal by standing in the doorway and telling the first driver when it had cleared. * The video implies that Connex was not being fair in asking for more money to run the entire suburban network. But given that M>Train couldn't make a go of their bit, why should Connex take that on without being paid more? See also my last dot-point. * "In November 2006 Connex was forced to withdraw 14 Siemens trains after they repeatedly began having braking issues. This was after they were already too wide for the network in the first place." This fails to mention that the Siemens trains were bought by M>Train. Connex was not responsible for these problems. * "Reliability, until the covid pandemic when nobody ever used the trains, actually had never gotten back to the levels that it was under public operation." I call bull on this. Under government operation, the system sometimes ran well. But at other times it ran appallingly. There were times that selected services were cancelled so regularly that it actually made the newspapers when they ran! Also under government operation there were numerous strikes, but they all but disappeared under private operation. Keep in mind that under government operation, the operator was answerable only to itself, and the government didn't put a lot of effort into having reliable services. But under private operation, the operators were required by their contract with the government to run reliably (or they would be financially penalised) to standards that were deliberately designed to be high in order to improve the service. Prior to Connex taking over the entire network, it met those standards about every second month on average, something that M>Train couldn't achieve. (So which was really the worst operator?) But then M>Train was at a significant disadvantage over Connex, as it had to cope with V/Line trains (albeit also operated by National Express) and goods trains, something that Connex barely had to worry about. This would be why Connex failed to achieve their targets after taking over the entire network-they had more problems than when they were running just the Burnley and Clifton Hill groups. And that would also have been a reason to request a bigger subsidy. In my opinion, that better performance-along with some actual television advertising by Connex (including ads featuring Harry Connick Junior (Connick/Connex-get it?)), something that the former railway operators never did to my memory, helped drive increased patronage (before increased petrol prices increased the patronage even more). As such, privatisation (i.e. private operators running the government network) has been a very positive move, and thus Kennett actually did the railways a lot of good. ------ The patronage graph (1:14) also has a problem. It shows both the city loop opening and the first air-conditioned trains as happening late in the 1970s. The loop opened in stages from 1981, which is also when the first air conditioned trains arrived.

This is fantastic. But I took a Hitachi train once before lockdown.

I pleased now the rail network is under one company then two and I really like the PTV running the public transport system in Victoria!

significant *patronage INCREASE*

Connex, synonymous for absolute mess! Connex South Central - trains UK Connex South Eastern - trains UK Connex Buses - TfL buses UK Connex Melbourne - trains and Trams Australia At least in respect of the first two they were disenfranchised by the Strategic Rail Authority, in respect of the third they were disenfranchised by TfL.

The highly observant among you will know their logo still exists on at least one location on the network. This being on a piece of glass, just behind nicely placed sign that has let it get away without being removed. You can find this at box hill station if you visit maccas(don't actually buy food though I ordered two cheese burgers from them while in box hill hospital having lost a child and neither had cheese, they made an enemy for life that day lol)

Connex apologises for any inconvenience caused

3:00 Ah yes, the good replacement train indeed 🤣

You are blaming Connex for government ineptitude and praising Metro for government improvements. Privatisation was Kennett government policy and was always going to happen and not just for public transport. Connex and Metro are both private companies seeking to make a profit, and they both don't give a stuff about passengers. Metro is actually worse than Connex, but they are under a different franchise agreement and subject to more government regulation which is why it seems they do a better job. Melbourne's worst train operator was actually the Kennett Liberal government that set up the original franchise arrangement. The ALP are more public transport friendly than the conservatives and have made considerable improvements, but they have also stuffed up by not taking the system back under public control when the original franchise expired, and instead giving the franchise to the abysmal Metro. Politics is the reason our public transport is not up to scratch. If you really want to investigate the problems, start with the Bolte government's lack of investment in trams and trains, continue with the debacle of The Met, then the nightmare of privatisation under Kennett, and finally the mismanagement ever since by governments of both sides who make decisions based on political gain and are implemented by incompetent bureaucrats.

The only reason I can think of for successive governments continuing with privatisation is so they can blame the companies for any stuff ups because the government is not the operator. From what I hear, both Metro and Yarra treat their drivers very poorly.

0:26 I thought that train model at the left only runs in India!

In other words, politicians screwed it up and taxpayers ended up paying more in the long run, just like in the UK. Connex we’re shit when they operated trains in the UK, they were eventually stripped of the franchises they had.

Hurstbridge, Mernda and Eltham are my favourite stations. 👍

I remember connexs shenanigans always fucking everything up everything was run down and IF the train turned up it was only a packed 3 car

Wait... That's the same Connex logo as the UK one that got taken over by South Eastern Trains

the tracks would warp in the heat and bvroken glass on track would light wooden sleepers on fire

You know this is really strange but now Jeff Kennett regrets privatising public transport in Victoria

lol. Your "D" are exactly like our "T" sets

I'm surprised they didn't just put it back in public hands. V/Line seems to be doing alright. Why not Move metro?

To someone from the UK it seems strange that a three car train needs two pantographs to be raised at the same time. Here 8 cars only use one and only 12 need two. I jeard it could cause problems with the catenary if two were used close to each other.

Connex. The first three letters of the name explains it all!

Unfortunately, I was commuting on Melbourne trains during the worst of Connex era. Those guys are f*cking Muppets. Total disregard for passenger comfort or reliability, it often felt like you were living in India travelling on their dodgy trains. No wonder people prefer to drive into the city.

I was glad to see the back of M-train.