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Connex Melbourne Proprietary Limited

Former type	Subsidiary
Founded	August 1999
Defunct	30 November 2009
Headquarters	Melbourne, Australia
Area served	Melbourne, Australia
Key people	Bruce Hughes (CEO)
Industry	Public transport
Products	Transport services
Profit	▲ AUD$70 million (2004-2005)
Employees	3000+[1]
Parent	Veolia Transport
Website	www.connexmelbourne.com.au

Connex Melbourne Pty. Ltd.
Melbourne railway network
Locale	Melbourne,Victoria, Australia
Dates of operation	1999–2009
Predecessor	Public Transport Corporation M>Train
Successor	Metro Trains Melbourne
Track gauge	5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm)
Headquarters	Melbourne

Connex Melbourne is a wholly-owned subsidiary of French company Veolia Environnement, which had a franchise from the State Government of Victoria to operate all suburban passenger rail services in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. In August 2007, Connex's contract was extended to 30 November 2009. However, Connex lost the bid to renew its contract with Victorian Government on 25 June, 2009. Hong Kong backed and owned MTR Corporation which operates as a locally themed consortium MTM; Metro Trains Melbourne took over the Melbourne train network on 30 November 2009.^[2][3]

The company operated 15 train lines, a fleet of 331 trains, provided over 12,000 weekly services, and carried about 680,000 passengers each weekday. In 2008, over 200 million passenger trips were made.^[4]

History

Melbourne Transport Enterprises (now Connex Melbourne) was awarded a franchise to operate the then government owned Hillside Trains rail services in Melbourne's eastern and north-east suburbs in August 1999. The franchise for the southern parts of Melbourne's suburban train network was awarded to National Express Group, under the now-defunct Bayside Trains name (later renamed M>Train).

On 22 December 2002 National Express withdrew from their operations in Victoria and the State Government took control temporarily,^[5] Early in 2003, the Government began negotiations with Connex to assume responsibility for all of Melbourne's suburban train network. A new partnership agreement was reached in February 2004 that awarded Connex the exclusive right to operate Melbourne's entire suburban train network from 18 April 2004.^[6]

Connex's contract was extended on 21 August 2007 and expired on the 29 November 2009, with the State Government of Victoria having chosen to not exercise its option for an 18-month extension.^[7][8]

Following Veolia's rebranding of its transport operations from Connex to Veolia Transport on all other transport systems worldwide in late 2005 and early 2006,^[9] Connex Melbourne was the only Veolia company to retain the Connex name. It was not until May 2008 when Connex Melbourne began to publicly acknowledge their connection with the parent company, using the "Connex: A Veolia Transport Company" phrase in publicity material and using the Veolia Transport and Connex brands together. Branding on staff uniforms, train livery and station signage were not altered.^[10]

2009 heatwave issues

During January 2009, Melbourne experienced several days of extreme heat with temperatures in excess of 43°C – the hottest heatwave since records were kept from the mid-1880s^[11] – with a maximum temperature reached of 45.1 °C (113.2 °F) in the Melbourne central business district. Prior to this, the ambient temperature was between 38 and 40 °C (100 and 104 °F). To that end, Connex was unable to guarantee services across the network; this was highly controversial as in previous years, 'heat waves' did not cause train cancellations. The heat-distortion of tracks has been attributed to the lack of expansion joints within newly replaced rail. Figures based on Connex media releases for the same period show the numbers of cancelled services exceeded one third of total services.

On 29 January over 500 services were cancelled. Next day services on eight lines were cancelled and the City Loop closed in the afternoon owing to the extreme weather (at the height of the heatwave) and knock-on effects, and the loss of power at the South Morang transmission station.^[12] By Connex's own estimates in the Melbourne media, over 750 services were cancelled out of 2400. In response to the loss of services, the Victorian State Government made 30 January a day of free travel on trains, trams and buses.^[12]

Contractual details

Responsibilities

Connex was responsible for the operation and maintenance of Melbourne's suburban railway system, including manning stations and fare enforcement. Connex was not responsible for capital works such as expanding the system, but on a number of jobs it has managed the project on behalf of the State Government.

Government subsidy

Connex Melbourne was paid an average of AU$345 million per annum, between 2004-2009 from the State Government of Victoria to operate the suburban train network in Melbourne. At the end of the 2004-2009 franchise agreement Connex was paid well over AU$2 billion^[13] by the state government of Victoria. In addition to the base contract payments, other payments from the State Government of Victoria to Connex include farebox, concession top-ups, maintenance, rollingstock adjustments, incentives and capital projects.

Reliability benchmarks

Under the terms of its contract with the State Government, Connex Melbourne was obligated to deliver on time (no more than 59 seconds early, and no more than 4:59 minutes late, formerly 5:59 minutes) performance, system-wide, of no less than 92%. Connex was also obligated to deliver no less than 98% of scheduled train services, and significantly reduce any time spent by passengers waiting due to a delay, over a 1998 benchmark.

Fines for failure to meet service obligations are deducted from contract fees paid by the government to Connex. As of July 2006, the most recent fine imposed on Connex by the government is $5.1 million AUD. Connex has paid almost $70 million in penalty payments for poor performance in the time of the franchise.^[14] Connex released performance data on a monthly basis, usually put on view at railway stations. Fines and customer satisfaction levels are detailed in the quarterly 'Track Record' report released by the Department of Transport.^[15]

For every month that Connex fails to meet the performance benchmarks, a free daily Metcard was offered to holders of monthly or yearly tickets valid during that month. No compensation was offered to riders using weekly, daily or other tickets.^[16]

Operations

A 'Comeng' train operated by Connex

A 'X'Trapolis' train operated by Connex

For details of railway operations, see Railways in Melbourne

Fleet

The Connex Melbourne fleet consisted of:

• 187 3-car Comeng EMUs (built 1981-1988, refurbished 2000-2003)
• 6 remaining 6-car Hitachi EMUs (built during the 1970s)
• 72 3-car Siemens EMUs (built 2002-2005, purchased by M>Train)
• 58 3-car X'Trapolis EMUs (built by 2002-2004, purchased by Connex)
• Sprinter diesel multiple units hired from V/Line. Which were used for Connex services on the unelectrified Stony Point Line.

The majority of rollingstock was owned by the Victorian Government business enterprise VicTrack.^[17]

Connex was responsible for maintaining their train fleet. This responsibility was outsourced to two companies, United Melbourne Transport Ltd, a subsidiary of the United Group, maintained the Alstom X'Trapolis and the older Hitachi and Comeng trains; and Siemens maintained the remainder of the Siemens fleet.^[17] Innovonics Limited has carried out a contract to re-enable Comeng sets from both sides of the system to run on the entire system again, along with a CCTV upgrade.^[18][19]

Connex was also responsible for the maintenance of the electrified suburban network, which was contracted to Mainco, a subsidiary of the United Group.^[17] The Department of Transport (DoT) also has input into infrastructure related issues and major rail projects.

Fare enforcement

Public Transport Authorised Officers (commonly known as Ticket Inspectors or Revenue Protection Officers) were employed to work across Melbourne's public transport network. As well as reporting ticketing and behavioural offences, Authorised Officers were also employed to assist at special events and provide customer information. They were employed by Connex, but exercise a legislative power.^[17]

Authorised Officers were accredited by the Victorian Department of Transport to exercise powers similar to those of police (included the power of arrest) when aboard vehicles operating under Metlink or when on Department of Transport-owned premises, such as railway stations or train tracks.^[20] Officers were required to abide by the State Government-established 'Authorised Officer Code of Conduct' and violations of this code were prosecuted. The Code of Conduct states that an Authorised Ticket Officer use discretion when reporting an alleged offender, and must supply their name and work address when asked.^[21]

If an Authorised Officer believes that a passenger has committed an offence (for example, by failing to produce a ticket), they have the right to request their full legal name and address after having explained the nature of the alleged offence. The inspector also has the right to request some proof of the given information, any proof being acceptable as long as it constitutes a "verification" of the information which satisfies the inspector as to the alleged offender's identity. Refusal to identify oneself, or providing a false name to the ticket inspector will ordinarily cause the ticket inspector to contact Victoria Police and detain the passenger until the police arrive.^[22]

The Authorised Officer then forwards a report (formally known as a Report of Non Compliance) with these details, as well as the specific nature and circumstances of the violation to the Department of Transport, who then process the report and decide upon any penalties. Any fines levied are payable to the Department, not to Connex. However, once the Department successfully retrieves the fined amount from the violator, Connex receives a small administration fee.^[22]

Authorised Officers have come under fire from lobby groups and sections of the community for being overly aggressive in enforcing ticketing requirements. This has been accentuated by several media articles in the mainstream Melbourne press of mixed opinions regarding the system or reporting passengers detected travelling without tickets. Specifically, two main charges are frequently heard: Officers have been requiring young school-children to produce Concession I.D. cards, even though the law only requires it for children 17 years of age and over unless the person is travelling on a Student Pass; The second being that Officers have been reporting people for not possessing a ticket, even when there was no opportunity for the person to purchase a ticket is often heard. The Victorian Transport Act of 1983 has a provision which states that travel without a ticket is legal in circumstances where the passenger took all reasonable steps to purchase a ticket immediately before and after their travel,^[23] but one was not available for purchase (usually because ticket machines were out of order).

Marketing

Despite the formation of Metlink to deliver coordinated marketing initiatives across the entire Melbourne public transport network, Connex has also undertaken their own marketing campaigns.

In July 2000 an advertising campaign featuring Harry Connick, Jr. publicised the name change from Hillside Trains to Connex. The campaign produced by Melbourne advertising agency Cummins & Partners played on the similar sound of Connex and Connick's name. A Television Commercial aired with Harry explaining; "I heard Hillside Trains was going to change its name and I was honoured to hear they were going to name it after me. Connicks. Well they could have consulted me on the spelling". Billboards on station platforms had Harry stating in a voice bubble; "Welcome to my train company - Connick's. That's OK, they'll fix the spelling..."

TV advertisements featuring Sheena Easton and a trainload of passengers singing her 1980 hit Morning Train (9 to 5) screened during April and May 2004.

Its most recent campaigns generally focused on commuter behaviour and etiquette; in mid 2005 Connex launched a print & TV advertising campaign featuring Humpty Dumpty and focusing on safety initiatives, the "Don't Hold Others Back" campaign of 2006 featured imagery of commuters struggling to board a train, while a 'train etiquette' campaign featuring fictitious character Martin Merton PhD, "the worlds #1 expert on train etiquette" offering advice to passengers on such topics as mobile phone use, flatulence and other low level behavioural annoyances of train travel.

Connex SMS service

Connex had a short message service system that allows commuters to receive updates about train delays of more than 15 minutes on their phone for free.^[24]

Controversies

On 23 February 2007, a computer hacker broke into the gateway used by the SMS system and sent threatening messages to over 10,000 commuters who had subscribed to the service.^[25]

A Connex spokesman admitted that this was a hoax and that the hackers were only able to send the message and could not get access to the customer database.^[25]

Melbourne artist Van Thanh Rudd made an artwork attacking Connex's parent company Veolia Environnement's building of a lightrail system linking up Israeli settlements.^[26]

on April 29, 2009, The Age released a report outlining complaints against Connex and Yarra Trams ticket inspectors had risen by 60 per cent in 12 months.^[27] Officers were accused of excessive force, intimidating and heavy-handed behaviour towards commuters.^[28]

References

• Public Transport Partnership Agreements
• Victorian Fares and Ticketing Manual

External links

• Connex Melbourne (Now Redirects to Metro Trains website)
• Metlink Melbourne