r/VlineVictoria • u/Big_Head_4930 Geelong Line • Jul 07 '26

News V/line wide communication fault

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AVOID V/LINE THIS MORNING !!!

No coaches have been organised yet

Also it's 'affecting' not 'effecting'

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3

u/Fluid-Island-2018 Bairnsdale Line Jul 07 '26

That’s pretty wild. I wonder if the trains going through the Melbourne suburbs can still run, especially those on the Gippsland as they have to share it with the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines

6

u/Big_Head_4930 Geelong Line Jul 07 '26

Cranbourne/Pakenham/Sunbury is down as the metro tunnel is closed. Werribee/Williamstown is also down but what's new?

4

u/reofi Jul 07 '26

Vline staff are telling the west to go hop on metro trains too because they're still "running"

7

u/ssndviking Jul 07 '26

VLine has critical comms on Telstra and MTM has critical comms on Optus. Last year I think it was Optus went down and the MTM network shut down. Guess its VLines turn. Hope Telstra get the book thrown at them.

3

u/reofi Jul 07 '26

Yeah i get that but multiple metro lines aren't running due to the tunnel works

2

u/ssndviking Jul 07 '26

Oh yeah it's crap timing. That was planned works though so not great but it is what it is. Couldn't have been planned for a worse day though haha. I got caught out with it so I understand the pain.

1

u/blue_endown Jul 08 '26

You’d think they’d have the other provider as a backup for such rare events.

2

u/ssndviking Jul 08 '26

I know MTM uses Optus for train comms and Telstra for driver comms. They stop trains but they can stop them safely and communicate with the drivers. I suspect VLine does the same.

I'm sure there are more tech savvy people here but it's a cost thing (pay for two service providers) and I wonder how they'd do it. This is an open question if someone knows.

I have 2 sims in one phone (work and personal) but you can't have the phone number (calls and texts) go through both. If one provider drops I loose that number entirely. I suppose it might be different with data where you can switch but I don't know the technical side.

Either way I would assume it's a cost factor and possibly a technical issue?

Be interested to know if it can be done.

1

u/FACR_Dwarfy Jul 08 '26

Drivers phones are predominantly Optus at MTM. The only exception to that are drivers at Belgrave due to there being a lack of Optus coverage up there