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All Metro services were suspended due to an evacuation alarm.
media_cameraAll Metro services were suspended due to an evacuation alarm.
VIC News

Metro Train services shut down after false alarm causes control centre evacuation

Therese Allaoui, Herald Sun

METRO Trains say they are “very sorry” after a false alarm brought down Melbourne’s entire train system last night.

The alarm caused the Metro Trains control centre to be evacuated, causing all trains to grind to a halt.

The blame was laid on a power fault.

Metro Trains managing director Andrew Lezala said a power fault caused the alarm to activate.

“We recognise this was a very frustrating night for our customers,” told ABC radio.

“Clearly this disrupted a lot of our customers.

“We’re very sorry that it happened and we realise what a frustrating experience that was.”

Mr Lezala said that the building’s backup power supply also failed.

“We immediately dispatched a crew then to our other centre,” he told 3AW.

“It takes a while to get there, it takes about 15 minutes to get there and then they have to activate the system. So, during that time we actually got back in the building and resumed normal control”.

Services on the network came to a halt across Melbourne at about 7.40pm.

Train services resumed about 40 minutes later, but major network disruption continued throughout the night, with trams also affected.

It is the second time a control centre evacuation has caused the Metro train service to be completely suspended across the network after a false alarm mid-last year.

FALSE ALARM SHUTS DOWN MELBOURNE METRO RAIL NETWORK

Commuters took to social media to vent their frustration as the network shuddered to a halt: