More chaos for Perth’s newest trains as homeward-bound passengers dumped at Stirling in February heat

Perth’s newest trains have again been hit by technical faults, with passengers on the Yanchep line forced out on Tuesday after a more-than 40 minute delay at Stirling station. The C-series trains, which are operating along the Joondalup and Mandurah lines since last April, as part of the testing process for the cars, but have been hit with teething issues. One passenger on the Yanchep line said the train first stalled at Glendalough station for 10 minutes with the doors stuck open in peak rush hour on Tuesday. Despite moving down the line to Stirling, the train was stopped for almost half an hour, before commuters were told the service was “terminating” and asked to disembark. Passengers then had to wait again, in Tuesday’s 36-degree temperatures, for other services to pick them up. A Public Transport Authority spokeswoman described the issue as “minor”. “There was a minor technical fault on a C-series train yesterday afternoon, which caused the train to be restricted to a lower speed,” she said. “To limit further delays to passengers during peak, a decision was made to the remove the train from the service. Passengers at Stirling Station were able to board the next train shortly after.” The issue comes after Transport Minister Rita Saffioti admitted that the much-vaunted locally made trains had been hit by “teething issues” last year. The Government has admitted the trains — built at Bellevue — have been hit by a “small number of technical issues” since rolling out. Passengers were left stranded at Currambine station for more than half an hour last year after a new train had a technical issue, closing the line from Yanchep to Joondalup, and passengers had to wait for replacement buses. Video posted online also showed another of the new trains stuck at Elizabeth Quay station, unable to open its doors in early service. Ms Saffioti said the C-Series rollout had been no different to earlier models. “There’s always teething problems whenever you introduce a new series,” she said. “We saw teething problems for the A-Series, the B-Series and the C-Series would be no different, small teething problems, but overall, the performance has been excellent.” Three of the C-Series trains have rolled off the Bellevue facility, with the Government committing to building 246 cars as part of a $1.6 billion replacement program for older trains.