Cr van Wersch also had a copy of the warped track photos submitted to The Ensign as they had been sent to council as well.
“The arrogance of the ARTC I witness as a councillor is incredible, they couldn’t give a s*it,” Cr van Wersch said.
“I've also witnessed it personally from their employees.
“When the Arundel St crossing boom gates were down for several hours on Thursday the lady who lives on the corner approached the two ARTC employees who were checking the electrics.
XPT line warping to be addressed by ARTC
“They told her that if she doesn’t like it she can move, what sort of attitude is that?
“The state of the line is terrible, but the issues with the boom gates inconveniences the operation of this town.
“People are so used to the gates being down with no trains coming that they’re driving around the barriers.
“That is an accident waiting to happen, and I see it multiple times every week.
“Even just looking at the inconvenience, I see cars queued up back to the Nunn St crossing in one direction and the roundabout next to the Arundel St crossing will be blocked, so the cars have no choice but to wait.
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“You can't get from one side of town to the other.
"The school buses get jammed up – quite often all four sets of boom gates will be shut.”
Cr van Wersch said he had seen many drivers go around the boom gates – describing it as “a common occurrence”.
“And it’s only a matter of time before there's an accident,” he said.
After seeing photographs of the warping to the XPT track, Cr Van Wersch said he would not recommend anyone catch a train that uses that line.
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“I made the comment in council last week I’d be happy to see the whole track ripped up and they can take the Inland Rail through Shepparton instead,” Cr Van Wersch said.
“It's the attitude from the ARTC, which comes from the top.
"I've had a gutful of them.
"We had the top ARTC bloke here for a meeting and he was nearly falling asleep.
"He didn't care. We were wasting our time.
"And the Andrews government share the blame.
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"He thinks the Victorian border is at Kalkallo.”
Cr Van Wersch said the Arundel St level crossing was closed for another six hours on Saturday.
“I spoke to a rail worker there. He had been sent up from the other side of Melbourne to fix the issue,” Cr Van Wersch said.
“When I asked him what was wrong he said the whole signalling set up was stuffed and needed replacing.
“ARTC keep telling us how expensive this project is, and I tell them that's because you have 20 people on site and only two working.
“The whole line has been a disaster since ARTC took over operations.”
