Melbourne has the sleepiest Sunday morning train timetable in Australia, with new analysis finding its trains start later than every other mainland capital city.
While some other cities have recently rejigged their Sunday timetables so trains start earlier in the morning, Melbourne has headed in the other direction. Despite population and public transport patronage having grown, trains start later today than they did in 2011.
An analysis by the Public Transport Users Association of Sunday train timetables found the median time the first train reaches Melbourne's CBD is 7.57am.
This is two hours and 36 minutes behind Sydney's first train, which arrives in the city centre at 5.21am.
It is 18 minutes later than Brisbane, 13 minutes behind Perth and eight minutes behind Adelaide.
Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said the same comparison in 2011 found only Adelaide commuters were more poorly served than Melbourne on Sunday mornings. The South Australian capital later boosted its timetable, while in Melbourne the first train of the morning now arrives one minute later than three years ago.
"We're going backwards," Mr Bowen said.
The sluggish start time means some V/Line services leave Southern Cross Station almost an hour before the first Metro train of the day arrives.
Mr Bowen said there were good reasons to start the trains earlier on a Sunday, including getting shift workers into the city and getting people to mass events such as fun runs.
"Workers with early shifts in the city find they can't get there by public transport and have to drive or pay for a taxi," he said.
A spokeswoman for Public Transport Victoria said Sunday mornings were used for important maintenance work to prepare the system for peak times midweek.
"A later Sunday start time provides a long window for any necessary engineering or maintenance works to take place," she said. "These works are undertaken to ensure assets perform reliably during peak times."
