I ended up catching a 732 bus from Box Hill, after my train was delayed at Box Hill for 5 minutes, and it appeared there might have been trains queued up all the way to Blackburn.

This might have been a mistake.

I just missed the 17:25 bus by five minutes.

The 17:49 was running late, and so full that people were left behind. It seemed like it had to stop and every stop. It also got stuck in bad traffic (maybe as a result of the level crossing accident). Not to mention it seemed to be falling to bits (the support to my seat had come out of its socket and at one point the “next stop buzzer” stopped working for several stops).

Next time, I will go all the way to Blackburn, I think. Even if I give up on the train replacement busses, I can catch a bus to Burwood Highway (and bypass some of the heavy traffic), a tram to Vermont South. According to the 732 timetable at Box Hill, there are more busses from Vermont South then from Box Hill.

I caught the 4:50 Belgrave from Melbourne Central and arrived at UFTG at about 6:50.

Maybe the trip time wasn’t so bad after all.