I sent the following feedback to Connex:

I liked the announcements the driver gave before every stop on the 5:00pm Belgrave train from Melbourne Central last Friday (2007-05-18). Not only did he announce every station, and reminded passengers that the train was express (frequently passengers do get confused and the automatic announcements on the newer trains don't help), he also apologised for the fact the train was a Hitachi train (not really required as the Hitachi trains continue to provide good service), and he also reminded passengers of the heavy rain outside.

Unfortunately the driver on the 5:03pm Ringwood train from Melbourne Central today (2007-05-21) wasn't so good. After leaving Parliament station, we appeared to loss all power as most of the lights went out, the displays went black, the doors unlocked, and the train eventually rolled to a stop. Even when the power came back on, the driver didn't say anything. I was just curious what happened? Was it just our train or the entire City Loop that was affected?

Several months later (2007-06-18) I got a response:

18 June 2007

Mr B May

Dear Mr May

We refer to your email submitted on 21 May 2007.

Connex is committed to providing a professional and efficient standard of service to all customers.

We certainly appreciate your positive feedback indicating your satisfaction with the communication from our driver on the 5.00pm service from Melbourne Central station to Belgrave on the 18 May 2007.

Your comments have been referred to the Train Services Manager, who has ensured they are communicated to the staff member concerned, as well as to the Connex Public Relations department for inclusion in the staff magazine and reward and recognition program.

You have further enquired about the 5.03pm Melbourne central service to Ringwood, which appeared to lose power after it had left Parliament station on 21 May 2007. Also noted are your comments regarding the lack of announcements from the driver during this incident.

Upon investigation, we can confirm that due to inclement weather the 5.03pm this service experienced a temporary loss of power. This appears to have been an isolated case, as our investigation revealed no other service experienced this problem.

We aim to provide a premium level of service to all customers and it is of concern to learn of your experience. Your feedback has been brought to the attention of our Train Services Manager and we regret any concern this may have caused at the time.

Thank you for taking the time to write to us, as your feedback plays a vital role in monitoring our service standards.

Yours sincerely

Tina Tsoukas

Customer Feedback