Millions of regional commuters will start the week with two days of free train travel after a nationwide Telstra outage brought services to a grinding halt.
The communications regulator is investigating Telstra’s widespread network disruption on Wednesday that hit transport, businesses, emergency services and healthcare.
While phone services were gradually restored over the course of the day, Victoria’s regional railway was at a standstill until Thursday evening.
On Friday morning, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan announced V/Line travel would be free on Monday and Tuesday, in a bid to make up for two days of commuter chaos.
It comes after the state Labor leader released a fiery statement on Thursday night, demanding Telstra reimburse commuters forced to fork out for thwarted travel plans.
“V/Line will reimburse regional rail passengers who incurred extra costs,” Ms Allan said.
“I expect Telstra to match it, dollar for dollar.”
A software issue affecting nodes responsible for keeping time across Telstra’s mobile network has been blamed for the outage.
All regional V/Line train services across Victoria were suspended as signalling systems were tested, with delays and cancellations continuing into Thursday evening.
Some commuters were forced to spend Wednesday night in city hotels because V/Line did not have enough buses to replace more than 300 cancelled services.
On Thursday, platforms at the train station were largely free from traffic, while commuters filtered into the bus terminal for a limited number of replacement services.
V/Line staff were out in force, distributing snacks to families, couples and returning holiday-makers as service announcements were broadcast.
Elderly woman Pam Promnicz was having a hard time getting back to Warrnambool, and was concerned she had too many bags for the coach.
“I’d much prefer to be on the train,” she told AAP.
Brian Rigby, a network engineer, said the disruptions could have been avoided if V/Line had not depended on the Telstra network.
“When Telstra has an outage, they’re big ones,” he said.
“It makes you wonder what happens if next time they go down and stay down.”
On Thursday, Communications Minister Anika Wells said the Australian Communications and Media Authority had begun preliminary investigations into the outage.
In 2025, Ms Wells increased penalties for telcos that fall foul of their triple-zero obligations to $30 million.
Telstra chief executive Vicky Brady, who was travelling at the time of the outage, is stepping into the firing line at a press conference in Sydney on Friday morning.
Former deputy prime minister Wayne Swan was critical of the telecommunications giant’s corporate leadership, saying they needed to be financially penalised.
“There’s no question the bonuses of all the executives will be on the line,” he told Nine’s Today program.
“I’m sure the public will want to see a fair bit of accountability.”
AAP has contacted Telstra for comment.
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