You may not associate goats with summer, but a special herd of goats is crucial to preparing Metro Trains Melbourne’s train network for hot weather.

The goats, nicknamed the ‘Puffing Billy Goats,’ have returned to the rail network for the next few months at Upper Ferntree Gully, Belgrave and Heathmont stations, helping to clear weeds in rocky areas that are difficult for machines to access.

Metro’s Puffling Billy Goats program has expanded since it was introduced in 2019, with more goats being added to new locations across the network.

High rainfall has seen an acceleration in the growth of vegetation along the train line that must be cleared to minimise the threat of bushfires in time for summer.

The La Niña being experienced on the east coast of Australia is expected to clear by the end of the month, with scorching hot weather set to return.

While the goats re-joined the team last week to the fight against overgrowth on the rail network ahead of summer, Metro’s Vegetation Management team have already been hard at work.

The team have been focusing on grass cutting and slashing, tree pruning and station garden maintenance, which takes place every day and on most nights so Metro can stay on top of almost 1,000 kilometres of plant growth.

Other summer-ready activities recently completed by the Metro team to keep the network cool include painting the outside of signal boxes with heat-reflective paint, and proactive investigations and maintenance at critical locations on the network.

Metro has a team of over 1,000 Infrastructure maintenance specialists who are constantly monitoring and managing the rail infrastructure, including tracks, overheads, signals and communications.

The Infrastructure team uses remote condition monitoring, as well as on-site inspections, to help prioritise areas needed for work ahead of the hotter months. They also ensure the rails are stressed to avoid buckling, and the overhead lines are tensioned to prevent them from sagging in hot weather.

Passengers may also notice an unusual looking bright yellow train cruising the network.

EV120, affectionately called ‘Evie’, is a custom-built specialised maintenance vehicle that roams the entire rail network analysing the track and overheads, providing Metro Trains with valuable data to make sure any issues are identified quickly.

Evie is out on the network every day and has already covered 23,000 kilometres since last December. She even visits parts of the V/Line network!

With a great team and innovative technology, the rail network can stay cool, even in summer.