Scorcher to put pressure on Melbourne's public transport Metro says commuters should anticipate delays as it struggles to cope with the 40 degree heat. MELBOURNE'S train network will go into meltdown on Thursday with services cancelled and delayed to cope with extreme heat, with a taxi shortage and road closures adding to the chaos. Hundreds of thousands Christmas and New Year's Eve revellers will face a long wait to get home and being stranded as maxi-taxis are forced off the road. Adding to passenger woes, there will be major train disruptions and road closures over the West Gate and CityLink tunnels during the same period and VicRoads has warned of lengthy delays. Thursday has been declared a Total Fire Ban day in parts of the state, with temperatures set to soar. The ban has been declared for the Mallee, Wimmera and Northern Country areas, with warnings of severe fire danger in those districts. The extreme heat will derail Victoria's train network with services cancelled and delayed to cope with an expected top of 40C on Thursday and 34C on Friday. Commuters will face delays of up to 20 minutes as trains are slowed down on all V/Line lines that will operate on a "heat timetable" and on 47 Metro lines across. Metro will have its trains slowed down from travelling at 110km/h to 80km/h while V/Line trains will also have speed restrictions that will see its locomotives' travel speed dropped from 160km/h to 100km/h. Yarra Trams will run its normal timetable but has extra drivers, customer service employees and response crews on standby for any disruptions. At least 15 maxi-taxis will be off the road and another 70 could be sidelined within a month as operators go bust. The shortage of the maxi-taxis, also affecting those needing the cab for wheelchairs, comes as licences are taken from some operators who are in arrears on their annual fees. The fee for wheelchair taxi licence holders will drop to $18,400 next year but those up for renewal who signed up from 2009 are still being forced to pay more than $28,000, driving many out of business. Victorian Taxi Association spokeswoman Georgia Nicholls said road closures would affect taxis getting to destinations quicker but the maxi-taxi issue was the main concern. "The VTA is concerned about the potential impact of any factors which could affect the number of taxis available to passengers during the busy festive season, particularly those with special needs, including licence cancellations," she said. We can expect the fleet of (maxi-taxi) vehicles to shrink in real terms and as a proportion of the total fleet over the coming months and years. V/Line spokesman James Kelly said "heat timetables" would apply to any day over 36 degrees. "V/Line heat speed restrictions will be in place from noon until 8pm tomorrow across passenger rail network," he said. Generally this means trains that would have travelled at speeds up to 160kmh will be slowed to about 100kmh for safety reasons. Train lines on the Metro network that will be affected are Alamein, Craigieburn, Frankston, Glen Waverley, South Morang/Hurstbridge, Belgrave/Lilydale and Pakenham/Cranbourne. V/Line will replace some services with buses as it goes to a "heat timetable" that will see up to 20 minutes added to some commuters' journey. All its Ararat, Ballarat, Maryborough, Bendigo, Swan Hill, Echuca, Seymour, Shepparton, Traralgon, Bairnsdale, Geelong and Warrnambool lines will have trains running at slower speeds. Opposition Transport spokesman Richard Wynne said Metro and V/Line were forced to take "drastic" action because the Government had cut $100 million from rail maintenance. "In three years Denis Napthine has failed to make the necessary improvements to Victoria's train network and it is commuters who are suffering from the Government's budget cuts with daily signal failures, delays, cancellations and overcrowding on our trains," Mr Wynne said.