Metro fined $1.2m after Vic rail fail

Melbourne's train operator has been fined $1.2 million over a computer glitch that shut down the entire system during peak hour.

Thousands of passengers were stranded on trains and at platforms for up to two hours after Metro Trains' system shut down about 4pm on July 13.

The fine comes on top the $627,000 paid by Metro Trains to 175,000 affected commuters.

Public Transport Victoria says $1.2 million is the maximum possible fine for Metro's failure to meet its monthly performance targets.

The rail fail, traced to one server in the Metro control room, caused the cancellation of more than 220 trains while almost 380 ran late, PTV said.

"Without the outage incident on 13 July, punctuality would have been greater than 90 per cent and delivery over 98.5 per cent for the month," it said in a statement on Thursday.