About one in four timber sleepers are being replaced by concrete ones but Heidi Victoria said every timber sleeper on one of the line's sections should be replaced at the same time.

"There is obviously going to be an inconvenience while works are being carried out. But it doesn't make any sense to lift the track for just one sleeper when all of them could be done."

The Ringwood-Belgrave line works started in May and are due to finish soon. Replacement buses have been running from 7.40pm, adding 30 minutes to journeys on average, four nights a week.

The Government is replacing timber sleepers costing $147 with concrete ones costing $250 in the partial upgrade.

Ms Victoria said people understood work was needed to get a better service. "If there was minimum disruption instead of residents and commuters having to go through all this again in the future then people wouldn't have a problem.

"But instead of doing a section of track at a time, they are replacing a sleeper every four or five sleepers. While the track is lifted all the sleepers should be replaced but the fact that they aren't means residents and commuters will have to go through the noise and disruption again.

"The concrete sleepers may cost more but they last a lot longer so are value for money in the long run."