Rail commuters are being promised extra train seats and greater capacity in the regions.
The Victorian opposition confirmed that pledge on Tuesday, September 1st while unveiling its plan to purchase new trains for two suburban routes in Melbourne.
Under the Liberal-National coalition’s proposal, 25 hybrid diesel-electric units would be purchased at a cost of $1.7 billion to run on the Melton and Wyndham Vale line.
That in turn would allow V/Line to redeploy its fleet of three-car VLocity sets to regional routes, including the Bendigo and Echuca lines.
The coalition says five of those sets will operate along the Northern Victoria route, providing an extra 1,110 seats.
Meantime, the Ballarat, Ararat and Maryborough corridor would receive four sets, adding 888 seats.
“This is about making sure all Victorians benefit from our plan to transform train services across Victoria,” Liberal Party leader Jess Wilson said in a statement.
“Our plan will deliver more capacity across regional Victoria, making it easier for people to get to work, access education and healthcare, and stay connected with family and friends.
“Whether you live in Melbourne or regional Victoria, you deserve a public transport system that keeps pace with your community and gets you where you need to go.”
Nationals candidate for Bendigo West, David Hutchings is welcoming the announcement, referencing his experience of overcrowding on a V/Line service.
“I got a train down to Melbourne the other day from Bendigo [train station], and there were people standing at Bendigo,” Mr Hutchings told our newsroom.
“By the time it got to Castlemaine, there were people sitting on the floor.
“That’s simply not good enough.”
He added that any extra sets would allow a three-car train to become a six-car service: “that’s the sort of tangible benefit that I think we need and hopefully, will get.”
But not everyone is convinced by the Opposition’s plan.
Speaking to The Age, Rail Futures Institute president John Hearsch said hybrid trains would be more expensive to run than the existing VLocity units, and that any advantages they have “are pretty small”.
The ruling Labor government has outright dismissed the proposal, having taken a policy of “electrifying” the Wyndham Vale and Melton lines to the previous state elections.
This would allow Metro trains – which are powered by overhead wires connecting Melbourne’s suburban network – to run on both routes.
Asked about the Coalition’s plans at a press conference on Tuesday, Minister for Public Transport Vicki Ward labelled it “a very ill-thought out, expensive promise”.
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