Premier Ben Carroll will commit $420 million on Thursday to run about 550 extra V/Line services a week if Labor is re-elected, the ABC reports. The pledge would increase the regional train network by 24 per cent.
The extra trains would run mostly in off-peak hours. The funding would cover staffing and maintenance for the extra services over a four-year term, The Age reports.
The biggest gains are in Melbourne's outer west. The Wyndham Vale line would get 249 extra weekly services and the Melton line 162 from 2027, AAP reports. According to the ABC, Melton trains would then run every 20 minutes.
The extra Wyndham Vale trains would free up room for more express services from Geelong, cutting about 10 minutes from the trip, the ABC reports. Two extra Sunday services would run to Geelong and Waurn Ponds.
The Bendigo line would get 101 extra weekly services from 2028, 21 to Bendigo and 80 to Kyneton. The Seymour line through Wallan and Donnybrook would get 29 more from 2028, with trains every 40 minutes between the peaks instead of every hour, AAP reports. Most weekday off-peak Ballarat trains would run express from next year, Labor said. Warrnambool would get eight more weekend services.
“Now we can realise the benefits of Labor’s upgrades: delivering more train services and giving you a more reliable way to get around,” Mr Carroll said.
Melton and Wyndham Vale still rely on V/Line, two elections after Daniel Andrews promised to electrify the tracks. The Age reports that work is now not expected to be finished until at least the 2030s. The opposition promised $1.7 billion in September for hybrid diesel-electric trains on both lines.
John Hearsch, a former chief operating officer of V/Line and president of the Rail Futures Institute, told The Age the extra trains would fill gaps in the timetable. “The pity is it didn’t happen a while ago, when there was a reasonable chance that it would have actually come to pass,” he said. Public Transport Users Association spokesperson Daniel Bowen called it “definitely a win-win” for passengers.
Labor also released Parliamentary Budget Office analysis it had requested. The office estimated that opposition leader Jess Wilson's plan to shrink the Victorian Public Service would save $8.5 billion by 2032, the ABC reports, short of the $22 billion over a decade she has relied on to reach a cash surplus. Treasurer Colin Brooks said she would need to cut services. Ms Wilson said: “Only our Liberal and Nationals team has a costed and credible plan to repair the budget.”
Victorians vote on November 28.
