Tuesday, 29 July 2025

Adjournment

V/Line services

Roma BRITNELL (South-West Coast) (19:00): (1211) My adjournment is for the Minister for Public and Active Transport, and the action I seek is for the minister to provide a travel solution for regional schools like Brauer College to be able to get to Melbourne on the train, as they have been doing for many years. The Allan Labor government have again let down the people of south-west coast, failing to ensure a fit-for-purpose transport link to the capital city. It is deeply concerning that educators and students of Brauer College cannot participate in a scheduled and long-established school excursion due to the state government’s incompetence.

For years Brauer College has run a year 9 camp to Melbourne. This camp has always relied on the V/Line train service, which previously allowed the entire group – around 90 students – to travel together affordably and efficiently. But this year they cannot. The introduction of new, smaller capacity V/Line trains has made it impossible for the school to book the group on a single service. Despite early planning and multiple attempts to secure seats, V/Line refused to even consider the booking until 100 days before departure, and even then the answer was still no. It is a disgrace that a school group cannot travel together on a regional train for an excursion into the city.

To add insult to injury the school was told they could book a coach instead, at an exorbitant cost. The result? The group has been split. Half the students will travel on the early train, while the other half must wait, missing out on two pre-booked activities. It is hard enough to provide extra adults needed for excursions like this. The regional students should not be penalised because of poor planning and inadequate infrastructure. They deserve the same opportunity as their metropolitan peers, not barriers. The train simply lacks capacity.

Last year I called on the minister to ensure the new VLocity trains matched or exceeded the capacity of the existing, then current, N-class services. Of course this was ignored. The government was continually warned the capacity with the recent VLocity train upgrade would not meet the needs of the community. In fact in September last year Labor’s Jacinta Ermacora told our community ‘there will not be an overall reduction in capacity.’ But there is.

How is this an upgrade? This is not progress. This is a step backwards for regional equity. The Minister for Public and Active Transport should urgently review the capacity and booking policies of the VLocity service. We must ensure that regional schools can continue to offer these vital experiences without being priced out or split up.