Wednesday, 13 May 2026

 Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (17:07): (1661) My adjournment this evening is for the Minister for Public and Active Transport. The action I seek is the immediate addition of three extra carriages to the Warrnambool train line service. The electorates of Polwarth and South-West Coast, two adjoining electorates to one of the best spots in the world, have been suffering now for the last 12 months, since the VLocity train system was brought into our region. We have been suffering because there has been a net loss of some 10,000 seats a week to and from Melbourne for the people of my community. What has that meant? That has meant that people can no longer book a seat. If you are on the train, you are not guaranteed a seat for the 3- to 4-hour journey, depending on where you are coming from. It means that when you are in Melbourne and you are wanting to come back you may miss a train. We have actually had situations where the train has physically been too full and people have not been able to get the return train journey. It is simply not good enough in this day and age, after having spent some $459 million on an upgrade of the rail track, that we cannot run a train on it that is fit for purpose.

For 150 years the train service between Melbourne and Warrnambool ran efficiently. It ran with a refreshment service on board. It ran with seats that you could book. People felt safe on the service. The service could be relied on to get you to and from your destination. Fast-forward to today, and we have a situation where we have a train service that is simply not fit for purpose. It came as quite a shock to my electorate to hear that this week in the budget the government has decided to put extra carriage services on the Shepparton line – not that I for a minute think that the Shepparton people should not be looked after, but that rail service does not carry the same patronage that the Warrnambool line does, and yet it is getting extra train services, it is getting extra carriages and it is getting extended train platforms, all of which are also required on the Warrnambool line to provide a fit-for-purpose service. The Warrnambool train service must be improved immediately. During COVID, when people chose to tree-change and sea-change – two options that they have through the lovely electorate of Polwarth – people made that decision based on the fact that they could commute to and from the metropolis for work and for home.

Unfortunately now people cannot book a seat, they cannot get a tray table, they cannot get regular wi-fi and they cannot get a coffee in the morning. It is an appalling service. It is not fit for purpose. Again, I plead with the minister. I ask the minister to please provide the extra three carriages that are required to give my community the seats they deserve.