Tuesday, 7 June 2022

Regional rail

Mr QUILTY (Northern Victoria) (19:52): (1964) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Public Transport. Regional rail is not this government’s strong point. It was only last week that I was asking about the reliability of the north-east V/Line service. I was highlighting the ongoing delays and need for buses to replace trains. We continue to see disruption, inconvenience and long travel times despite years of government promises. This time it was the signals at Southern Cross station resulting in all V/Line services being halted, causing delays across the network. It seems we have signal faults and delays every other day, constituents once again stranded and scrambling to reorganise their days because this government cannot ensure the services they provide are reliable.

Then came the news that the long-awaited VLocity trains that have so long been promised as the solution to our old and unreliable current trains are facing a large setback. We will not even mention the buffet cars. Last week came reports that the undercarriage of a VLocity train was damaged on the north-east rail line. Pieces were breaking off the wheels. This has forced the train off the line indefinitely. V/Line has come out saying the problem was caused by the tracks maintained by the Australian Rail Track Corporation. ARTC have come out strongly denying the problem is with their tracks at all. Joint inspections have so far failed to identify the source of the problem, so back to coaches we go.

Northern Victorians should be able to travel on trains that work. They need a government that spends less time posing for election year photos with the new trains and more time on getting them running. Minister, the action I seek is for V/Line to get the north-east trains running, spend the necessary money, fix the signals, fix the track, buy enough carriage sets so we have spares for breakdowns, stop stuffing around and fix it.