Wednesday, 31 August 2022

 Ms LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (18:11): (2097) My adjournment matter is directed to the Minister for Public Transport, and it concerns plans to cease on-train catering on V/Line trains to Swan Hill and other remote parts of Victoria. The action I seek is for the minister to intervene and reverse the decision by V/Line management not to install buffet facilities on new VLocity carriages, which will replace locomotive-hauled services such as the Melbourne to Swan Hill services, so passengers can access food and drink during long-distance trips.

Train travel continues to be the preferred mode of transport for many regional Victorians when travelling to metropolitan Melbourne, particularly elderly Victorians. This is despite many travellers enduring journeys of up to 8 hours in old, uncomfortable rolling stock to get to their destinations. With passengers experiencing such long travel there is great concern regarding the recent announcement that V/Line are phasing out buffet services on several lines with the rollout of the new VLocity trains. The train services of most concern are the Swan Hill and Shepparton services, which obviously run through my electorate of Northern Victoria Region, as well as the Warrnambool and Bairnsdale services.

Up until last Friday passengers travelling on the V/Line service from Swan Hill to Melbourne were forced to travel by coach because of the Metro Tunnel project and work on the Sunbury line. Thankfully the usual timetable of 21 train services between Swan Hill and Melbourne between Monday and Friday is now back up and running. However, on just 10 of these 21 trains passengers have access to food and drink from a buffet service, despite the length of the journey being more than 4½ hours. This lack of available sustenance is even worse for passengers travelling from Mildura, who have close to an 8-hour journey to Melbourne by both bus and train without access to food or drink. Even the Shepparton line, which also will be without a buffet facility in the future, carries passengers that started their journey from as far away as Griffith, New South Wales, and endure a journey of nearly 7 hours. The decision to phase out catering on most long-haul V/Line services is of great concern to passengers, as well as railway interest groups such as the Rail Futures Institute, an organisation that advocates for improved rail services for all Victorians.

I have been informed that V/Line’s new standard gauge VLocity carriages travelling on the Albury line are fitted with a buffet service, so why are Swan Hill, Bairnsdale, Warrnambool and Shepparton line passengers being treated differently? A train journey of up to 8 hours is too long for passengers to be without access to food and drink, and I call on the minister to ensure this plan to phase-out catering services on long-haul V/Line services to regional Victoria is immediately scrapped.