Extra carriages claw back lost services
An extra three carriages – 222 seats – were added to the busiest morning and afternoon peak service on the Gippsland rail line last week.
The additional carriages will double seating capacity on weekday services that depart Warragul at 7.11am and Drouin at 7.17am and the Melbourne to Traralgon service that leaves Southern Cross station at 4.58pm.
Monthly surveys by Public Transport Victoria show that both services had run at full capacity, that is, all seats were taken and some passengers had to stand for at least part of the trips, when operating with only three carriages.
On the morning service it was often standing room only by the time the train left Drouin.
News of the upgrades was announced by Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan and Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing only hours before the first of the higher capacity services was introduced. Both services are limited express. The morning six-carriage train does not stop at Trafalgar, Yarragon, Longwarry or Bunyip.
The service from Melbourne in the afternoon stops at all Gippsland stations between Pakenham and Traralgon except for Yarragon and Trafalgar.
Gippsland V/Line Rail Users’ Natalie Thorne said it was “fabulous” the extra carriages had been added to two of the busiest services but was only “clawing back” some of the capacity taken away several years ago.
It is still not enough to serve a growing region, she said.
Ms Thorne said nothing significant had been done to increase the speed and reliability of services and the express service, discontinued a number of years ago, had not been reintroduced.
“I am looking forward to the state budget with the hope there may be some big ticket items to improve services for Gippsland,” she said.
Ms Allan and Ms Shing also re-affirmed the government’s plans for the Gippsland Rail Corridor Station Upgrade program.
Trafalgar is one of four stations – the others are Moe, Morwell and Traralgon – that will get some major improvements.
A new platform entrance, platform shelter and bike hoops will be installed and the bus bay upgraded to improve connections between V/Line train and bus services.
At Traralgon 100 new car parks will be established for commuters and an additional 60 will be provided at Morwell.
While welcoming the extra carriages on two services a day Member for Narracan Gary Blackwood said they were not enough to meet the growing demand on peak services. Overcrowding is just one issue, he said. “More frequent services when commuters need them are required rather than forcing passengers onto only a handful of peak services”.
Mr Blackwood said the State Labor government had invested heavily in the Ballarat and Bendigo lines while doing the bare minimum in Gippsland.
He said the “announcement” of station and parking upgrades was simply a re-launch of what was included in the State budget almost a year ago and it was disappointing the minister stated the projects were still at tender stage and may not be delivered until well into 2018.