Regional rail catering services
Tim BULL (Gippsland East) (17:06): (183) My adjournment is to the Minister for Public Transport, and the action that I am seeking is for more work to be done on how we can get buffet services onto our long-haul train lines that are serviced by VLocity trains. I raised this with the minister in a question previously, and the answer I basically got back was that it was not going to happen. It is a nearly 4-hour train trip from Bairnsdale, but the answer I got back was that it will take up 44 seats on a carriage to install the buffet services. I am not asking for a five-star restaurant, Minister for Health. I am not asking for a full-blown McDonald’s on the train. Surely in half a carriage or less we can put in a counter, a fridge and a microwave and serve a cup of tea, some scones, some cakes or whatever and give people who are travelling for 4 hours something to eat on the train.
I would ask the minister to have a look at that design and come up with something a bit more simple in relation to providing that very, very simple service. We had buffet cars on our trains. The minister said she could remember them. I can remember them, Minister, about 40Â years ago when I was very young. Now we are in an era when we have lost that service, and in this day and age it should be back. I am open to discussions with the minister for transport, but I think that that should be investigated for our long-haul trains on these VLocity carriages.