Thursday, 14 November 2024

Western Victoria Region

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:54): My question is for the Minister for Public and Active Transport. The Warrnambool line upgrade will replace V/Line’s N-class five-carriage trains with three-car VLocity sets. Even with the added fifth weekday return service to Melbourne, if you multiply seats per train by trains per day, that is a substantial loss of seats. Constituents are already experiencing significant overcrowding. A three-car VLocity set at 7:40 am last Thursday saw passengers in the aisles and sitting on the floor from Lara to Southern Cross. Recently my own staffer could not get a seat on a five-car set at 5 pm on a weekday from Southern Cross. Minister, why was there no planning to include platform extensions in the original project scope to allow for six-car VLocity sets to run, and will the government commit to fixing the issue of overcrowding on the Warrnambool line?