Fair Go: Rural Victorians demand better train services

RURAL Victorians are demanding better train services, claiming they’re being cheated out of public transport money which is being spent in the city.

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RURAL Victorians are demanding better train services, claiming they’re being cheated out of public transport money which is being spent in the city.

The Sunday Herald Sun’s Fair Go For Regional Victoria campaign has revealed public transport tops the list of demands for the country.

As cash is splashed around Spring St for new rail lines above and below the ground in Melbourne, country folk fear their taxpayer dollars are being spent on services they will never use.

Cobram resident Kay Morgan has watched as billions of dollars have been funnelled into Melbourne Metro and the suburban sky rail project while her town doesn’t even have a train line.

The Cobram railway was shut down in 1999 after more than 100 years, then covered in bitumen.

“We feel we are being left behind,” she said of her town of 6000 people.

“It is quite galling when we country people see all the money being spent on sky rail, Metro trains etc. yet we haven’t even got a basic service.”

Phillip Forster joined a chorus calling for a high-speed train between Melbourne and Sydney, which could reduce travel times to an hour between Melbourne and Albury-Wodonga. “That would open up the whole country and have people living in the country but working in the city,” he said.

Of the train services the regions do have, many rate poorly for performance.

A recent RACV survey showed strong dissatisfaction with V/Line, especially in the northeast which rated as having four of the five worst services in Albury, Wodonga, Benalla and Premier Daniel Andrews’ home town of Wangaratta.

Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said regional train passengers had been subject to “unacceptable disruption” while an independent review found problems along the rail that were currently being fixed.

That was cold comfort for Mrs Morgan.

“We’ve always been in a safe Liberal-Nationals seat so no one’s fighting for our votes,” she said.