Passengers on a Victorian rail line have endured more than 400 days of replacement buses on all or part of the track since the beginning of last year, an analysis of disruption announcements shows.
The frequency of coach replacements on the Gippsland line has infuriated residents, who blame the state government’s $100 billion Big Build program for interrupting their V/Line service 65 per cent of the time over the past 20 months.
Lakes Entrance resident Deb Gray, left, with her daughter in 2018.Credit: Monique Westermann
Lakes Entrance resident Deb Gray said the lack of train services had been the talk of the town for months.
For Gray, who uses an electric wheelchair, the replacement services are not just an inconvenience – they make travelling to and from Melbourne to visit her daughter, see friends or attend work meetings almost impossible.
On a typical bus, her wheelchair is unable to fit inside the bathroom for what can be a four-hour journey. A taxi isn’t much better.
“You know you’re going to sit in the middle of the van, unable to eat or read a book for hours,” Gray said.
“My preference is the train. Otherwise, I don’t travel. On the train, I pull up where the wheelchairs go. If you get in a taxi or on a bus, there’s nowhere for me to set anything.”
Nationals MP for Gippsland South Danny O’Brien asked his staff to crunch the numbers on V/Line disruptions from January 1, 2023, to September 30 this year.
He had earlier asked Public Transport Minister Gabrielle Williams for the number of days buses had replaced trains on the Gippsland and Bairnsdale lines. The minister’s response, while thanking passengers for their patience, did not include the requested figures.
O’Brien said people in his electorate were fed up with the way they were being treated.
“We have not just been putting up with an absence of trains for 18 months or so – it has been an ongoing saga for seven or eight years now,” he said.
“We all appreciate that arrangements need to be made for works on the line on occasion, but two-thirds of travel days with replacement buses is a joke.”
Passengers are frequently told that coaches are replacing trains because of Big Build works, including the Metro Tunnel project – due to open next year – and level crossing removals.
O’Brien said it was unfortunate that most of the disruptions on the line appeared to be caused by works in Melbourne.
“Seven years after the government promised the Gippsland Regional Rail Revival, it is still unfinished, has no completion date and has blown out in cost by $350 million, and there has been no improvement in services, nor even any promised.”
A state government spokesperson disputed O’Brien’s analysis and stressed that upgrades across Melbourne’s south-east and in Gippsland were, where possible, undertaken in a way that minimised community disruptions.
“While the Nationals teamed up with the Liberal Party to close regional rail lines when they were in power, we’re upgrading every regional line to ensure we can deliver better services,” the spokesperson said.
“We thank the community for their patience while we carry out these critical upgrades. The Gippsland Line Upgrade will deliver new signalling, improve reliability and allow for more frequent services.”
Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said Gippsland line passengers had faced “huge disruptions” for years.
“In part, that’s due to upgrades along the Pakenham line, which shares the tracks with the V/Line service,” Bowen said.
“You can only hope that we are in sight of the last of the major works once the Metro Tunnel opens. And we hope it will be a better service overall.”
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