The Ballarat, Ararat, Warrnambool and Bendigo lines will benefit from the new services.
From Sunday, April 13, Ballarat passengers will receive 33 extra services, with trains running every 40 minutes on weekends between 8am and 9pm for the first time.
On the Ararat Line, two new return services will be added on Saturdays and Sundays, including a 9.15pm Saturday service from Southern Cross to get passengers home from AFL twilight matches or an evening in Melbourne.
Five new weekend services will be added to the Bendigo line, including late-night trains from Melbourne to Bendigo.
Five weekend services on the Bendigo line eill be expanded from three- to six-carriage VLocity trains, meaning more capacity across the weekend for locals and visitors.
From Monday, April 14, four extra weekend services began on the Warrnambool line – with new return services on Saturdays and Sundays adding to the extra services rolled out late last year.
For the first time, passengers on the Warrnambool line will also have access to VLocity trains on all weekend and weekday services.
Two Geelong line trains will also be extended through to Waurn Ponds Station every weekday morning.
“More regional Victorians are choosing to take public transport than ever before thanks to our cheaper fares policy — so we’re catering to this extra demand with more trains, more often,” Public and Active Transport Minister Gabrielle Williams said.
Almost 75 per cent of extra weekend services promised by the current Victorian Government at the 2022 election have now been delivered.
“We made regional travel more affordable for Victorian families through the regional fare cap and now we’re delivering more services to four regional rail lines,” Premier Jacinta Allan said.
On Monday, March 10, The News asked the Department of Transport and Planning to find out why Shepparton wasn’t on the list of lines to get the extra services.
The email included the following questions:
- In 2021, Shepparton was promised nine services a day but that is still yet to be completed, with this announcement it begs the question, why was Shepparton not included in the service increases?
- It has been a year since the promised completion date, what’s the hold-up?
- Is there an updated timeline?
- In the Greater Shepparton City Council Shepparton Passenger Services Project 2017 updated report, the following is said: “Bendigo with a catchment area of similar size and distance from Melbourne, but with almost 50 per cent greater population, currently has 20 weekday services each way to and from Melbourne. From January 2017, Shepparton has four.” What does the department have to say about this disparity?
The department is yet to respond to these questions.
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