For too long, the Shepparton line was neglected in favour of other regional Victorian centres, such as Bendigo and Ballarat.
More than $300million is being invested in Shepparton’s rail services with the aim to deliver faster and more frequent trains to operate to and from the town.
The $356million Shepparton line upgrade also allows for modern VLocity trains to travel to and from Shepparton for the first time.
These trains are expected to run at speeds of up to 130km/h, meaning current train journey times will be cut by up to 20 minutes.
This is a huge win for the town and for the thousands of community members who use the town’s public transport services.
This long-awaited investment will put our level of services relative to population on a similar footing to other regional centres.
For years politicians, community advocates and locals have been pushing for more train services to be provided to and from Shepparton.
Bendigo has more than 20 return services to and from Melbourne a day, something that we cannot even imagine.
Community members were encouraged to have their say about the Shepparton line upgrade at information sessions last week.
Hosted by Regional Rail Revival Shepparton, locals were asked to give feedback on the project to help the group understand what was important to the community, residents and passengers.
We were pleased to see local people attend these sessions and we encourage community members to continue to give their input into the upgrades.
Opportunities for feedback, such as these information sessions, are a perfect opportunity for us to raise our queries and concerns and, as a community, demonstrate that we need and will use these extra services.
We are excited to see the benefits this new rail upgrade will bring for the town.
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