State government blames ‘complex task’ for lack of extra Shepp services, avoids answering specific queries

From mid-April, the Ballarat, Ararat, Warrnambool and Bendigo lines will benefit from the new services, with Shepparton and Seymour being left out.

“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 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 why Shepparton wasn’t on the list of lines to get the extra services.

The email included the following questions:

Two weeks and 12 emails after the questions were originally sent, the premier’s office sent a response.

The email included the following quote and some background on the project.

“The Shepparton line needs a new, modern signalling system to accommodate more frequent weekday services — this is a complex task which is getting closer to being completed,” a spokesperson said.

The News followed up again, asking for specific responses on each of the questions.

The premier’s office is yet to respond.

That was more than two weeks ago.

Locally, the delay in the delivery of the lack of promised extra services is proving extremely frustrating, as is the lack of an explanation or updated timeline for completion of the works to be provided.

Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell elaborated.

“The Commonwealth Government funded 80 per cent of this project, $320 million, back in 2020,” Mr Birrell said.

“The Victorian Government took that money, which was a huge amount of money from the Federal Government, and said it would deliver the project by the end of 2023.

“Here we are in April 2025 and it still hasn’t been finished.

“The Nationals wanted the people of Shepparton to have nine return services a day, and they still don’t, so the simple question is — what the hell is going on?

“A competent government would have delivered it by now.”

State Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell has raised the issue of the delayed signalling system upgrade in parliament multiple times.

It is also holding up the turning on of the traffic lights near the Shepparton Art Museum.

“The patience of Shepparton residents has run out. Everyone is desperate to know when the signalling upgrade will be complete, so the traffic lights can be turned on, and extra trains can run on the Shepparton line,” Ms Lovell said.

“The state Labor government recently announced that it is adding new weekend services on four regional rail lines, but Shepparton has missed out again because the signalling work still isn’t finished to allow more trains to run.

“The Victorian Government must confirm when the signalling upgrade will be complete, and urgently finish the work.”

State Member for Shepparton Kim O’Keeffe has also highlighted the issue.

In response to questioning from Ms O’Keeffe, Ms Williams indicated there was no completion date in sight for the upgrades.

While the minister restated knowledge on the public record about the status of Stage 3, she refused to provide a timeline for an increase from five to nine return weekday services from Shepparton.

Despite the project originally being due for completion in 2023, all the minister could add in response to questioning from Ms O’Keeffe was:

“This matter is being worked through and further information on project time-frames will be provided in the coming months.”

And thus the frustration continues.

“We need to know where this project is at now. Being secretive about this project is just ridiculous and keeping the community in the dark is unacceptable and frustrating,” Ms O’Keeffe said.

“To clearly have no idea when this upgrade will be completed is yet another display of incompetence from the Allan Labor Government.

“This is a project that was funded primarily by the previous Federal Coalition government that should’ve been finished in 2023, and we still have got no idea when it will be completed.

“Perhaps most frustrating is that there has been no real explanation as to why these extreme delays have occurred.

“The least the government can do is be transparent and come clean with why there’s no completion date in sight.

“It’s an absolute farce and we deserve better.”

Mr Birrell also addressed some of the commentary surrounding the ongoing saga.

“A lot of times that local media like the Shepp News or local ministers like myself have raised this issue you get the people who are very anti-Coalition — which is fine, people can vote however they like — in the comments sections saying that we never get anything because we’re a safe Nationals seat, but it’s just nonsense,” he said.

“Damian Drum was in a safe Nationals seat when he delivered the $320 million for this project in the first place.

“We get more funding when we have the Nationals in government.

“Is the Victorian Labor Government competent at delivering infrastructure? The answer is becoming increasingly obvious — no.

“A competent government works through complex issues, but the people who need the nine services a day are not interested in whether it is a complex issue or not — they just want what has been promised to them to be delivered.”