"We're responding to the overwhelming request of people who wanted that service," Mr Batchelor said yesterday.

"If we have good, safe, frequent and reliable train services it brings the Latrobe Valley closer to the capital city of Melbourne and, more importantly, closer to places like Dandenong."

Labor MLA for Narracan Ian Maxfield said the quicker speed would allow the trains to stop at more towns without slowing down travel times.

"We're not going to get trains just rushing past stations without stopping," he said.

Track operator Pacific National is currently testing the upgraded infrastructure before it signs off and hands the tracks back to V/Line.

The government expects this to occur in September, when trains including the new VLocity vehicles will return to the Latrobe Valley line on the old timetable.

The new timetable will then be introduced in October. When the trains finally return, people commuting between Latrobe Valley and Melbourne will have travelled on replacement coaches for more than four months.

The Regional Fast Rail project has been delayed by several years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than originally promised, according to the opposition.

Liberal MLC for Gippsland Province Philip Davis said the new timetable showed there "is no fast train".

"There is a service, which by the government's own admission, will only save commuters an extra nine minutes off their trip."

He said works to get the Latrobe Valley line up to scratch had taken two years longer and cost $33.4 million more than expected.

"The Latrobe Valley leg of the `Farce Rail' project was supposed to be completed in July 2004 yet here we are in August 2006 and the rail lines are still closed, commuters are still squeezing into buses.

"Brendan Jenkins should be extremely embarrassed about this announcement today because he and his Labor Government have failed appallingly to deliver its promise to provide a fast train to the Latrobe Valley," Mr Davis added.

But Labor MLA for Morwell Brendan Jenkins shrugged off suggestions the frustrating four month loss of rail services to the Valley, the severe delays and budget blowout would hurt his November election chances. "I will be making it one of my priorities to explain to the people of Gippsland how committed we were to investing $150 million in our train system," he said.