The long-running problems with the north-east track and the impact on V/Line services has been a story with, so far, apparently no end.

Even when the track is supposedly fixed, Albury-Wodonga will have to continue tolerating sub-standard, out-of-date carriages decades old.

A bit of a spruce-up doesn’t meet the grade — anyone who takes intercity travel, for example, in Britain would know how comfortable country train travel can truly be.

The news then that the Baird Liberal government of NSW has made an election promise to spend $1 billion on a new XPT fleet is welcome.

This would involve modern carriages with Wi-Fi and dining cars providing food that goes way beyond heated-up pies and sausage rolls.

But even more notable is a predicted one-hour cut in the time taken to travel from Albury to Sydney.

As with all promises, it remains to be seen what eventuates and whether we see a bipartisan approach.

But for an area that misses a lot of the election gravy train, an upgraded XPT would be a big win for Albury-Wodonga.