THE Victorian government will convert another locomotive to standard gauge for exclusive use on the North East line.
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It’s a small win for commuters on the Albury-Melbourne line, who have been called for a better service for years.
But its just a small step in the right direction, according to the Border Rail Action Group.
Transport Minister Jacinta Allan yesterday said a N-class locomotive would operate by late July, bringing the number of engines on that line to four.
Routine maintenance of the existing locomotives means one is almost always off the line, leaving only two to operate the six daily services.
If a second engine is out of action due to a fault or damage — as occurred this month — there is only one available, meaning services have to be replaced by coaches.
“Right now the Albury line is running on the bare minimum of trains,” Ms Allen said.
“A fourth locomotive will provide the capacity V/Line needs to make services more reliable.
A spokesman for Ms Allan, Bob Neilson, said new engines and carriages would be considered as part of the government’s regional network development plan. Consultation on that would begin next month.
It is the first action the government has taken to improving the North East service since taking office last November.
The Border rail group’s Bill Traill said the extra locomotive was “only a small breakthrough”.
But he said it was significant because it would go a long way to improving V/Line’s reliability.
“The maintenance matter had been on our group’s agenda for some time now because the aged and fragile V/Line fleet was producing more work than an equally antiquated maintenance facility could handle,” he said.
He remained critical of the government’s reports of improved reliability of V/Line services.
He said only late trains were counted while those that were cancelled or broke down mid-journey, resulting in switching to coaches, were not.
Mr Traill called on Ms Allan to introduce more transparent figures.
The member for Benambra, Bill Tilley, welcomed the extra locomotive but pointed out it was just a fraction of what the Coalition had promised before last year’s election.
He said the coalition had promised to convert a full carriage set for the line and provide another daily service.
But new carriages were unlikely on the line before the early 2020s.
“This only addresses the short-term maintenance problems,” he said.
“We absolutely need to hear sooner rather than later their position on replacement carriages for the line.”
The federal member for Indi, Cathy McGowan, said it was a first step in rebuilding trust in the rail system.
