Carriages on the North East line will become more reliable and comfortable but new rolling stock won’t come about until further consultation with the community.
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Victorian transport minister Jacinta Allan said input would be sought from the community in terms of designs for a new type of train for the rail corridor.
She said refurbishment of current carriages was already underway.
“Forty per cent of train cancellations are caused by problems by the rolling stock on this line,” Ms Allan said.
Ms Allan did not have a date for when new stock on the North East line would be expected.
This year’s Victorian budget had $15 million set aside for an extra carriage for trains on the North East line.
Ms Allan was in Wangaratta on Tuesday to provide information about the recently released Regional Network Development Plan which aims to see five services running five days a week from Melbourne to Albury-Wodonga in the future.
It was also announced the state government and Benalla council would chip in $25,000 each to build an accessible bus stop at the Wangaratta District Specialist School.
The state government has started consultations about the trial of express coach shuttles to Seymour on the line.
More to come.