Chief executive John Fullerton was questioned by Greens Senator Janet Rice in a Senate Estimates hearing this week.

The ARTC will hold consultation sessions from Thursday to talk people through the scope of works for $235 million worth of upgrades.

Senator Rice said this took investment in the line to almost $1 billion over the past decade.

“What steps are being taken to ensure this latest funding is actually going to be effective in addressing the issues that have been experienced over the past decade and beyond when previous work hasn’t brought it up to scratch?” she asked.

“Have you done reviews of the previous work that’s been done on the line to make sure that you’re not going to be repeating some of the problems of the past?”

Mr Fullerton said the ARTC reviewed its ballast rehabilitation program and the removal of mudholes after works were completed in December 2016.

“There’s things we learned from that, but overall it improved the track significantly from the performance back in 2014 when it was at its worst,” he said.

The lease of the track to the Victorian government will be renegotiated with the federal government and ARTC, and could include a requirement to meet performance standards.

“As part of the bilateral agreement that was signed between the Commonwealth and Victoria a couple of months ago, there was a commitment to achieve that class 2 standard, but also set a process to renegotiate a longer-term lease in Victoria that was attached to the inland rail project,” Mr Fullerton said.

“Part of that negotiation with Victoria will be about the lease conditions and also the ongoing standards that we will apply to the track.”

ARTC consultations will be held from 12.30pm to 4pm on Thursday at Wangaratta Railway Station, then on Friday at Junction Place from 9am to 11am and at Wodonga Railway Station from 12pm to 2pm.