The data, released in the PTO's consumer experience bulletin, showed V/Line's 174 cases were second only to Metro Trains' 281 cases, and also came ahead of Public Transport Victoria's 70.

Ombudsman Treasure Jennings said consumers showed goodwill in working around major shutdowns but "that does not extend to unplanned disruptions".

"Disruptions and complications on public transport are awful for everyone and can be particularly challenging for people with disabilities and more vulnerable travellers," she said.

"There needs to be focus on helping people make good choices in a difficult situation."

The bulletin also looked at ticketing and accessibility of information.

One third of 34 investigations into complaints about information related to what V/Line provided to travellers during disrupted and cancelled services.

Nearly 100 cases involved V/Line's 'on-journey experience', which refers to things like staff service and comfort, ranking it fourth out of eight operators investigated the most in that regard.

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The snapshot comes ahead of the release of the PTO's annual report in October.

Last year's report showed a 75 per cent increase in issues reported to the Ombudsman about V/Line's service delivery.

V/Line was investigated over 83 cases in 2018, which was a rise from 51 the previous year and more than Metro Trains' 75 investigations.

The release of the bulletin comes as upgrades are done to the North East line.

Coaches replaced V/Line trains for the entire journey between Albury and Melbourne on Sunday, and will again on August 11.

The temporary service change will allow the Australian Rail Track Corporation to deliver pre-construction works at Violet Town and Longwood.

North East acting regional manager Andrew Berry said up to 45 minutes would be added to journey times for stopping-all-stations coaches, but express coach trips would be as quick.

"Our priority is supporting the $235 million North East Line upgrade and we're looking forward to seeing these early works being delivered by the ARTC and its partners," he said.

In June, V/Line's reliability for the Albury line was 98 per cent and punctuality was 52 per cent.