Media release from the Minister for Public Transport

Friday, 15 May 2009

V/Line passenger figures have smashed records with the Geelong, Bendigo, Traralgon and Echuca lines all achieving their highest ever passenger numbers in March.

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said the passenger numbers again demonstrated the Victorian Government’s plan to boost regional rail links was paying off.

"The Brumby Government is taking action now to give Victorians the best transport network in Australia and we are absolutely delighted that more people are jumping on board V/Line services," Ms Kosky said.

"The Opposition scoffed at our investment in Regional Fast Rail and now more Victorians than ever before are jumping aboard our new VLocity trains and we have got on with the job of reopening rail lines to Ararat and Bairnsdale."

The V/Line fleet is growing to meet the increase in passenger numbers with 50 new VLocity carriages to be on the tracks by 2012 adding an extra 50 per cent in capacity on Regional Fast Rail corridors.

Ms Kosky said a campaign to encourage more Melburnians to travel by train to the country and the International Airshow at Avalon also contributed to the record.

"The good news is that the investment in more trains is already starting to pay dividends with more Victorians taking up regional train travel as a better, cheaper and more comfortable alternative to their cars," she said.

An extra 12,000 trips were made on V/Line trains in March higher than the previous record set of 1,175,030 set in July last year.

Ms Kosky said the Traralgon line continued to be V/Line’s fastest growing, following a 27.2 per cent jump in March to 120,506 passenger trips – an extra 26,000 trips than the same time last year.

The Geelong, Ballarat and Traralgon lines all saw growth of more than 20 per cent compared to the same time last year.

The Geelong line – up 21 per cent on the same time last March, saw almost 50,000 more passenger trips to a new record of 283,746. The Bendigo (220,688 passenger trips) and Echuca lines (27,253 trips) also set new records in March.

Ms Kosky said the Brumby Government was getting on with the job of adding extra carriages on the busiest lines.

"We want to be able to carry more people, on more services, to more places, more often," she said.