Article: More seats for Ballarat trains

[ozbob]

From The Courier click here!

More seats for Ballarat trains

More seats for Ballarat trains
KIM QUINLAN
14 Dec, 2010 12:13 AM

OVERCROWDING on trains will be eased after 540 more seats were yesterday added to the Ballarat line.

New VLocity trains were added to the existing fleet to boost seating on some peak and off-peak services on the Ballarat line, including the 8.38am to Melbourne and the 2.08pm and 2.53pm Melbourne to Ballarat.

Twelve of the new carriers were delivered across the state in recent months and a further 24 are due next year.

Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder was at the Ballarat Railway Station yesterday to make the announcement.

"As Victoria's first country-based minister for transport in more than a decade, I have long been a strong advocate for better transport for country Victorians. This marks the start of a new era for our state," Mr Mulder said.

During yesterday's announcement, Mr Mulder admitted more work still needed to be carried out on the existing fleet.

"Some of the locomotives were commissioned in 1952, the same year I was born."

He said commuter time was also another issue that needed to be addressed with the multimillion dollar Regional Rail Link Project.

In welcoming the extra services, V/Line chief executive officer Rob Barnett said: "The new trains and carriages have given us flexibility to put them where they are needed most and retire some of our oldest trains."

The extra seats coincided with the relaunch of V/Lines website yesterday, which includes new commuter pages for each line that show the seating capacity for every peak-time train.

VLine -- > http://www.vline.com.au/

[O_128]

Victoria really does have the best (only) regional train service in the country

[ozbob]

http://www.vline.com.au/pdf/timetables/ballarat.pdf/ballarat

Timetable, makes the Sunshine Coast line look positively primitive ..

Infact, Queensland Governments should be hanging their heads in a collective shame ..

All timetables --> http://www.vline.com.au/timetables/timetables/train.html

[#Metro]

http://www.vline.com.au/about/ourcompany/projects/NERRP.html

^^^ could something like this be used for the Sunshine Coast Line I wonder?

[ozbob]

Changing the gauge of the QR system is not a practical reality. The original line from Melbourne to Albury was 5' 3", a standard gauge line was added to the corridor around 1962.  The 5' 3" is now being converted to standard gauge.

There is no reason why similar standard IMUs and DMUs to the VLocity units could not be used for longer runs in Queensland though.  They can be built modified for 3' 6", I have confirmed that with the manufacturer.  I don't hold much hope though, the mob here are struggling with basic infrastructure upgrades let alone looking ahead with some real vision ..

[#Metro]

North East Rail Revitalisation Project - Albury line
      
Work is continuing to replace and repair sections of track between Seymour and Albury as part of the North East Rail Revitalisation project.

The $600 million jointly state and federally funded project involved the replacement of wooden sleepers with concrete between Melbourne and Albury and the standardisation of the rail line.

The project also involved construction of a new rail bypass around the Wodonga central business district and new train station for the city.

The Australian Rail Track Corporation is completing the works.

Until these works are finished, V/Line will not be in a position to return train services beyond Seymour.

It is anticipated that when the project is completed, V/Line services will return following a period of driver training and conversion of trains and carriages from broad gauge to standard gauge.

Updates about the return of V/Line services to the North-East will be posted here as they become available.

Oh, I meant use freight & federal funds to assist duplication and straightening of sections of the Sunshine Coast line.
It's not going to build CAMCOS, but it will fix up freight issues and have a side-benefit of allowing more trains on the SC line.

[ozbob]

Oh, I meant use freight & federal funds to assist duplication and straightening of sections of the Sunshine Coast line.
It's not going to build CAMCOS, but it will fix up freight issues and have a side-benefit of allowing more trains on the SC line.

Indeed, the Sunshine Coast line is actually a more important project than standard gauging the 5'3" IMHO (there already is a standard gauge line) but like most things it is the quality of the case put forward that is vital to gaining funding.  Queensland has not been that good in making a strong case of recent times ...  CRR is a better effort though I think.  

[Stillwater]

Melbourne to Ballarat is 102 kilometres, about the same distance as Brisbane to Nambour, which lies at the geographic centre of the Sunshine Coast.  The Sunshine Coast City area contains a population three times the size of Ballarat.  Compare the passenger rail timetables to both regional centres and weep.  With this level of service to regional centres, is it no wonder that Victoria is the state with the best distribution of population and vibrant and liveable regional centres.

One looks at the massive and wise investment the federal government and state government are putting into the line to Albury, a line that's already duplicated, and you wonder why they can't cooperate in duplicating the Sunshine Coast Line and North Coast Line to Nambour at first, but then to Maryborough.  The federal government investment (as with Melbourne-Albury) is justified on the basis of the line's importance to freight.  State government investment share due to it being responsible for passenger rail on the line.

It seems incongruous that the state has not been able to put together a case for shared funding to upgrade the Sunshine Coast Line.  Could it be that resources are stretched so badly that priority is being given to CRR and things like the Springfield and Ferny Grove works so there simply are not enough bodies to devote to the Sunny Coast priority upgrade?

[Otto]

I will be in Ballarat for 11 days in June and look forward to making use of the V Locity for my travels to Melbourne..