More than a month later they are still waiting for the service they were promised.

Politicians have come and gone, some have taken the train, others have apologised for the poor performance and, of course, a few have taken to blaming the other party for the mess. 

Plagued by delays and overcrowding, the service has been far from acceptable. 

The bottom line is that a few new carriages will come onto the train line and placate the angry masses of commuters for now but this shouldn’t be the case. 

At its best, the Regional Rail Link will provide minor improvements to what we already had. 

Yes, it should mean less delays and a marginally improved travel time. 

However, there is yet to be a plan put forth for the next step in improving the Ballarat to Melbourne service. 

The Regional Network Development Plan is a great start, but it is also something that should have been done five years ago. 

In fact many would argue it was. Both the Labor Party under John Brumby and V/Line have produced long term transport infrastructure plans in the past. 

The problem is that no government or politician has had the initiative to actually make it reality.  Billions of dollars are being spent to remove level crossings in Melbourne. 

Yet, a month of a barely functioning service for Ballarat following years of bad performance only resulted in the city being granted first priority for a few new carriages. 

That isn’t good enough.

When the Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan visited Ballarat this week she was asked about the duplication of the rail line and the electrification of the line to Melton. She said she would rather wait for the development plan to be complete before discussing the ideas any further.  

That isn’t good enough either.  

She should know that these ideas have been talked about for decades. 

She should also be able to say these projects are things the government is looking into right now. Because they should be. 

The commuters of Ballarat should not be forced to wait for three years before we again get attention thanks to another election. 

Don’t get me wrong, the opposition is to blame for the complete lack of vision that has existed on the train line as much as the current government is. 

RRL is a great project. A great project that has been poorly executed over a number of years. 

But it should not end there, and it shouldn’t take years because the improvement options are right in front of us. 

If commuters want a better service it is up to them to demand it. It is up to them to be loud and make sure they are heard. 

Otherwise five years from now we will be having the same discussion we are having right now. And that is unacceptable.