THE Public Transport Minister says its crucial that works towards a very fast train are completed in order as to maximise the long term benefits to Ballarat.
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Jacinta Allan was in Ballarat on Wednesday, spruiking the state government’s election commitment to fast rail which will see $150 million worth of detailed planning completed during the next year if re-elected.
But attention quickly turned to the issue facing passengers today - reliability, after commuters were again forced onto buses on Tuesday.
“The issues at Sunshine on Tuesday we certainly apologise for the inconvenience caused to passengers, it was a signals systems fault that is being investigated,” Ms Allan said.
“Importantly work was done overnight so that the trains were back in operation this morning and in fact they were operating by the evening peak.”
Ms Allan said Tuesday’s issues underscored why work was crucial for the line.
“It underscores the need for a program of continued investment,” she said.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do to rebuild our regional rail network. What we inherited was a program of cuts and closures from the former government, so we’ve had to work hard to invest in the projects now like the Ballarat line upgrade.”
“It’s about bringing fast rail to Ballarat and also importantly too developing a new partnership of working win regional cities deliver these important projects, in the right order and bringing real benefits to passengers.”
“Those works are part of a broader program that needed to bring faster trains to the region.”
READ MORE: Detailed planning for fast rail
On Monday afternoon, the state opposition released a document ‘The Victorian Rail Plan, Network Configuration Stages’ which was prepared by Transport for Victoria in August this year.
The document had no mention of fast rail to Ballarat or Geelong in it, something the opposition says is a sign of a government making up policy on the run after their Leader Matthew Guy announced the Coalition’s $19 billion rail commitment.
READ MORE: Matthew Guy’s $19 billion rail gamble
However, Ms Allan hit back saying the document released was never policy.
“That is not a plan, the material that has been released was internal working documents, these documents have no status, no authority within the government and they are not policy,” she said.
“Government policy is the Ballarat line upgrade, the Western Rail plan, the airport regional rail line and, quite frankly, the document released I resoundingly reject.”
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