TOM PARRY
By TOM PARRY
CATERING facilities will soon be removed from all Gippsland train services, despite being available on other routes across the state.
The news comes as V/Line prepares to retire its fleet of N-class locomotives and carriages that travel the Bairnsdale line, with a view to replacing all services with VLocity trains.
Advocacy group Rail Futures Institute is calling on V/Line to reverse its decision, labelling it inequitable.
“The argument we’re putting is that long-distance services should have an on-board facility – as the older trains have always had – for a buffet-type service where you can at least get a hot drink of tea or coffee, or something to eat,” Institute president John Hearsch said.
“We see it as just fulfilling a basic human need – bearing in mind it’s not just people travelling from Sale and Bairnsdale.
“At the Bairnsdale end, you’ve got long-distance coaches coming in from Canberra and from the Sapphire Coast in New South Wales, and they’re travelling for many hours.
“They do have a break at Cann River, but they’re still about a three-hour run into Bairnsdale to connect with the trains, and there’s no facilities at all at Bairnsdale Station for people to get any refreshments before they transfer from a coach onto the train.”
Two V/Line passenger services on the Gippsland route currently provide on-board catering facilities – a standard feature on V/Line rail carriages.
These carriages, which are typically hauled by diesel-electric units, are soon to be replaced by high-speed VLocity trains.
The Gippsland Times understands that none of the VLocity trains intended for service on the Gippsland line will have on-board catering facilities.
Mr Hearsch said such facilities are available on the Albury line, which VLocity trains traverse.
“They’re a long-distance version with more space, more comfortable seating, and they’ve got … what (V/Line) calls a “Café Bar” on those trains, and we’re saying that should be standard for all trains for journeys that now exceed two-and-a-half to three hours, which includes Bairnsdale (services),” Mr Hearsch said.
The Department of Transport was approached by the Gippsland Times for comment, with a spokesperson providing the following response:
“The majority of Bairnsdale services have been operated by modern, comfortable VLocity trains since 2018 and work is under way to enable these trains to operate on all services to and from East Gippsland.
“We worked closely with the community to provide alternative refreshment options when VLocity trains were introduced and will investigate ways to expand this offering in the future.”
One of the “alternative refreshment options” offered by V/Line is the provision of vending machines at stations along the Gippsland line.
Mr Hearsch described the alternative as a “second-rate service”.
“Some of those vending machines aren’t particularly cheap, (and) they don’t always work,” Mr Hearsch said.
“I’d concede it’s better than nothing; (but) it doesn’t really make-up for a service on a train which is provided by a real person, and with a reasonable choice of different foods, drinks, snacks, sweets and so forth that they offer currently.”
The Department of Transport is apprehensive about introducing catering services on the Bairnsdale line because its VLocity trains also run on the high-patronage Ballarat line.
V/Line estimates that 42 seats would need to be removed from a three-carriage VLocity train in order to install a catering facility.
Mr Hearsch believes such an issue can easily be managed.
“The sort of thing that should be done is that the commuter trains (without catering facilities) run the shorter distances to places like Traralgon,” Mr Hearsch said.
“The VLocitys are designed so that they can be coupled-up to … what we call a ‘set’ – another train, almost – in no time at all.
“So, you can still have the commuter VLocitys running to and from Traralgon, and when you get to Traralgon, you simply couple onto another three-car set which can continue on.”
Another solution he offered was to have Bairnsdale services continue on another route that also offers catering facilities.
“You can organise your schedules in such a way, for example, that a train coming from Bairnsdale then goes on to Warrnambool or Swan Hill, or vice-versa.
“That’s usually part of the solution when you have two different types of trains.”
News of the Bairnsdale passenger service losing its catering facilities is yet another blow for rail commuters in the Wellington Shire, who are already undermined by a lack of trains to Rosedale, Sale and Stratford.
Just three daily V/Line services currently operate each way between Stratford and Melbourne’s Southern Cross Station.
Last month, the Committee for Wellington, Sale Business and Tourism Association, and Wellington Shire Council made a joint plea for more train services in the region, a call which has been backed by the Rail Futures Institute.
Both council and the Committee for Wellington have been asked for comment, but at the time of going to press had not responded.
Asked when, or if, more than three trains a day would service the Bairnsdale line, Public Transport Minister Ben Carroll on Wednesday said: “I’ll take that question on notice.”
He said “improved rolling stock” was destined for the Gippsland route.
