The Victorian Government will seize the opportunity of a strong budget position to order eight additional new trains for Melbourne's metropolitan rail network, Premier John Brumby, announced today.

Mr Brumby said Victoria's excellent financial standing meant now was the right time to bring forward $272 million to fast track the delivery of eight new, six-carriage trains, boosting the government's total order to 18 new trains. "We said public transport was among our top priorities and by using our strong budget position to bring forward the purchase of eight more trains, in addition to the 10 already ordered, we are delivering on the services that matter to Victorians," Mr Brumby said. "This is the next step in our commitment to improve public transport services and means that in a staged roll-out from late 2009, we will see 18 new trains come into service on the metropolitan rail network. "

Today's announcement is a massive investment in rail infrastructure that will serve Victorians well into the future. "These 18 new trains during peak hour will be able to carry about at least 14,500 passengers, equivalent to more than 12,000 cars and more than six freeway lanes of capacity. It translates to 108 carriages and means we are ahead of other Australian cities on the number of extra carriages we intend to add to our fleet over the next three years."

The 2007-08 State Budget committed $362 million to fast track the delivery of 10 new trains and recruitment of 22 additional train drivers. The government announced a tender for those new trains with Alstom and Siemens in July this year with the trains to be delivered from late 2009. Minister for Public Transport, Lynne Kosky, said the existing request for tender for 10 trains could be extended to include the eight additional trains.

"Over the past two years we've seen unprecedented patronage growth of about 20 per cent on the metropolitan train system and that has put pressure on the network - particularly during peak times, but we are working hard to address the challenges," Ms Kosky said. "We are also introducing shorter-term measures to improve the public transport experience for Victorians. We've introduced a new timetable with more than 200 extra services across the network each week, delivered a new $115 million metropolitan rail extension to Craigieburn which is easing crowding on other parts of the network and developed an Early Bird initiative as part of a plan to shift the peak-time load."

The government is also examining options to further address patronage growth on Victoria's regional rail system and will make an announcement shortly.