In Ballarat today, the Premier John Brumby said the Government would purchase nine new three-carriage VLocity train sets and an additional carriage for the current fleet to increase space on trains travelling on the state’s busiest routes.

“Public transport is crucial to the liveability of regional centres and our Government is taking action to ensure they are well-equipped to continue to grow and thrive,” Mr Brumby said.

“Our investment in Regional Fast Rail sparked a renaissance in regional train travel with more people than ever before choosing to catch the train and patronage at a 60-year record high.

“It’s great to see people voting with their feet in our rail services but it has created crowding on the popular fast rail corridors – Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Traralgon, particularly during the peak.

“The 28 new VLocity carriages, as part of this latest order, will add more than 2000 extra seats across the network which is great news for people living, working or visiting regional Victoria and means we will be able to get more people on busy services.”

Mr Brumby said the new VLocity train sets would be added to the existing order for 22 VLocity carriages to meet projected growth on regional rail services.

“Today’s announcement comes on top of the 22 carriages already under construction, which have a seating capacity of 1760, bringing our total commitment to 50 carriages and over 3800 seats – this will make a major difference to people using our popular regional rail network,” he said.

“It marks the biggest government investment in new regional rolling stock since Regional Fast Rail and is about ensuring we are well-placed to meet growing demand into the future.”

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said the first of the 22 VLocity carriages already on order would roll-out across network areas serviced by VLocity trains from next month.

“A carriage each month will be added to the regional network services by the VLocity trains and when all 50 carriages are in service by 2012 we will see a massive 50 per cent extra capacity added to our Regional Fast Rail corridors,” Ms Kosky said.

“Passengers will notice a major difference in their train travel experience and see first-hand our Government’s commitment to investing in regional rail.”

Ms Kosky said as part of the $236 million package, significant infrastructure investment would see platforms at some stations along the fast rail corridor extended.

“In addition to making infrastructure improvements, the package also includes the addition of extra V/Line staff to help manage ongoing growth,” she said.

“We will also be expanding stabling facilities and boosting maintenance to capitalise on this new investment and ensure the regional network continues to operate efficiently.”

Ms Kosky said the carriages would be built by Bombardier at its Dandenong plant, and would be progressively delivered from next month through to mid 2012.

“This is not only great news for regional train travel but for industry too, with all of the carriages to be built here in Victoria,” she said.