V/LINE SERVICE NEEDS URGENT REVIEW: HALL

Current practices on the rail services from Melbourne to Pakenham and then Gippsland are causing major concerns for V/Line customers and need to be resolved, according to Gippsland MP Peter Hall.

The Nationals' MP raised the matter in Parliament this week following complaints from V/Line passengers who feel they are being crowded out by Met ticket holders, who use the V/Line service to Pakenham instead of available Met services. The Gippsland line is the only V/Line service on which Met ticket holders are allowed to travel.

Mr Hall told Parliament that he had received a letter signed by 75 regular travellers complaining about the service.

"The belief of those signatories as expressed in this letter is that the overcrowding is caused by Met ticket-holders using the V/Line service between Pakenham and Flinders and Spencer streets stations," Mr Hall said when he raised the matter.

He quoted from a copy of a letter which had already gone to the Minister for Transport, and said in part: "... why is this line the only one still allowing Met ticket-holders to use the service? Unfortunately for us we have a limited service and often of an evening there are no seats available until the train reaches Pakenham where up to 80 Met ticket-holders disembark.

"We pay a premium ticket price for a service that is overcrowded with Met ticket-holders. As V/Line ticket-holders we ask that the practice of allowing Met ticket-holders to use this V/Line service cease, bringing it in line with other V/Line services."

Mr Hall said there had been occasions when holders of V/Line tickets have had to sit in the luggage carriage of the train.

He added that V/Line passengers were annoyed because the Met ticket-holders had a much wider range of services available and did not need to use the V/Line service.

"Every 15 minutes at peak times a train leaves Flinders Street or Spencer Street stations to travel to Pakenham and yet many of those Met ticket-holders still wait and select to hop onto the V/Line service, to the detriment of V/Line passengers, who are also concerned that with the influx of travellers while the Commonwealth Games are on, the problem will get worse.

"I am also aware that Met ticket-holders in Pakenham have some problems because of the unreliability of services. I know that many times a large number of people have been left waiting on the station for an overdue train."

Mr Hall called on the Transport Minister to look into the overcrowding problem as a matter of urgency and find a solution that meets the needs of both the Met passengers travelling to and from Melbourne and Pakenham and the V/Line customers travelling beyond Pakenham.

Media contact: Peter Hall (03) 5174 7066