Reliability of the V/Line VLocity train fleet has improved significantly during the past year, the 2010/11 V/Line Annual Report reveals.
Tabled in State Parliament yesterday, the report shows the trains travelled 106,066 kilometres between faults, an 11% improvement compared to the year before.
That’s 1,342 trips from Melbourne to Geelong between faults, or 891 trips to Ballarat, 655 trips to Bendigo, 671 to Traralgon and 1,071 trips to Seymour.
VLocity carriages now comprise more than half of the V/Line fleet following the delivery of the 134th and final car from Bombardier’s Dandenong factory this week.
The delivery brings the total number of two and three carriage trains Bombardier built to 51.
Since their introduction to V/Line in December 2005 the trains have helped tackle the demands of increased patronage while allowing the timetable to expand by 283 weekly services.
V/Line Chief Executive Officer Rob Barnett said customer feedback showed the trains were the preference of most travellers.
“The VLocity trains are the backbone of our fleet that run the majority of trains between Southern Cross and Traralgon, Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong,” he said.
“They have given us up to 9,636 seats we never had before to keep pace with rising patronage.
“The 9,636 physical seats make four to six trips per day, creating capacity for more than 10,000 more passenger trips a day than were available prior to 2005.
“Patronage has more than doubled to 13.5 million passenger rail trips in the past six years. The VLocity fleet means we can better manage issues around capacity.”
Mr Barnett said their introduction, coupled with an expansion of services in December 2005, began V/Line’s current era of record patronage growth.
“No other passenger rail operator in Australia and very few in the world have experienced growth of more than 100 per cent in a few years,” he said.
“The vast majority of feedback we have from passengers is that the speed, comfort and space of the trains allow people to continue their work when travelling.”
