More will be revealed later today:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/14-billion-regional-rail-revival-in-state-budget-20170429-gvve2d.html

Curious about the details, especially around Geelong and Bendigo/Echuca improvements.

$435m for Gippsland? Obviously that isn't going to go towards the biggest issue on that line (Pakenham - City), so I'm very interested to see what it'll include.

No doubt bridge upgrades will be on the agenda.

I am also curious around the Geelong improvements and how much of the investment actually goes into service improvements and not back of office changes which moving stabling etc which do not provide any service improvement.  The devil as always will be in the detail.

Bendigo/Echuca will be much needed.

Darren Chester's tweet is telling:



I agree, where is the business case for all of this?  Or is it somewhere at the bottom of the (pork) barrel?
(btw thanks to Steve in the other thread for this)

Also, for the benefit of this thread, breakdown of amounts as follows:

$435m   -   Gippsland
$100m   -   Warrnambool
$100m   -   Other Barwon Southwest
$110m   -   Surf Coast (Geelong/Torquay/Warum Ponds)
 $91m   -   Bendigo/Echuca
 $39m   -   Ballarat line (Ararat & Maryborough)


That leaves $575m unaccounted for.  I was surprised that there was no mention of the North East (incl Shepparton).

Lets see what the budget has to say.

Stabling at Waurn Ponds (combined with Duplication) will mean that more, if not all, peak trains will be able to terminate there, and should end the current problem where V/Line short terminates trains at Geelong leaving South Geelong passengers to wait for the next train, as they don't order coaches.

Gippsland should be bridge upgrades and platform duplications.

I am most interested in Echuca. They seem to indicate speed upgrades, so I'm wondering if we're finally going to get Class 1 or 2 track out there, and more services. Echuca should get a similar service level as Ararat, 3 trains per day and a couple of coaches.

Have we heard of Stage 2 of the Ballarat Line upgrades before? Is this duplication to Wendouree with a turnback road there to reduce the amount of redundant movements between Ballarat and Wendouree?

Also, I hate when the political reporters report on public transport. They only regurgitate the press release, and you never know if they've interpreted it correctly. They mention upgrades for every line, but no mention of Seymour corridor.

Was the Waurn Ponds stabling facility not included in the budget last year or the year before? I'm pretty sure it was, so this announcement should be for other upgrades.

Piecing together some press releases:

• Avon River bridge duplication
• Duplication of Bunyip to Longwarry
• Second platforms at the above two stations
• An unspecified amount of duplication "near Moe, Morwell and Traralgon"
• Second platforms at Morwell and Traralgon
• $100m to "run more Warrnambool services"
• $110m to "prepare for duplication of South Geelong to Waurn Ponds" and buy land for a line to Torquay
• $91m for speed upgrades to Echuca and an extra daily service - as well as extend some Bendigo services to Epsom
• $39m for Ballarat stage 2 - which has something to do with Maryborough and Ararat (no detail at all)
• Unspecified $$ for "signalling and station improvements needed to run new trains on the North East line" (what new trains?)

Seems like mostly good stuff, though the devil will be in the detail.

Media releases up on Premier's page:
http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/huge-upgrade-to-boost-services-for-bendigo-and-echuca/

Looks like new signalling and track upgraded for Echuca line (perhaps 94 lb rail right thru?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0xZXgjkHps

Preparing for VLocities west of Waurn Ponds and on the Albury Line, an extra service to Ararat.

• Unspecified $$ for "signalling and station improvements needed to run new trains on the North East line" (what new trains?)

TOQ's video says new SG VLocities for Albury.  This could open up many options, e.g. Shepparton, Western Vic.  
Also, could this be a replacement for the Next Gen Regional Fleet program, i.e., just have more VLos?

If I'm interpreting that video correctly, they want to build a 20km passing lane at Camperdown

As much as we all thirst for more detail, this announcement is only meant to essentially be a teaser in the lead up to budget day and in this case and many others that a program of works of this scale doesn't get lost in a host of other budget announcements on the day.   More detail will definitely follow and I would not be surprise if individual projects/packages are then announced on a region by region basis.

Some of the funds will include operating expenditure as part of the 4 year spend.

In very broad terms what was proposed for the Ballarat Line last budget is strengthened further and actual serious money will get spent.  I'm sure our correspondent Vinelander can confirm that there have been lots of surveyors doing drilling to get core samples of the ground all along the section to be duplicated to Melton.  I've seen surveying terms in Bacchus Marsh, Ballan as well as Warrenheip and around the Gordon area so that's all very active.

The Latrobe Valley/Gippsland works certainly start to address the long standing bottlenecks of single track at Bunyip, but also go much further on a scale very similar to the Ballarat Line.

In addition to what's actually been said about the start of the Waurn Ponds to Geelong capacity improvements including starting the new stabling on the Moriac side of the Cement Works there is very likely to be funding around a second crossing loop or upgrade to the existing arrangements at Camperdown, that enables not only more V/Line services but very importantly in association with the relatively new Warncourt loop will finally enable a significantly improved level of reliability for freight.    Indeed going back to Gippsland, the replacement of the Stratford Bridge has QUBE already considering expansion of freight back to Bairnsdale!!!

The Bendigo/Echuca works will likely include completing CTC signaling around the Eaglehawk/Epsom sections to enable them to operate much more efficiently and there is an indication that some track strengthening including resleepering and selective rerailing especially on some curves will finally enable much faster running on that line.

I'd give it about another week after the detail in the actual budget papers has been digested.

These are welcome developments but sometimes government media people struggle to interpret the facts.
The Avon River bridge at Stratford is a case in point - in one part they talk about "duplicating" or "upgrading" it.
It is completely life expired and just needs repacement. If further crossing capacity is required between Sale and Bairnsdale, surely nobody is suggesting that would be managed by way of bridging.
Have just discovered in one of the Youtube videos, a statement that the entire line between Moe and Traralgon will be duplicated.
It will be interesting to see how the Federal Government's role plays out with all this.

It's a nice little teaser of what's to come, I'm hoping there's more to be announced east of Traralgon. The Avon river bridge is an obvious issue, and that's surely going to be addressed. If they want more services to Bairnsdale, rebulidling the Wurruk loop might be looked at. The local member was also in the paper a few months back asking for funding to upgrade Sale to stable a service overnight for a new morning peak service.

I was on the V/line to Bairnsdale yesterday and there's a section between Stratford and Bairnsdale where the Train slows down quite a bit because of two level crossings without boomgates. With the 20 to be upgraded between pakenham and Traralgon, they might get looked at as well.

There's also plenty of logs and timber in the yards around Bairnsdale so hopefully something in the budget might tempt an operator to get the logs back onto rail.

These are welcome developments but sometimes government media people struggle to interpret the facts.
The Avon River bridge at Stratford is a case in point - in one part they talk about "duplicating" or "upgrading" it.
It is completely life expired and just needs repacement. If further crossing capacity is required between Sale and Bairnsdale, surely nobody is suggesting that would be managed by way of bridging.
Have just discovered in one of the Youtube videos, a statement that the entire line between Moe and Traralgon will be duplicated.
It will be interesting to see how the Federal Government's role plays out with all this.

You misunderstood what it meant. In stage 1 of the upgrade the avon Bridge will be upgraded as well as the other upgrades. Then an extra money put aside for stage 2 which will include duplicating the bridge for a second track.

Bearing in mind that this is the budget before the 2018 state election budget.

This will see infrastructure works being undertaken all along marginal electorates....errr RFR lines ....almost like an RFR refresh 10 years on...and a bit extra for our longer distance V/Line travellers as well.

Finally it would appear the Echuca line will be up to some reasonable speed just before 2018 Election...

Will be interesting if some $$ appear next year to invest in resolving the current RRL issues.

Mike.

Given the constant overcrowding on the Geelong like could a some of the $500m be for additional rollingstock?

I also note SG Vlocities are on the way but not sure if this is eactly what should be provided in the medium to long term.  We need long distance passenger rollingstock and VLocity sets are not that.

It is good news but the devil is in the detail as noted.

Two threads are not needed.

But it is a Victorian item, so this part is locked, and continue at this link:

https://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11386444-s0.htm