The V/Line Raffle

Gosh, it’s been a long time since we posted a message.

We have been prompted to make a new post because we have been getting home significantly late on the 18:33 Goulburn Valley Express of recent times.

I (Mary) sent this Letter to the Editor last week:

“I must be having the worst luck in the world.

I catch the 6:33pm Shepparton train at Southern Cross once a week.

On three of the last five trips we have arrived at least half an hour late. Twice we got stuck behind the Seymour stopping all stations train that is scheduled to leave Southern Cross station a scant nine minutes after our Goulburn Valley Express. If our departure is delayed the Seymour train leaves first.

This week we pulled into Murchison East forty minutes late. Connecting coach passengers to Echuca would have arrived at about twenty past ten. The coach from Shepparton would have arrived in Griffith at around twenty past one the next morning.

I checked out the V/Line website and punctuality on the Shepparton line is reported at ninety percent for January.

I've managed to pick the ten percent of late trains sixty percent of the time. Perhaps V/Line should be selling raffle tickets instead of train tickets. First prize would be getting home on time.”

Bev was on the 18:33 Shepparton train last Friday night, March 14.

The carriages arrived ten minutes after scheduled departure time. They were so hot the passengers were not allowed to board until the A/C had been running awhile. Departure was 27 minutes late.
The train was stationary on the south side of Craigieburn at 19:40.
Arrival into Murchison East was 50 minutes late at 21:10.

This is almost a mirror image of my experience on Thursday March 6, except we had a faulty door instead of hot carriages.

It’s just not good enough.

If anyone has similar experiences about the 18:33 we would love to hear. Please leave your message by clicking on the comments link at the bottom of this post.

not a good start

Unfortunately, the first run of the new 18:33 Goulburn Valley weekday train, express to Seymour, was not a good experience. Arrival time was over one hour late. Click here to read the sad details.

We now have serious concerns about the future punctuality of this train. We would like to ask for your help to monitor the running times whenever you use it. Please click here for the monitoring form. You can send it back by mail, email or fax using the details at the bottom of the form.

And here is a link to an excellent analysis of the new Shepparton timetable, prepared by an expert rail enthusiast [thanks Rob!].

Don't forget that the morning weekday train now leaves Shepparton five minutes earlier at 7am. Not so fast...

As always, we very much welcome your feedback using the comments link at the bottom of each post. Please tell us what you think of the new timetable, we would love to hear from you.

Warm Regards
Mary and Bev

2400 Voices Have Been Heard!

We are very happy to see that V/Line have announced their timetable changes, to start on September 30.

The 18:33 weekday Shepparton train will now run express between Broadmeadows and Seymour, reducing our travel time by about fifteen minutes.

We do feel that people power, in the form of more than 2400 petition signatures, has made a difference!

Our petition also asked that the departure time be changed back to 18:15 but that has not happened. Our train will still depart eighteen minutes later than before March 4 this year.

We would ideally like to see that departure time changed back but, in this, we feel that we are now representing the wider views of the Goulburn Valley community.

We would very much appreciate your feedback on this. Should we continue to campaign for the 18:15 departure?

A result of the change is that the Seymour commuter service that has departed at 18:33 for many years will now depart nine minutes later at 18:42. We would like to say that it was never our intention that any V/Line passengers should lose as a result of our win. Our request was that the Shepparton train be changed back to an 18:15 departure, leaving the Seymour service at 18:33.

[This text in brackets was added by Mary on September 5 at 9:30pm.
To help clarify why we are also asking Albury line travellers for their comments, I have attached a link to our Letter to the Premier giving more details about how the changes for Seymour, Shepparton and Albury line patrons are linked.
We welcome feedback from anyone who uses these train services.]

Please let us know what you think by leaving your comments using the comments link at the bottom of this post!

With best wishes and sincere thanks to everyone who has supported us, from Mary and Bev

Details of the timetable changes, including extra weekend services, can be seen at www.vline.com.au

Second Train Petition tabled in Parliament

Our second train petition presentation on Tuesday 17 July at Parliament House was a proud moment and a true milestone in our campaign to restore the 6:15pm Shepparton weekday service running express between Broadmeadows and Seymour.

All made the special effort to attend despite the freezing and stormy weather - Mr Terry Mulder, Hon Wendy Lovell, Mrs Jeanette Powell and Dr Bill Sykes. We truly appreciated their words of support and their ongoing support for our cause.

The petition was tabled in Parliament by Mr Mulder on Thursday 19 July with an official count of 1319 signatures.

Surely the Premier and Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky can no longer ignore the strident protests of over 2300 of their voting and taxpaying public, demanding that this wrong imposed on country people be righted.

Click here to view the second tabled petition from 19 July.

Click here to view the first tabled petition from 19 April.

With sincere thanks from Mary and Bev to every single person who signed the petition and especially to those who helped to gather signatures

lodge your protest for the cost of a stamp

You can send your personal protest about the second rate Shepparton evening service to the Premier, the Public Transport Minister or V/Line for the cost of a stamp! Or print out three copies and send one to each! Simply click on the Train Protest Form.

Bring Back the Goulburn Valley Express!

We have reached the end of our second signature run for the petition to restore the 6:15pm Shepparton express train. We have garnered over 1200 signatures and will shortly be presenting them to Mr Terry Mulder, Shadow Public Transport Minister, to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly. [the date is not set yet, we will keep you posted].
Added to our first run that is a total of over 2200 signatures!

We are now working to keep the pressure up by asking people to send their individual protests to the Premier, Public Transport Minister Kosky and/or the V/Line CEO.

We are handing out protest forms that say:

Bring Back the Goulburn Valley Express!

V/Line began to slow down our weekday evening service on September 3rd 2006 and then delivered the final blow on March 4th 2007 by adding even more stops and changing the departure time to 6:33pm.

The people of the Goulburn Valley and North Eastern Victoria are not second-class citizens and we will not accept the slowing of our services while other lines have fast trains that cost many millions of dollars. This train is a lifeline for many residents of rural and regional communities.

Please tell the Government and V/Line that they must be held accountable by filling in this form and mailing it to them.

As a voter, taxpayer and V/Line customer, I demand that you restore the 6:15pm Shepparton train, running express between Broadmeadows and Seymour.

We will be distributing the protest forms far and wide over the next few weeks.
You can print out the form from the right side - Train Protest Form

People Power Can Make A Difference!

Kind Regards

Mary and Bev

Deadline extended for second run of Petition Signatures

We have been asked by some supporters to extend the deadline for our second run of signatures as they are still collecting them.

We have had an incredible response with 1089 so far. Added to our first set of 1054 that makes 2143. Surely Minister Kosky and V/Line cannot ignore these numbers.

The new deadline to mail signed forms back to Mary is Thursday June 21.

Many Thanks from Mary and Bev