Save the Gippsland Line

gippsland-line-2.jpg

 

Dear Daniel Andrews,

We the citizens and people of Gippsland do not agree with the recommendation that regional train services be terminated at Pakenham and our vulnerable, disabled and elderly be forced to change trains on their journey to Melbourne. Many of these people are the disadvantaged of our community, often seeking medical assistance & appointments in metropolitan medical centres that are not available in our region.

This change would also affect the bike tourists and young families who would also have difficulty with young children, prams and bikes changing trains to and from crowded metropolitan rail. The Gippsland area is being promoted as a great tourist region with economic benefits and as a way of overcoming the demise of the coal and timber mill industry and continual rail service is a must for this to succeed.

Other frequent users of the system are our people who work in the metropolitan centres and choose to live in the regional and rural areas here for the lifestyle and community opportunities that we have. The current system is unreliable and often runs late, this additional transfer and changeover time will add to the already overly long trip and decrease the reliability of the transport system to them, not to mention the additional time needed to be added to the start of the trip, getting up earlier, the changes in timetables that will be required etc.

We understand that the cost of upgrading the metropolitan system is a burden, but can Gippsland at least have the same standard as the other Victorian regions, that our Melbourne trains actually go to Melbourne, as they now do.

The Federal Minister for Infrastructure who is a resident here has promised his support in working with the state government to help sort the congestion problem.

We ask that you do not accept this part of the report from the citizens jury on face value and seek further consultation with the impacted communities and federal counterparts as you work towards an upgrading of the lines to at least the standard that the other Victorian Regions rail systems already have.

 

1,310 SIGNATURES
1,200 signatures

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Showing 948 reactions

  • Candice Coulston
    signed 2016-08-06 22:18:19 +1000
  • Lisa Hender
    signed 2016-08-06 22:10:37 +1000
  • Peter Leed
    signed 2016-08-06 21:54:03 +1000
    You’ve gotta be kidding me? Stuff up the trains more than they already are? Hell, if there was actually a better faster train from Bairnsdale to Melbourne that’d be great thanks!
  • Kim Louise
    posted about this on Facebook 2016-08-06 21:47:27 +1000
    A Melbourne train should go to Melbourne, why does the Gippsland regional line get substandard service recommended?
  • Kim Louise
    @KLBMusic1 tweeted link to this page. 2016-08-06 21:47:23 +1000
    A Melbourne train should go to Melbourne, why does the Gippsland regional line get substandard service recommended? http://www.votv.org.au/gippsland_line?recruiter_id=1828
  • Stella and David Aubrey
    signed 2016-08-06 21:42:33 +1000
    Please do not stop the trains at Pakenham, the train travellers of Gippsland want respect given to them and allow them to travel through to Flinders Street and Southern Cross. We do not want to have to change onto other trains to complete our travel
  • Barb Derham
    posted about this on Facebook 2016-08-06 21:39:53 +1000
    A Melbourne train should go to Melbourne, why does the Gippsland regional line get substandard service recommended?
  • Robert Scott
    signed 2016-08-06 21:39:26 +1000
    Is this what we can expect from a State labour government

    who is supposed to be on the side of people not big business.

    Don’t take our train to Melbourne away you bastards.
  • Barb Derham
    signed 2016-08-06 21:38:27 +1000
  • Deon Deszcz
    signed 2016-08-06 21:35:44 +1000
  • Mary Raudam
    signed 2016-08-06 21:31:06 +1000
    I have lived in Gippsland all my life and have seen railways torn up some reinstated.

    travelling for 2-3 or more hours on roads to get to city services then dealing with city traffic is harrowing to say the least.

    I spent my childhood in east Gippsland, trains were life savers specialist appts in the city etc were all the hope we had
  • Wendy Whittaker`
    signed via 2016-08-06 21:25:51 +1000
    I already spend 4 hours a day, 5 days a week travelling from Drouin to the city to my employment – this totals about 12 hours a day, all up. If it is going to take even longer, I & many others will have to leave our jobs & that will be many current taxpayers joining the unemployment queue as there are no jobs available in Gippsland.
  • Emma Inglis
    signed 2016-08-06 21:09:12 +1000
    It’s bad enough we’ve encountered multiple entitled dickheads jumping on V/Line services at their whim at nearly every metropolitan stop. I don’t wish to suffer entire trainloads of them!
  • Nicole Moon
    signed 2016-08-06 21:04:28 +1000
  • Katrina Lay
    posted about this on Facebook 2016-08-06 21:04:14 +1000
    A Melbourne train should go to Melbourne, why does the Gippsland regional line get substandard service recommended?
  • Katrina Lay
    signed 2016-08-06 21:02:38 +1000
    We really do need the train service a lot of people depend upon it don’t leave us stranded.
  • Bruce Mongan
    signed 2016-08-06 21:01:09 +1000
    Hands of the Gippsland line what if we were to take your power and gas supplies
  • Sharon Schofield
    signed 2016-08-06 20:57:36 +1000
    There aren’t enough regional services or service providers without disadvantage get us further
  • David Ham
    signed 2016-08-06 20:55:14 +1000
  • Doris Walker
    signed 2016-08-06 20:52:47 +1000
  • David Rushton
    signed 2016-08-06 20:46:22 +1000
  • Kishor Manani
    signed 2016-08-06 20:40:49 +1000
    This is not “a revenue saving” exercise,is it? This is an essential service for many folks reliant on an effective service to Melbourne
  • Jo-Anne Parker
    signed 2016-08-06 20:28:02 +1000
  • Sue Harmer Paxton
    posted about this on Facebook 2016-08-06 20:26:33 +1000
    A Melbourne train should go to Melbourne, why does the Gippsland regional line get substandard service recommended?
  • Susan Harmer
    signed 2016-08-06 20:25:42 +1000
    We need this service buses are not for everyone over this distance. Or easily used by people with disabilities.
  • Darren McCrorey
    signed 2016-08-06 20:24:45 +1000
    Do not close down public transport
  • Greg Thomas
    posted about this on Facebook 2016-08-06 20:23:15 +1000
    A Melbourne train should go to Melbourne, why does the Gippsland regional line get substandard service recommended?
  • Greg Thomas
    signed 2016-08-06 20:22:55 +1000
    Mr Andrews, one of your key policies is to provide good public transport , this isn’t a good policy and should be rejected.
  • Tierney Evans
    signed 2016-08-06 20:17:31 +1000
  • Glenn Rodda
    posted about this on Facebook 2016-08-06 20:04:06 +1000
    A Melbourne train should go to Melbourne, why does the Gippsland regional line get substandard service recommended?