Save the Gippsland Line

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.

1,311 SIGNATURES

1,200 signatures

Will you sign?

First Name

Last Name

Mobile phone

Send me email updates

Send me text message updates

Phone

Address (Street, City, State, Postal code)

Country

Comments (optional)

Don't publish this on the website

Like this to spread the word:

Showing 949 reactions

Jacqueline Walker signed via Kym Smith 2016-08-09 22:37:32 +1000

We travel up for appointments and often have to change to a bus thus disrupting the journey. This adds time and inconvenience to our trip. If we had to change at Pakenham too, it would become unmanageable. Please can we have a service that works for us??
Marianne Fontaine signed 2016-08-09 22:05:33 +1000

It seems so unfair why we in country Victoria have to be treated like we are living in a third world country. Wouldn’t it be an idea to promote satellite areas within a couple of hours of Melbourne for our growing population. Let’s boost public transport in Gippsland not make it even more slow and archaic than it already is!
Terrie Thomas posted about this on Facebook 2016-08-09 21:52:06 +1000
A Melbourne train should go to Melbourne, why does the Gippsland regional line get substandard service recommended?
Terrie Thomas signed 2016-08-09 21:51:30 +1000
Rosemary A Kearney signed 2016-08-09 21:43:28 +1000

Due to medical & phsycological issues l have problems travellung on metro trains so if my mod of transport ie regional train is taken away l have no choice of going to melbourne & beyond.
Julie Weller signed 2016-08-09 21:37:31 +1000
Tina Juratowitch-Prosser signed 2016-08-09 21:33:14 +1000
Lois Juratowitch signed 2016-08-09 21:30:03 +1000

Obviously the committee members have not travelled on country trains.

I cannot imagine waiting on the Pakenham station to catch the next train.

We have a great train service. Don’t ruin it. Much better to get the train rather than drive.
Don Woolnough signed 2016-08-09 21:04:58 +1000
Ben Slater signed via marion cartledge 2016-08-09 20:42:03 +1000

I did 2 years straight of travelling from Morwell – Flinders Street to get to my job at Brunswick, leaving Morwell @ 5:50AM and arriving at Flinders at 7:42AM. To add more time on this travel would be very tiring not to mention the often overcrowded metro services without the luxury of comfortable seating. The ultimate solution would be to replace the existing V/Line fleet with bullet trains and have a separate line for V/Line trains running through the CBD running express bypassing all the metro faults and flaws.
Margot Reeve signed via Shelly Nundra 2016-08-09 20:24:48 +1000
jackie mallen signed 2016-08-09 20:09:34 +1000
Nic Roberts posted about this on Facebook 2016-08-09 20:07:02 +1000
A Melbourne train should go to Melbourne, why does the Gippsland regional line get substandard service recommended?
Rohan Deed signed 2016-08-09 20:01:08 +1000
Julie Furneaux Willems signed 2016-08-09 19:48:46 +1000

I’m a commuter – regional living is being promoted with commuter access – please maintain & improve the Gippsland rail infrastructure.
Jessica Fry signed via Shelly Nundra 2016-08-09 19:47:20 +1000
Kristine Ekanayake signed via Shelly Nundra 2016-08-09 19:19:21 +1000
Leonie Williams posted about this on Facebook 2016-08-09 19:04:10 +1000
A Melbourne train should go to Melbourne, why does the Gippsland regional line get substandard service recommended?
@leonie_lw54 tweeted link to this page. 2016-08-09 19:04:07 +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=3896
Reply · Retweet · Favorite
Leonie Williams signed 2016-08-09 19:03:12 +1000

My Granddaughter travels on the Gippsland line, having to drive to Traralgon from Sale, four days a week to study, most days needing to leave home by 4:30am and not getting back some days until 8:00-9:00pm. She doesn’t need her trip to be made longer by having to change trains or a change in timetable. Gippsland deserves their rail service to be as good as all other country lines!
Shell Abery signed 2016-08-09 18:53:51 +1000

I lived in Moe most of my life

It is a fantastic place

People visit there all the time by train don’t take that away from them
Bree Galbraith signed 2016-08-09 18:01:54 +1000
Carmel Brotherton signed 2016-08-09 17:42:53 +1000

this is our line. We have always had it. Yet again the country people get short changed. Such long travel times do not need to be longer. Why can’t country people have a little luxury. The city folk get everything.
Kerryn Slater signed via Jan Langstaff 2016-08-09 17:42:08 +1000
Suzanne Pye signed via Robert Hoare 2016-08-09 17:37:32 +1000
Mick Bourke signed via Robert Hoare 2016-08-09 17:36:22 +1000
Greta Callec signed 2016-08-09 17:17:41 +1000

It would be most inconvenient not to have the train run from Bairnsdale to Melbourne infact I believe the train should be updated and at least one more train service per day. Another solution would be run the train between Bairnsdale and Traralgon and then change trains to Melbourne. All other regional centres are well serviced,maintained and updated.
luke blakeway signed 2016-08-09 17:15:25 +1000

Do not take the trains away
anne watts signed 2016-08-09 17:12:29 +1000
Robyn Quinn signed 2016-08-09 16:53:27 +1000

We Need These Trains. It Is Very Uncomfortable In The Coaches When You Need To Go To The Toilet When You Have Travel Sickness.