The Allan Labor Government has been called on to explain why regional Victorians have once again been left stranded, frustrated and forgotten after this morning’s total shutdown of the V/Line network.
Leader of The Nationals Danny O’Brien said the chaos was further proof that regional communities were treated as an afterthought by the Allan Labor Government.
Every regional train line, including Bendigo, Seymour, Gippsland, Geelong and Ballarat, was suspended this morning, leaving commuters stuck at stations with no trains and only a handful of replacement coaches able to run.
Passengers heading to work, job interviews and family commitments were forced to either wait indefinitely or find their own way to Melbourne.
While today’s disruption was triggered by a nationwide Telstra outage, it exposed the fragility of a regional rail network that Labor has neglected.
Mr O’Brien called on Labor to explain why there are no contingency measures in place to prevent regional Victoria being cut off entirely when infrastructure fails.
“It beggars belief that our entire regional train network can be shut down because of a mobile outage. Where is the back up plan? Why doesn’t the government have contingencies in place for these sorts of outages?
“Regional Victorians deserve better than being an afterthought. They deserve a government, and a rail network, that actually turns up.
“Today it was a Telstra outage, next month it will be something else again. Regional Victorians have simply lost confidence that they can rely on this network to get them to work, to school or to hospital.
“This is exactly why The Nationals and Liberals are committed to a Fair Share Guarantee, locking in at least 25 per cent of the state’s infrastructure spending for regional Victoria. Country Victorians pay their taxes just like everyone else, and they deserve transport infrastructure that is reliable, resilient and properly funded, not whatever is left over once Melbourne’s bloated and corrupt projects are paid for.
