Back in the year that the Bairnsdale train last met its punctuality target, Matt Priddis of the West Coast Eagles won the Brownlow and Protectionist, ridden by Ryan Moore, won the Melbourne Cup.
In Parliament last week Gippsland East Nationals MP Tim Bull said that it was shameful that the Bairnsdale train hasn’t met punctuality benchmarks since at least August 2014.
“I often have the pleasure of visiting Kindergartens and Early Learning Centres where I get to meet bright eyed, inquisitive children learning about the world around them,” Mr Bull said.
“But it’s staggering when looking into the faces of these five year old’s to realise that the Bairnsdale rail line hasn’t met its punctuality target since most of them were born.
“City centric transport bureaucrats might dismiss this as just a minor inconvenience, but I can assure them it is not.
“Unreliable and late train services make it harder for the people of East Gippsland get to medical appointments, to connect with other transport links and see family and friends.
“The people of East Gippsland deserve reliable, timely and comfortable services which connect them to the city but many have had to adopt the expensive contingency of travelling the day before and incurring overnight accommodation costs.
“The Andrews Labor Government has invested just four per cent of the capital funding for public transport in this year’s State Budget into regional Victoria and has slashed $149 million from V/Line’s recurrent spending.”
Caption: Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, at the Bairnsdale Station where the trains have not met punctuality benchmarks since at least August 2014.
