Albury Vlocity?

[Roderick Smith]

October 18 2017 ‘Redesign is under way’ on faster VLocity trains for the North East
MODERN TRAIN: The VLocity trains promised for the North East can travel up to 160km/h – 30km/h faster than existing trains – if the track allows.
The Victorian government is remaining tight-lipped on the future of faster, modern-styled VLocity trains in the North East.
A redesign of the carriages to allow them to run on the line was announced in the 2016-17 budget and the Border Rail Action Group has started putting on the pressure, hoping they can provide temporary relief to frustrated passengers until new rolling stock arrives.
The Border Mail asked the office of Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan multiple times over the past week for an update on the VLocity carriages and received a response late on Tuesday saying “the design process for the redesign is currently under way”.
BRAG chairman Bill Traill said the modern trains could serve as a shuttle between Albury-Wodonga and Melbourne and only needed the bogies to be changed to a standard gauge system to run on the line.
He wanted to see a timeframe announced by the government.
“We’ve maintained that’s a really cheap option that they really haven’t opened their minds to,” he said.
“There’s no commitment while there’s no money on the table … It remains in our minds a possibility of a six-year wait for anything (new rolling stock running on the line).”
Ms Allan met with the federal Infrastructure Department last week to discuss the upgrades to the North East line, with the $100 million allocated in the federal budget, but they did not have details yet of what that would entail.
“We fought hard for the money owed to Victoria by the Turnbull government and we are currently working with them on the most effective way to spend the $100 million allocated for the North East line under the $1.6 billion regional rail revival package,” she said.
http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/4996 ... north-east

[burrumbus]

They would need to spend a lot of money on the track to get it to the point where they could use the velocity trains,Roderick.
The train service to Albury is very simply a joke with a complete lack of reliabilty due to the track condition,the age and reliabilty of the existing rolling stock and the lack of a spare train set to cover for breakdowns and other issues.
The train is replaced by coaches on a very regular basis.One paticular bus operator has coaches based in Wodonga for the regular call from V/Line to replace the train.It is a major political issue here with seemingly no one willing to solve it,and much political buckpassing between The Feds,The Victorian government and the Track Corporation.
I think Jacinta Allan's response is SPIN.

[Campbelltown busboy]

Doesn’t the XPT use the same line as the V/Line Albury line trains between Southern Cross and Albury if it does then we know one of the reason behind why the Sydney bound XPT is sometimes being delayed

[Heihachi_73]

H220 has been plinthed for half a century because the tracks "didn't allow" even back then, nothing to see here. We've been screwed by our 19th century British railway heritage for far too long.

[Mitch]

The only redesign I can see for the V/L160 units is the possible requirement for a catering unit. The Vlocity units were built with a gauge change in mind, so that can’t be that hard to do. Albeit this is V/line we’re taking about.

The ARTC and the state government have been arguing about the corridor for as long as I can remember. I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Thanks,
Mitch