New weekend services ready to depart

THE State Government has announced fifty new or extended weekend services on the Ballarat, Ararat, Warrnambool and Bendigo lines.

Premier Jacinta Allan joined Minister for Public and Active Transport Gabrielle Williams at Ballarat Station last Friday to announce the changes.

From Sunday 13 April there will be 33 extra services on the Ballarat line with trains running every 40 minutes on weekends between 8am and 9pm.

Most weekend bus services will also run every 40 minutes to connect passengers to trains.

“We can make this timetable change because not only have we committed to those extra services, we’ve done the track works, we’ve upgraded the stations and we’ve invested in the VLocity trains that are made right here in Victoria,” said Ms Allan.

“Having fairer fares, capping V/Line services the same as metropolitan Melbourne, has made a massive difference and it’s also increased the number of people travelling on the regional network which adds more need to add more train services to our timetable.”

Two return services will be added on the Ararat line including a 9.15pm Saturday service from Southern Cross.

The Bendigo line will have five new services including late-night trains from Southern Cross and five weekend services will be expanded from three carriages to six.

From Monday 14 April, four weekend services will be added on the Warrnambool line meaning there will be five daily return services.

The Warrnambool Line will now use VLocity trains on all weekend and weekday services.

These new services mean the State Government have provided 150 of the 200 extra weekend services promised at the 2022 election.

The last 50 are expected to be added in north-eastern and eastern Victoria.