{"id":177896,"date":"2026-08-15T14:51:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T04:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=177896"},"modified":"2026-08-15T14:51:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T04:51:47","slug":"who-is-ben-phyland-from-the-department-of-transport-and-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=177896","title":{"rendered":"Who is Ben Phyland from the Department of Transport and Planning?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ben Phyland <\/a>is currently Head of Rolling Stock and Ticketing at Victoria’s Department of Transport and Planning<\/a> (DTP), a role in which he oversees the state’s roughly $9 billion train, tram and ticketing delivery program covering procurement, delivery and upgrading of all passenger rolling stock on the Victorian rail network, plus the new Public Transport Ticketing System. His portfolio spans High Capacity Metro Trains, Next Generation Trams, X’Trapolis 2.0 trains, VLocity regional trains, a new Digital Train Radio System, and various maintenance facility upgrades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He holds a design qualification from RMIT University (a 1992\u20131995 Design (Hons) in Industrial Design), and has around 25 years in the rail industry. Earlier in his career he worked in various rolling-stock-related roles for the Victorian government including Executive Director Strategy and Commercial at the Rolling Stock Development Division of Transport for Victoria (2017\u20132019), and before that Head of Sales and Marketing at Bombardier Transportation (2015\u20132017) \u2014 he has previously led senior rolling-stock roles at Bombardier and was Head of Sales for Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bombardier\/VLocity connection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bombardier is one of the manufacturers of Victoria’s VLocity regional trains, a fleet that’s been continuously in production for V\/Line since 2003 and built at the Dandenong rolling stock factory, with 140 three-car sets completed as of April 2026. Bombardier’s rail division was acquired by Alstom, with the Zefiro high-speed platform later divested to Hitachi Rail as a condition of that acquisition \u2014 so today VLocity orders are effectively placed with Alstom rather than a standalone Bombardier , as seen in Victoria’s 2022-23 commitment to buy 12 more locally-built VLocity trains, and its earlier September 2020 exercise of an option for 18 more three-car VLocity units originally under Bombardier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“My passion is to create cutting-edge products and projects that enhance the safety, accessibility, performance and sustainability of the transport system, while also ensuring the highest standards of quality, reliability, and efficiency. I have extensive experience in working with different cultures and partners, in Australia, Asia and Europe, and I leverage my strong communication, collaboration, and negotiation skills to facilitate successful outcomes and long-term relationships. My mission is to drive transport systems development and integration as a key enabler of Victoria’s transport vision and goals.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bombardier held a 2018 framework agreement with V\/Line for VLocity trains, under which Victoria exercised options in September 2020 for 18 more three-car units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bombardier’s rail division was acquired by Alstom in 2021, so subsequent VLocity orders (12 more announced in the 2022-23 budget) were placed with Alstom, not Bombardier as a standalone entity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phyland moved from Bombardier (Head of Sales and Marketing, 2015\u20132017) into Victorian government rolling-stock roles from 2017 onward, rising to his current position overseeing the whole rolling-stock and ticketing portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unpopular decision to replace longer distance trains with short distance rolling stock has been a major source of complaint about the continuing poor management of the V\/Line<\/a> rail network. This has been especially relevant on the Warrnambool Railway Line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full coverage of the disasterous decisions to transition the line to short haul vlocity trains<\/a> is will covered on this website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who then in the DTP made the decision NOT to pursue a new longer distance V\/Line rolling stock design opting for a single supplier of what know is a 25+ year rolling stock design?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who then in the DTP made the decision NOT to pursue a new longer distance V\/Line rolling stock design opting for a single supplier of what know is a 25+ year rolling stock design?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":307724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,186,181],"tags":[20879,10999,8],"class_list":["post-177896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rail-news","category-v-line","category-vlocity","tag-ben-phyland","tag-department-of-transport-and-planning","tag-victoria"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t