{"id":262629,"date":"2025-08-06T14:12:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T04:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=262629"},"modified":"2026-02-10T12:11:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T02:11:55","slug":"a-step-backwards-new-trains-derail-south-west-schools-annual-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=262629","title":{"rendered":"‘A step backwards’: new trains derail south-west school’s annual trip"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Warrnambool’s new VLocity train services have been labelled “a step backwards” by a south-west MP after Brauer College was forced to send its year nine students on two separate trains for its annual excursion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

V\/line<\/a> deliberately removed the N set based rolling stock off the route a train setup to handle the longer distance journey to cities like Warrnambool. V\/Line did this knowing they would only ever be allowed to run 3 car sets a reduction in 2 cars as the N sets were 5 carriage trains. Overall this has meant a lot less seating capacity is available between Geelong and Warrnambool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

V\/Line was either aware or ought to have been aware this would cause a considerable downgrade in service to passengers and the region. In relation to the change Jacinta Ermacora MP Labor Member for Western Victoria promoted the Vlocity train replacement<\/a> thereby advocating for the reduced service. To be fair Roma Britnell MP (Member for South West Coast) also advocated for the change to a Vlocity <\/a>based train now a substandard service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vlocity Trains are not and will never be a suitable platform<\/a> for longer distance journeys. Sadly service quality to both Bairnsdale and Warrnambool have both suffered from these poor decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Warrnambool Line is now serviced only by short haul rolling stock, with no train catering or comfortable seats for what is almost a 4 hour journey each way. Customer satisfaction is not a measured KPI at V\/Line as a customer service organisation. I would guess this means the CEO and the Executive Team are not measured on how customers are treated or serviced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work that one out I dare you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Warrnambool’s new VLocity train services have been labelled “a step backwards” by a south-west MP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":148403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,186],"tags":[993,14246,8,9949,12964],"class_list":["post-262629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rail-news","category-v-line","tag-melbourne","tag-roma-britnell","tag-victoria","tag-warrnambool","tag-warrnambool-line"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=262629"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263278,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262629\/revisions\/263278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/148403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=262629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=262629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=262629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}