There has been a lot of media and talk about the Victorian Government\u2019s announcement of a \u2018big switch\u2019 – the launch of new train services. Shepparton isn\u2019t a part of this announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few facts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stage three of the Shepparton rail upgrade was the plan to get us from 4 to 9 return services between Shepparton and Melbourne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
State governments deliver these types of infrastructure projects , but they could not fund stage 3 alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2021 the then Coalition Federal Government announced 80% of the funding requirement – $320 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Victorian Government started work and announced that the project would be targeted for 2023 completion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They then said it would be completed late 2023\u201324 financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They then said it would be by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It still hasn\u2019t been finalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Federal Coalition, driven by the Nationals, got the money. It was before I was in parliament but I saw what could be achieved when Governments are focussed on regional Australia. That is why I ran for parliament in the first place.It is disappointing that the Victorian Government is not great at delivering projects on time and on budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sam Birrell MP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Victorian Government started work and announced that the project would be targeted for 2023 completion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":366294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"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":[993,19539,13133,8],"class_list":["post-366293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rail-news","category-v-line","tag-melbourne","tag-sam-birrell-mp","tag-shepparton","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