During this morning’s visit, Premier Daniel Andrews said the Warrnambool line was finally getting the investment it deserved with a $114 million upgrade after being “stuck”.
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Mr Andrews said work on the line was in its planning stage, and would begin sometime next year.
He said the work – which would eventually see VLocity trains running on the Warrnambool line for the first time – would take between 12 to 18 months, meaning the earliest it would finish would be in 2019.
The news about the VLocity carriages running on the Warrnambool line for the first time was met with applause, but Transport Minister Jacinta Allan previously confirmed that would be the case when the upgrade was first announced at the end of April.
The premier confirmed he travelled to Warrnambool on a plane, rather than taking the opportunity to catch the train or travel on south-west roads, which a recent auditor-general report found were some of the worst in the state.
“I took the opportunity in the budget to provide $103 million for south-west roads and I’m very proud of that – that’s creating jobs and creating better roads services,” he said.
“We know there are significant challenges.”
Aside from talking about the Warrnambool line upgrade, the premier announced the members of a community advisory committee for the stage two upgrade of Warrnambool Base Hospital, which will be led by Western Victoria MP James Purcell.
The state government provided $7.5 million in the May budget for the development of a master plan, feasibility study and tender documentation.
Mr Purcell will chair the committee, and its other members will be South West Healthcare acting CEO Craig Fraser, South West Healthcare board member Russell Worland, Peter’s Project chairman Peter Headen and Peter’s Project campaigner Vicki Jellie.
Mr Andrews reiterated that he did not have time to make it to Warrnambool Special Developmental School today.
“We are in full agreement with the parent community, with the school community, that improvements need to be made there,” he said.
“That’s why there’s $5 million provided in the budget and that’s why future stages of that development will be funded, it’s just a matter of the sequence and the time that it takes.
“They do a great job there and I’m disappointed in the schedule today I can’t manage to get there, but I look forward to being there at some point in the future.”
