More seats in new timetable

ERIN PEARSON
A NEW timetable will add 664 seats to peak-hour trains between Geelong and Melbourne next month, according to Transport Minister Terry Mulder.
Mr Mulder said train operators V/Line and Metro were “wiping the timetable clean” to improve the integration of their services.
V/Line said morning peak-hour trains would arrive in Melbourne every 11 minutes and depart for Geelong every 13 minutes between 4pm and 6pm from May 8.
An extra six-carriage VLocity train would depart Marshall at 7.08am to arrive at Southern Cross Station by 8.22am.
An extra afternoon service using a four-carriage N-Set train would leave Melbourne at 4.47pm and arrive at Geelong by 5.53pm.
V/Line regional manager Peter Gibson said the changes would help “spread passenger loads”.
“In the past trains have been squeezed into busy timetables, which gave us extra seats but created punctuality problems,” Mr Gibson said.
“The new timetable will be continually monitored for its punctuality and seating levels so we can keep improving as more and more Geelong people leave their cars for trains into Melbourne.”
Public Transport Users Association Geelong branch convenor Paul Westcott critisised the new timetable for failing to increase off-peak services.
“The previous Labor government had a policy to introduce 20-minute off-peak services because at the moment they’re only hourly. New VLocity carriages are produced every month, so this is possible but the current government hasn’t picked it up.”