The additional service commences on 13 October and will depart Shepparton at 5.15am and arrive at Southern Cross at 7.59am allowing people who have 9am appointments, meetings or work commitments a lot more time to reach their destinations.
The announcement follows several months of campaigning by Make Shepparton Greater to the State Government for better passenger rail services between Shepparton and Melbourne. A detailed Shepparton Passenger Rail Services Report presented findings from the survey which included more than 2,000 members of the community.
A copy of the report was given to all members of the State Government’s Shepparton Passenger Services Working Group. In the report 713 respondents indicated they would prefer a train to arrive in Melbourne before 9am.
The surveys were conducted over a five week period during March and April this year with key findings detailing people’s satisfaction with the current services, their usage patterns and what they would like to experience in a rail service.
Greater Shepparton City Council Mayor, Jenny Houlihan said the results of the survey sent a clear message to the government that the current passenger rail services were inadequate.
“With 55 per cent of survey participants rating the current three direct passenger rail services from Shepparton to Melbourne on weekdays as being very inadequate and a further 26 per cent rating them somewhat inadequate, it was obvious the government needed to do something to improve our accessibility to an adequate service,” said Cr Houlihan.
“Eighty five per cent of survey participants do not find the current timing of the direct passenger rail services to Melbourne convenient and 59 per cent of people drive to Seymour to catch a more frequent service,” she said.
“We still have some way to go to address all the issues people raised in the survey but this is one step towards a better passenger rail service for Shepparton,” said Cr Houlihan. “We still need the government to address the duration and frequency of rail services and the provision of more services on weekends, but this is a good result for the people of Shepparton.
For more information on the Make Shepparton Greater campaign visit makesheppartongreater.com.au
