The Andrews Labor Government has walked away from its promise to deliver additional train services to Shepparton.
Before the 2018 election the Andrews Labor Government promised the Shepparton community nine return train services a day by mid-2021.
But under questioning by The Nationals at Public Accounts and Estimates hearings on the State Budget on Thursday, Public Transport Minister Ben Carroll was forced to admit the Government has broken its promise.
Despite the June 2021 deadline, Labor still fails to deliver the extra services for Shepparton.
The Minister bizarrely claimed he could only give a “ballpark answer”, attempting to duck for cover by shifting blame to Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan for failing to deliver upgrades under the Regional Rail Revival.
It comes as the Labor Government goes to extremes to plug multi-billion-dollar cost blowouts in Melbourne to fix its poorly-managed major infrastructure pipeline.
Quotes attributable to Shadow Minister for Regional Public Transport, Steph Ryan:
“Once again, Shepparton commuters have been let down by the Andrews Labor Government’s all headline and no deadline approach.
“Billions of dollars of cost over-runs and timeline blowouts in Melbourne, yet they can’t deliver these services for the Shepparton community.
“For the past three years, improvements to the Shepparton line have been put on the government’s backburner.
“These services should have been on track and ready to go by now, but instead, Labor introduced a new timetable that saw 29 V/Line services on the Shepparton line slowed down.
“Labor was willing to say anything before the last election to help Suzanna Sheed get elected, but now they don’t need her vote they’ve walked away from their promise.”
