Waking up in Geelong

Patronage on V/Line rail services has surged in the past decade, with the delivery of new VLocity trains struggling to keep up. So what options does V/Line have other than ‘keep buying more trains’? Let us take a look via the magic of photoshop.

Longer trains

Currently the longest trains run by V/Line are six car VLocity train, at around 150 metres. Until 2015 V/Line used to run 7 car trains on the Geelong line: something impossible to do today given that VLocity trains only come in 3 car sets.

Add an extra three car set to that consist, and you get a nine car long train stretching 225 metres from end to end.

As part of the Regional Rail Link project 250 metre long platforms were provided at Footscray, Tarneit and Wyndham Vale stations so running such a long train is possible today – the ‘VL9’ marks on each platform indicate the stopping mark for these hypothetical trains.

More carriages per train

When originally delivered each VLocity train consisted of two carriages seating a total of 140 passengers, with a drivers cab at each end. Coupling multiple small trains together is inefficient, so in V/Line ordered their first three-car long VLocity set, which entered service from August 2008.

These new sets consisted of the same driving carriages found in the existing 2-car long sets, but with an extra motorised carriage placed between them. Lacking a toilet or drivers cab, these new carriages increased the total passenger capacity to 216 seats – each pair of 3-car sets having 12 extra seats compared to a six carriage train made up of three 2-car long sets.

Add an extra carriage to each three car VLocity set, and you get similar benefits – an eight car train made up of two 4-car sets will only have four cabs and four toilets taking up valuable passenger pace, compared to the six cabs and six toilets found on a nine car train made up of three 3-car sets.

Smarter carriage layouts

If you have ever stood at Southern Cross Station of a morning and watched a VLocity train empty out, you might have noticed how bloody long it takes until the last passenger exits.

The reason: each carriage only has two narrow doors, located at the end of the passenger saloon.

This layout made sense for the original purpose of the VLocity train – express runs to country areas – but are woefully inadequate for their new use ferrying commuters from Melbourne’s outer suburbs to the CBD.

One possible solution – replace each opening with a set of double doors, increasing the amount of standing room inside the saloon, and making a wider opening for passenger to enter and leave the train at stations.

So what is V/Line actually doing?

Strangely enough, V/Line has actually known about the problem for some time – their ‘Initial Strategic Operations Plan’ dated November 2011 has the details, obtained by the Greens under the Freedom of Information Act.

For the Geelong line:

From 2018

V/Line anticipates that by this point in time a high capacity style DMU will be required for Geelong services. It is expected that these trains would operate in 8- or 9-car consists and would each be able to carry 750 – 800 customers. It is expected that the eight peak hour services would be operated with the high capacity DMUs.

And the Ballarat line:

From 2018 (assuming Melton duplication but no electrification)

High capacity DMUs would be required to operate from Bacchus Marsh to cater for the forecast patronage from Melton. These could be added to those expected to be procured for operation on the Geelong corridor. Any units purchased for use on Melton services would not be wasted after electrification because of the need to eventually retire H sets and Sprinters. High capacity DMUs would be suitable replacements for those vehicles

V/Line GM of network engineering Jim Hunter delivered a presentation to the Monash IRT in September 2016, raising the same issues with the VLocity fleet:

Classic fleet performance
• The Classic fleet performance in relation to acceleration and braking plus mean distance between failures is preventing the full potential of the Vlocity fleet being utilised.

VLocity patronage capacity
• The VLocity fleet cannot meet the projected growth in patronage required without full body redesign from the bogie up.

As well as the change in traffic pattern to ‘outer suburban’:

Southern Cross is by far our busiest station, with four out of five journeys starting or ending at Southern Cross.
• Tarneit recorded the second highest number of trips with 76,082.
• On the Ballarat line, there were 63,601 trips at Melton and 50,668 at Ballarat.

But it took until 2016 for the State Government to announce funding to plan for such a ‘high capacity next generation regional train’ – from the PTV website:

High capacity next generation regional trains

The 2016-17 State Budget includes $10 million in development funding for High-Capacity Next Generation Regional Rolling Stock to cater for the future needs of regional Victoria.

A next generation high capacity regional train will be commissioned in the coming years to cater for strong patronage growth and provide new peak services.

With only development money allocated so far and more VLocity trains coming off the production line based on a 15 year old design, V/Line passengers will be stuck on overcrowded trains for some time to come.

A door related footnote

Another worthwhile addition to a redesigned VLocity train would be a separate crew door to the cab – with the present configuration passengers standing in the front doorway block the driver’s door and prevent them from existing the train in an emergency. From 2010 V/Line rolled out illuminated warning signs behind each cab door, but do you think any passenger has ever noticed it?

And platform lengths

The current Victorian Rail Industry Operators Group Standards mandate 160 metre long platforms at suburban stations, and 180 metre long platforms at regional stations. The Regional Rail link project provided 250 metre long platforms at Footscray, Tarneit and Wyndham Vale stations, but only a 190 metre long platform at Sunshine.

Why? There is plenty of space at the city end, so I have no idea!

October 2017 update

V/Line says nine car trains are possible, but won’t be happening any time soon – from the Geelong Advertiser.

Nine-carriage V/Line trains possible, but no plans for Geelong line yet
23 October 2017

The boss of the regional rail network has admitted for the first time nine-carriage trains on the Geelong line are a possibility.

Potential for a mega-train carrying more than 660 passengers comes after calls from commuters and rail experts to reduce peak-time overcrowding on the line.

But while James Pinder said a nine-carriage train was possible, he said it was not a current priority.

Mr Pinder said V/Line’s priority was bolstering its fleet from three to six-carriage trains.

“The (VLocity) train is capable of running in a nine-car configuration. (To run nine-carriage trains) it becomes an issue around infrastructure and number of vehicles (available),” he said.

“We don’t currently have any plans to run nine-car ser­vices. To run large numbers of nine-car services we would have to have a look at (increasing) platform lengths.”

On Monday, a spokeswoman for the Public Transport Minister did not say if the Government was considering introducing nine-carriage trains on the regional network.

The Geelong Advertiser under­stands platforms at Geelong station are long enough for nine-carriage trains — which could open the possibility for Geelong to Melbourne express trains.

Platforms at other smaller stations on the line would need to be extended for a stopping-all-stations Waurn Ponds to Southern Cross train.

Mr Pinder said nine-­carriage trains did not run across the V/Line network at present.

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