Regional Fast Rail

On 5 September 2000, the State Government announced its commitment to improving Victoria's regional rail network and the Regional Fast Rail project began. The project involved the biggest upgrade of the Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong and Latrobe Valley lines (Victoria's main regional lines).

Track and signalling works were completed and trains returned to service between Dec 2005 and Aug 2006:

• Ballarat line - 22 Dec 2005
• Geelong line - 31 Jan 2006
• Bendigo line - 22 Feb 2006
• Latrobe Valley line - 25 Aug 2006.

Works included:

• delivery of 38 new award-winning VLocity trains. The new trains are now travelling at speeds up to 160km/h, 30 km/h faster than existing trains. The contract was one of the largest rail car contracts in Victoria's history, creating around 1,000 new jobs - 160 in the factory and hundreds more in supply industries across the State.
• upgrade of 500 km of track
• installation of 400 new and upgraded railway signals
• installation of more than 460,000 concrete sleepers
• upgrade of 170 level crossings
• introduction of new rail safety systems
• new fibre optic signalling that provides broadband opportunities in regional areas

The Regional Fast Rail project also paved the way for a new V/Line timetable across the Victorian regional rail network, with 401 more services a week for major regional centres, including 287 weekday services and 114 weekend services, new flagship services and 'shoulder peak' services, hourly off-peak services, late trains, and increased seating capacity.

VLocity train

A new timetable was introduced on the Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong lines on 3 Sept 2006 and the Latrobe Valley line on 15 October 2006. The timetable drew on extensive community and customer research and feedback between 2003 and 2006.