Ms Allan told state parliament on Tuesday that increased passengers numbers were slowing services on the Warrnambool line.

“Patronage on some Warrnambool trains increased in the past 12 months resulting in longer dwell times and delays,” Ms Allan said.

“Other factors that caused delays over this period included heat speed restrictions, trespassers on the tracks, track faults and train faults.”

Ms Allan said V/Line was looking into the causes of delays and examining improvements that could be made to lift the line’s punctuality performance.

Her comments came after South West Coast MP Roma Britnell last month called for an investigation into trains on the Warrnambool line having the state’s worst on-time record for six consecutive months.

In her question to the minister, Mrs Britnell also proposed Warrnambool services run express between Geelong and Melbourne. However, Ms Allan did not address the suggestion in her response in parliament.

Mrs Britnell said she was not happy with the response. 

“She has totally ignored and snubbed the questions,” she said. “We actually are taking longer to get to Melbourne in a day and age where technology is helping people do things faster – whether it be travel, whether it be technology – it’s actually taking the train longer to get to Melbourne than it did four years ago.”

On Wednesday the state government also announced the first of 100 new trains for the state were in service.

The new train carriages include 48 VLocity carriages to be used for regional services, however, the carriages are not able to be used on the Warrnambool line past Geelong.

Mrs Britnell said south-west Victoria was missing out.

“They’re making announcements about trains being brought to regional Victoria but we are getting the scraps off the table,” she said.

“We absolutely need new carriages. The facilities in the carriages are appalling. The toilets are unhygienic, there is nowhere to change babies’ nappies and the buffet car on the train my son travelled on last week was not even able to be accessed.

“This is not acceptable in the year 2016.”