David Davis rode the train twice in two days and stopped to talk about his party’s promise to spend $633 million on updated VLocity train carriages if elected.

However, a major train fault that left Warrnambool line passengers stranded at Birregurra yesterday loomed large during Mr Davis’ visit.

Close to 60 passengers had to be helped off the broken down train by an SES crew and walk along the tracks to the nearest station.

He said it was clear the service on the line was not up to scratch and the performance of the line was among the worst in the state.

“The reliability is not up to scratch, the punctuality is not up to scratch,” he said.

Mr Davis said upgrading carriages was the first part of a plan to improve regional rail services

“We’re about to make other announcements,” he said.

Mr Davis hit back at a state government claim the federal Coalition government was holding up a $114 million Warrnambool line project, saying there was nothing stopping the state government starting the work right away.