Dispute the rumour mill tipping the government was set to axe the fourth service, a government spokeswoman said there had been an increase in patronage on the line and there were no plans to cut any service. 

“We’re delivering extra services and shorter journey times for Victorians in the south-west – and these services are here to stay,” she said.

“More and more Victorians are using the Warrnambool train service with 1600 more journeys in the 12 months to November 2018.”

The government said the Warrnambool line upgrade, as part of the Regional Rail Revival, will enable a fifth daily return service between Warrnambool and Melbourne.

It said Warrnambool line patronage continued to grow, with more than 147,000 passenger journeys in the 12 months to November 2018.

The addition of an extra Warrnambool service in 2017 followed extensive community consultation.

As part of the Regional Network Development Plan, V/Line introduced a new 9.05am weekday service from Warrnambool to Melbourne and the weekday 5.13pm from Melbourne to Warrnambool.

Around 69 per cent of RNDP survey participants in 2016 said they would most likely to travel on the 9.05am weekday service from Warrnambool and the 5.13pm from Melbourne.

To improve customer experience, V/Line and PTV changed the Warrnambool line timetable in 2017 to run all weekday Warrnambool trains express from Geelong to Footscray, reducing the journey time.

Major construction on the Warrnambool line upgrade is expected to start late this year and is targeted for completion in late 2020.

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