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The state government was contacted by The Standard following Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell's calls for free public transport during the April construction blitz.
It issued a statement, which repeated comments made by Public Transport Minister Melissa Horne on Tuesday regarding the Easter holiday works.
The statement made no reference to free public transport during the Warrnambool line works but said free travel on the Gippsland line was due to significant disruption to passengers.
Those disruptions were not outlined in the statement but the spokesman later confirmed that Gippsland passengers had endured more than 150 days of no trains in the past 18 months.
The Standard asked several times if the government would consider free travel but it did not respond to the questions.
The government's initial response provided background information, which outlined the $1.75 billion Regional Rail Revival program. But The Standard understood that the April upgrades were V/Line maintenance works and not part of the revival program.
The government later confirmed the works were not part of the revival program and Ms Britnell's claim that federal government cash was being spent was incorrect.
During the April construction blitz, more than 600 coaches and buses will be required to keep passengers moving.
A disruption management centre would be set up and real-time progress of services would be provided.
Earlier:
Calls for free public transport during the Warrnambool line works shut-down during April are being made by a south-west MP.
Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell said that after campaigning for upgrades to the rail line for the past three years, she was pleased to work was finally beginning, using the money allocated by the federal government.
She said while changes to services were understandable and unavoidable while the work was done, there needs to be some form of compensation for passengers.
“You can’t expect people to be paying the full price for a train service, when they are going to be on a bus, with limited access to toilets and no food service,” she said.
“Especially when people are being told to expect delays of 60 minutes.
“I think it’s only fair the government provide free travel for the shutdown period as a show of good faith.”
Mrs Britnell said free travel was not unprecedented, with Gippsland line passengers offered free V/Line travel for all of December last year following on from delays along their line.
“Warrnambool line passengers have been putting up with poor punctuality and reliability for years," she said.
"I think two weeks of free travel is a small token for those long term disruptions,” she said.
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