The Warrnambool train line will grind to a halt in the lead-up to Christmas and during the school holidays after staff voted for industrial action against V/Line.
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Over 98 per cent of V/Line operation staff have moved to take industrial action from December 11 in a bid to secure a six per cent annual pay rise over three years.
The state government-owned rail operator has put a two per cent wage increase on the table.
No train services will run on the Warrnambool and Geelong lines all day on Thursday, December 19.
The Standard contacted V/Line asking whether there would be replacement coaches on the line on that day.
V/Line CEO James Pinder said "we will be doing everything we possibly can to minimise the impact of protected industrial action, to help ensure our passengers can continue to get where they need to go during the festive season."
"This protected industrial action by the RTBU is extremely disappointing, and will cause significant disruption to our passengers in the lead up to Christmas," Mr Pinder said.
"There are two meetings scheduled this week with our workers' representatives about the new V/Line operations workplace agreement and we will continue to negotiate in good faith.
"We will ensure passengers are given as much notice as possible of any service changes through the various communication channels, including the V/Line website, app and social media."
Victorian Rail Tram Bus Union (RTBU) secretary Luba Grigorovitch said the majority vote against V/Line was indicative of the temperature among frustrated members.
"V/Line's attacks on staff have not been well received and members are ready to stand up," she said.
"Our members take great pride in their work, getting people from A to B, but when government and the company team up to attack their ability to deliver that service they take it very personally.
"We don't make the decision to take industrial action lightly."
Ms Grigorovitch said the government expected "V/Line workers to do more with less, more services less support, and our members just won't stand for it".
"The RTBU has been running a longstanding campaign for additional funding for regional services but is has become brutally clear that the Minister for Public Transport isn't interested in regional services," she said.
"The RTBU is always ready to negotiate when V/Line and the government are ready to take these talks seriously."
Staff have been in discussions with V/Line about the enterprise bargaining agreement since it expired in June this year.
Conductors, customer service employees, train drivers, train controllers, shunters and authorised officers are all covered by the agreement.
Information received from V/Line stated official negotiations about the agreement started on 10 July.
There has been 13 meetings held since then to negotiate the log of claims for both parties.
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