Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan and Holt MP Anthony Byrne inspect a new train at the Bombardier plant in Dandenong.THE first of three new VLocity trains by Bombardier in Dandenong has been completed as part of the State Government’s $236 million regional train order.
Premier John Brumby inspected the train at the Frankston-Dandenong Road plant, which was an addition to the 102 extra carriages built at Bombardier and already in service on the regional rail network
“Our Government is determined to support families living and working in regional and rural Victoria and we understand how important high quality transport connections are to their liveability and prosperity,” Mr Brumby said.
“We also understand that nothing is more important to Victorian families than job security and that’s why we are investing in job-securing prospects like new trains for our regional network.”
Industry Minister Jacinta Allan said the VLocity fleet order was great for creating job security.
“The investment being made by our Government are providing Bombardier employees which job security and importantly delivering securing for hundreds of people in Bombardier’s local supply chain, which includes more than 90 Victoria businesses, about 72 of which are in Melbourne’s south east.”
Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan said the construction of the trains benefits residents in Melbourne’s south east.
“Not only does the construction of these great VLocity trains mean more services for regional Victoria it also means more jobs here in the south east of Melbourne, strengthening the local economy,” he said.
Mr Donnellan said that the Government has ordered 134 VLocity carriages for the regional rail network, with all carriages expected to be rolled out by October 2011.
This number of carriages would add an extra 9760 train seats available on the rail network, almost doubling the total number of seats on the network in 1999.
