annual report 2008-2009 - V/Line

The 2008–09 year has seen the strengthening of
This is an excellent result considering that three of our
partnerships between V/Line, our staff and the many
five rail corridors were shut down by the 7 February ‘Black
regional communities we serve.
Throughout the year we met with 34 regional councils, a
range of government departments, MPs, business groups
and community organisations to better understand the
changing transport needs of country Victoria. We also
continued our successful on-train consultations to give
Saturday’ bushfires. Fires swept through the township
of Wandong, destroying the station’s platform, pit, 1200
sleepers and two rail bridges on the Seymour line. Fire also
burned more than 3000 sleepers on the Warrnambool line
near Camperdown; and although the Gippsland line was not
damaged, it closed for a day due to the proximity of fires.
Track works at Maryborough Station.
v
our customers direct access to senior management, and
we continued to work with hundreds of local suppliers and
service providers across the state to further spread the
economic benefits of our service.
More than $1 million worth of damage was caused to
V/Line infrastructure, and considering the scale of the
damage, the fact that Seymour and Warrnambool line
services were disrupted for just nine days was nothing
CEO's report
r V/Line CEO Rob Barnett and infrastructure worker Terry Pring at Maryborough Station.
These partnerships have not only helped us improve
our service dramatically in recent years and facilitated
unprecedented growth, but they have also paved the
way for us to continue to grow.
MEETING E THE CHALLENGE L E OF EXTREME E E WEATHER
E Perhaps the greatest test of our staff was the heat wave that
swept Victoria during January and February, with several
days above 40 degrees, power black-outs, heat-related train
speed restrictions and the devastating impact of bushfires.
A proactive, well-planned and coordinated response with
government agencies and other transport operators saw
nearly all V/Line services run. All but 41 out of 11,834
scheduled services over those two months either ran
normally or were replaced with road coaches. Of this 20 of
those couldn’t be replaced as road access was cut off during
the peak of the bushfires.
short of remarkable. Without our dedicated, in-house
infrastructure team (which has only been part of V/Line for
the past two years), it is highly unlikely that such a quick
recovery would have been possible. I am extremely proud
of the response not only of our infrastructure workers, but
also our operations team who were constantly in touch with
emergency services to safely plan road coaches.
EXPANDING N OUR SERVICES
E S
Customer confidence is demonstrated not only in our high
satisfaction rating of 78.4, but in our record patronage –
the ultimate guide to how we’re performing as an operator.
Such massive support for regional train services has
encouraged further state government investment in
infrastructure, including the opening of Ballarat’s second
railway station at Wendouree during the year. In December,
the government also made an unprecedented commitment
to public transport in its Victorian Transport Plan, which
V/LINE ANNUAL N A REPORT R 2008-2009
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