Community
28 August, 2026
Mayor welcomes longer trains
LAST week’s announce-ment that six-carriage trains will soon operate on the Warrnambool line has been welcomed by mayor Cr Ben Blain.
The longer trains are expected to begin taking passengers on select Friday and weekend services later this year.
“This is great news for Warrnambool and a common sense solution to the discomfort of crowded trains, which often meant people were standing for hours,” Warrnambool mayor Cr Ben Blain said.
“Council, along with local media and public transport users, had argued for trains with greater capacity for some time.
“The state government and V/Line have responded with a commitment to introduce trains that can carry more passengers, which is a really positive outcome.”
The current three-carriage trains carry about 220 passengers, the six-carriage trains will double that.
“We had been told the sticking point was that our platforms were not long enough to accommodate longer trains,” Cr Blain said.
“This explanation was difficult to accept because this issue had been overcome on other train lines so we knew it was possible on the Warrnambool line.
“If we were to wait for longer platforms at our stations, it would be years before we had trains big enough to meet the demand.
“V/Line is to be commended for this really sensible approach which will involve door banners, on-board announcements and monitoring by conductors to ensure passengers enter and exit the longer trains safely.
“Testing of the new carriage configuration is already under way and we’ve been advised by V/Line the longer trains with greater passenger capacity will be operational later this year,” Cr Blain said.
