01 Mar 2017 Benalla Ensign, Benalla VIC (General News) Benalla Rural City Mayor Don Firth and council chief executive Tony McIlroy have been invited to inspect new and refurbished trains expected to be rolled out on the north-east line in the future. Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes invited Cr Firth and Mr McIlroy, along with mayors and CEOs from Indigo, Strathbogie, Wodonga, Wangaratta and Mitchell shires, were invited to inspect the Victorian Governments $15 million upgrade of the north-east line carriages this week. The upgrade is designed to make services more comfortable and reliable for local passengers, the government said. The north-east line is the only standard-gauge passenger line in Victoria, with a dedicated fleet of standard-gauge rolling stock. There are three train sets operating on the line the bare minimum required to run the three return services to Albury each day. This means that if there is a fault, animal strike or other incident that causes a train to be taken out of service, there is no option but to put passengers on coaches. The upgrade being carried out right now will add a new carriage and reconfigure the three existing five-carriage trains into four fourcarriage trains, Ms Symes said. Creating a fourth train will mean there is one in reserve if something goes wrong, meaning less services replaced by coaches. The multi-million dollar upgrade will also refurbish the north-east line trains deepcleaning the carpets, replacing upholstery and giving the carriages a fresh lick of paint. I cant wait to see how works are progressing on our multimillion dollar upgrade of northeast line trains. Ms Symes once again renewed calls for the Federal Government to do their bit and fix the track on the north-east line, which continues to be the main source of delays and disruptions for services to Albury. The Victorian Government is also planning for a new generation of rolling-stock on the northeast line, to replace the current classic fleet. Licensed by Copyright Agency. You may only copy or communicate this work with a licence.