Parties swap blame amid Vic train chaos

Rail commuters in regional Victoria are suffering but the blame game between the major parties over who's to blame for the crisis engulfing V/Line rolls on.

V/Line faces months of replacing trains with buses because of a wheel wear problem, which remains unsolved, and an issue where boom gates failed to trigger on regional trains.

Both problems affect VLocity trains, the most modern in V/Line's fleet.

Interim chief executive Gary Liddle told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry on Tuesday that the state was spending up to $300,000 a day hiring 200 coaches to replace trains.

Mr Liddle said V/Line's funding had been reduced in recent years.

Late on Tuesday, Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said the former coalition government had cut funding to V/Line.

"We're fixing the mess the former Liberal and National government helped create when they ripped more than $70 million out of V/Line," she said in a statement.

But the opposition hit back, saying it gave V/Line an extra $40.7 million in franchise and state subsidy fees between 2009/10 and 2013/14, a rise of almost 16 per cent.