Regional Victoria will have even more amazing tourist attractions for people to visit with exciting local projects getting off the ground through the Enabling Tourism Fund.
Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards seems hell bent on pushing through a rail trail removing a key rail line between two large regional cities in Victoria.
The attached photograph contains a group of people who would not have been on a bicycle in years.
The plan from this sitting member is to permanently remove the rail infrastructure for a rail trail with no business case and no catchment area between two major cities that need a passenger rail service. This will be yet another poor decision not made by Victoria as a whole for the benefit of all Victorians but a callous and divisive decision (the ALP is great at this) depriving those who need passenger rail services from having access to one. The state wreckers do really come from Bendigo it would seem.
We have already witnessed both V/Line and Victrack involved in significant damage to the rail line, hence the comment below from the underperforming member.
“The trail is already there, there’s probably not that needs to be done to enable this apart from safety, environmental issues and things like that,” she said.
Maree Edwards MP is all about road safety in her diatribe but has not achieved a single project to remove dangerous trucks from the roads or to move people travelling around between key locations to more palatable rail based passenger services over coaches which remain unpopular.
This simply highlights how the Victorian government is not and has never been about road safety or reducing carbon emissions, it is about pandering to a small number of people (probably around 5) who have never contributed any value at all to the community in their lifetime.
No business case for the destruction of yet another important piece of rail infrastructure. How is Victoria going to address the burgeoning freight task that will tripple of the next 20 years?
Your ‘important piece of rail infarstructure’ which hasn’t been used for over 25 years will make a perfect rail trail which I’ll happily utilise.
Seems to smell like $$$ from the cyclist lobby or road lobby groups? the Fate of the old Gippsland Korrumburra line rings a bell. as the counil had a big say in this and now it’s dead all tracks pulled up for rail trial!
Cyclist lobby here…and glad of it. To use another contributor of this forums quote, this ‘important piece of rail infrastructure’, which BTW hasn’t been used for over 25 years will make a perfect rail trail between Castlemaine and Maryborough.
That why the second world nations laugh at our backward rail system…without freight on rail you don’t get your food in your supermarkets…..
Plus without passenger your little regional towns will be cut off and die like what Kanvia did when they cut board gauge rail…..they get very tourist if ever……
careful what you wish for!!!
A country pride on international stage is reflected on their assets, the mass tranist system of rail pass and freight AUS has none!!!
Bikes are good but too much can stunt tourist attraction……Korrumburra is cut from tourist, very inaccessible since the railway shutdown now pop has grown, only buses and trucks……Leongatha too…cut off….
Good for the motorist but no good when people want travel and arrived in relaxed state , and now that fuel so expensive, and roads full of potholes, rail is the way…take the heavy stuff off the roads!!!
Castlemaine and Maryborough are not tiny towns like Kaniva. They are both served by frequent train services which easily take bikes as well, so there’s a perfect tourism opportunity that currently is underutilised. Nobody overseas is laughing at our freight system and it is what the market wants it to be. Currently it’s cheaper to operate trucks instead of trains. That may change in the future and the freight may return to the rails, but if it does, it won’t be on branch lines like this. It will be on corridors like the Mildura line.
For the record, I hardly ever drive my car as I live 5 mins walk from Ballan station. I planned it that way when I moved here over 40 years ago. So I mostly use V/Line or V/Line with my bike.
Mike…..
Just because some know and sampled and seen rode on overseas railways systems and seen how advanced it is compared with Australian railways systems
Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist!