Doesn't say which trail this is from where to where but 3000 per month is quite low and they I assume would not be riding the entire distance.  These rail trails are just not cracked up to be better than rail services when you consider the costs of ripping up tracks and making the surface for bikes and then keeping it maintained.

The South Gippsland trail has fallen into disrepair east of Leongatha.

Volunteers wanted to mend rail trail

Doesn't say which trail this is from where to where

Literally on the second paragraph:

That is why the Gippsland Plains Rail Trail committee of management is calling on the community to help out with some much-needed maintenance work on one section of the trail this week.

I'll leave it to you to spend the 5 seconds it takes to copy and paste that into Google and figure it out for yourself.

Doesn't say which trail this is from where to where but 3000 per month is quite low and they I assume would not be riding the entire distance.  These rail trails are just not cracked up to be better than rail services when you consider the costs of ripping up tracks and making the surface for bikes and then keeping it maintained.

The South Gippsland trail has fallen into disrepair east of Leongatha.

Volunteers wanted to mend rail trail

You know that the South Gippsland Trail only exists to the east of Leongatha!  It was fine when I rode it a year or two ago...

In the case of the Gippsland Plains Rail Trail, the track had been ripped up many years before they started constructing the rail trail.  I agree that tracks shouldn't be ripped up for the purpose of constructing a rail trail, but if the tracks have already been removed what is wrong with building a rail trail if the right of way is already there and not being used for anything else?  Of course it helps if the trail runs through picturesque landscapes or links to towns that would be of interest to visitors...

Ross

Doesn't say which trail this is from where to where but 3000 per month is quite low and they I assume would not be riding the entire distance.  These rail trails are just not cracked up to be better than rail services when you consider the costs of ripping up tracks and making the surface for bikes and then keeping it maintained.

The South Gippsland trail has fallen into disrepair east of Leongatha.

Volunteers wanted to mend rail trail

I could be wrong and probably am, but I don't think any active railway with regular scheduled services has ever had its rails removed so people can ride bikes.

In the railways final year of operation, did it get 100/day?

Traralgon – Maffra – Stratford

The history of the line closure (compliments of Nightfire) discussed in a recent News Forum thread. The Traralgon – Cowwarr (Maffra?) section, with the bridge in question, closed in the mid-1980s:

Family starts initiative to clean up rail trail
https://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11399706.htm

I fully support allowing the building of trails on long abandoned rail corridors, or on sections of rail corridors which have recently been abandoned in favour of an alternative route (e.g. a winding route through hills replaced by a new tunnel).

Unlike other forms of development, a rail trail leaves the corridor intact for potential reuse as a railway in the future.


In the rare event that a rail trail is established and there is then a serious proposal to rebuild a railway there, such a rebuild could then be a rail-alongside-trail configuration so everyone wins.

Rail-alongside-trail was done well on a 1.4km section of the corridor during the Seaford Rail Extension project in Adelaide. This project incorporated a number of synergies with mutual benefits - the realigned Coast To Vines Bikeway crosses under two roads alongside the railway which were previously unsignalled at-grade road crossings, and the bikeway was built with removable bollards and access gates in the safety fencing to allow rail maintenance crews to use it for access to the railway alongside.

I fully support allowing the building of trails on long abandoned rail corridors, or on sections of rail corridors which have recently been abandoned in favour of an alternative route (e.g. a winding route through hills replaced by a new tunnel).

Unlike other forms of development, a rail trail leaves the corridor intact for potential reuse as a railway in the future.


In the rare event that a rail trail is established and there is then a serious proposal to rebuild a railway there, such a rebuild could then be a rail-alongside-trail configuration so everyone wins.

Rail-alongside-trail was done well on a 1.4km section of the corridor during the Seaford Rail Extension project in Adelaide. This project incorporated a number of synergies with mutual benefits - the realigned Coast To Vines Bikeway crosses under two roads alongside the railway which were previously unsignalled at-grade road crossings, and the bikeway was built with removable bollards and access gates in the safety fencing to allow rail maintenance crews to use it for access to the railway alongside.

Agree
Its very rare a former rail line gets re-birthed, however there seems to be the mind set that it happens all the time and has a legacy of being blocked by rail trail advocates. We all know the best rail trials are in locations where it is even less likely the rail line has any chance in hell of being restarted and if did the old alignment is unlikely to be wanted or much of it anyway.

Even in the Seaford example I mentioned, the section of concurrency with the rail trail using the former Willunga Line corridor was quite a compromise rather than an example of proactive planning.

Had the potential for future extension towards the Aldinga area been predicted at the time when Seaford was getting developed, I'm sure that the result would have been the Seaford area having a corridor reserved for the future railway to carry on towards Commercial Road instead of curving east towards Main South Road on the old Willunga line.

Doesn't say which trail this is from where to where but 3000 per month is quite low and they I assume would not be riding the entire distance.  These rail trails are just not cracked up to be better than rail services when you consider the costs of ripping up tracks and making the surface for bikes and then keeping it maintained.

The South Gippsland trail has fallen into disrepair east of Leongatha.

Volunteers wanted to mend rail trail

Please explain !

I ran In a fun run along the rail trail back during Easter, the trail was In good condition (10.55 km's out of Leongatha)

The best maintained section (cared for by local residents) Is 2.5 km's out of Koonwarra (towards Tarwin) that Is used weekly by the Koonwarra parkrun (attracting about 95 participants per week)

Please explain !

I ran In a fun run along the rail trail back during Easter, the trail was In good condition (10.55 km's out of Leongatha)

The best maintained section (cared for by local residents) Is 2.5 km's out of Koonwarra (towards Tarwin) that Is used weekly by the Koonwarra parkrun (attracting about 95 participants per week)

One of the best the incoming Fed govt could do for this country's tourism is to set up a fund of around $100m to be made available over the next 5 years. This money is available to Rail Trial projects on $:$ basis to be matched by a state govt, local council or other group, or combination of all three to convert many of the abandoned railways that crisis cross the country.

Each proposal would need to provide a justified business case with supporting data and priority given to RT's that have the best projected numbers/km of trial and can form part of a network of RT's with supporting access via PT such as rail where practical.

Some "services suspended" and closed lines that come to mind
- Yeppoon line, Qld
- New England corridor from Armidale to eventually Toowoomba
- Ballina north to Murwullibah, NSW
- Tumut, Batlow, Turrumba lines, NSW
- Crookwell, NSW
- Bombala - Orbust lines, NSW/Vic
- NE line Tas (assuming the current proposal for a heritage group doesn't get up.)
- NW line Tas
- Barossa Valley, SA

With the final aim that the countries network of RT's be marketed globally as well as nationally.

Doesn't say which trail this is from where to where but 3000 per month is quite low and they I assume would not be riding the entire distance.  These rail trails are just not cracked up to be better than rail services when you consider the costs of ripping up tracks and making the surface for bikes and then keeping it maintained.

The South Gippsland trail has fallen into disrepair east of Leongatha.

Volunteers wanted to mend rail trail

Please explain !

I ran In a fun run along the rail trail back during Easter, the trail was In good condition (10.55 km's out of Leongatha)

The best maintained section (cared for by local residents) Is 2.5 km's out of Koonwarra (towards Tarwin) that Is used weekly by the Koonwarra parkrun (attracting about 95 participants per week)

As some on here often say to me "google" you will see councils have asked for funding to maintain the track which is falling into disrepair and has very few users.

Just kidding and I will find the link on here IIRC.

Some history of the line https://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11359583.htm

Who is going to ride north from Armadale?  5 people a week?

Tumbarumba – Rosewood (eventually Wagga Wagga?), 21 km, is under construction for completion in 2020.
The Northern Rivers (various sections between Casino and Murwullimbah), New England (Armidale – Glen Innes), Goulburn – Crookwell, Tumut - Batlow and Monaro (Queanbeyan – Bombala) rail trails, all at different stages of a feasibility study, appear to be on hold pending the performance of the above.
Bairnsdale – Orbost already exists.

Rail trails provide an amenity for the locals as well as attracting tourists.

Who is going to ride north from Armadale?  5 people a week?

I think you are kidding yourself if you think a rail trail from the New England area through to the Granite Belt passing around dozen towns and other attractions along the way in the hinterland of Australia's largest tourist destination and 2-4h drive from Brisbane will be used by only 5/week.

Compare this to the the Otago rail trial in the bottom end of NZ, mostly unusable for 3mths of the year due to high winds and rain which has been tagged as the ale trail, has been studied to confirm it has generated numerous full time and part time jobs, pays for its own upkeep and helps keep a tourist railway alive.

The alt is to allow the northern section of the former New England Railway to continue to rot for another +25 years.

Some "services suspended" and closed lines that come to mind
- Barossa Valley, SA

This would be a good one as it would be very cheap.

The section from Nuriootpa to Angaston has already been completed, Tanunda-Nuriootpa was built alongside the line while the stone train was still operating, and some parts of the Jack Bobridge Bikeway between Gawler and Tanunda were built alongside the railway. The only bits which need work are the parts of Gawler-Tanunda where the ex-rail corridor would provide a better route than the parts of the Jack Bobridge Bikeway which are located away from the railway.

All rail trails in SA have a variety of displays along the route which pay tribute to the history of the railway and the surrounding areas, and this certainly has been incorporated into the Jack Bobridge Bikeway despite none of it being a 'real' rail trail yet.

Who is going to ride north from Armadale?  5 people a week?

I think you are kidding yourself if you think a rail trail from the New England area through to the Granite Belt passing around dozen towns and other attractions along the way in the hinterland of Australia's largest tourist destination and 2-4h drive from Brisbane will be used by only 5/week.

Compare this to the the Otago rail trial in the bottom end of NZ, mostly unusable for 3mths of the year due to high winds and rain which has been tagged as the ale trail, has been studied to confirm it has generated numerous full time and part time jobs, pays for its own upkeep and helps keep a tourist railway alive.

The alt is to allow the northern section of the former New England Railway to continue to rot for another +25 years.

Really?

Where have you been, we have an environmental crisis developing in Australia and rail for freight is the real answer to solving a lot of the polluting transport services we have now.  This current election is largely about the environment and the next federal election and state elections will feature this even more.  Bill Shorten knows this and will make it so.

Passenger rail will become even more important for the regional centres.

last night on PMLIVE (Sky News) which was held in Armidale rail transport north of Armidale as discussed and the ALP candidate (and she was not alone) earmarked rail being a key priority.

Barnaby Joyce was also there as a candidate and was clueless.