Looks like someones spat the dummy AND thrown their rattle out of the pram

At least now many cyclists can enjoy the safety of a ride along the extended rail trail.

Mike.

Correct.

Guys, it's dead. Let it go.  

Hopefully the materials are going to good homes at other tourist railways and not just the Leongatha tip.

Looks like there are no reuse plans for the 94 LB rails as they have been butched up In to short lengths for easy transport.

Guys, it's dead. Let it go.  

Hopefully the materials are going to good homes at other tourist railways and not just the Leongatha tip.

Looks like there are no reuse plans for the 94 LB rails as they have been butched up In to short lengths for easy transport.

Got no choice but to cut the long legs up, it's the only way to recover them once trains can no longer run

They have been cut with a hydraulic cropper.

So
- The local council wants to convert this rotting snake invested industrial waste corridor it a open public asset such as a rail trail
- Other local community groups also want the same
- No community group has been able to make it a viable Heritage railway (Yes, I would love to see it happen, again)
- There is no plan to use this corridor within the next two decades for commuter rail (note 18 year lease isn't very long)

Yet, despite this some of us are outraged?

- Kennet didn't rip up the rails because he was playing politics. In the eyes of the politicians, they know closing the line but leaving the rails in place seems appeases the voting peasants. Their primary goal is to stop the bleeding of money from the treasury and this is done when the last train runs, Kennet had other things to do than spend state money ripping up the rails. May have also genuinely believed there was a potential future for the line outside the constraints of the early 1990's Vic budget.

Future predictions
- the new rail trail will be a success and prove very popular
- Commuter line extension will not be funded this side of 2050.
- Bevan's will vote ALP at the next election

Leongatha to Nyora Rail Line to be dismantled by Daniel Andrews

Not sure the bloke will have time to get down there, he's too busy digging a new rail tunnel through the middle of Melbourne.

The whole thing on this day and age of rail
Revitalisation is disturbing that it would even be done.

Very poor form on the side of the government.

Not voting for someone because they ripped up some old rails and derelict sleepers, wow. Imagine the outrage if a political party closed the self same rail line, wrote a promissory note for close to a billion dollars for the builder of a road tunnel (that few actually wanted or needed) whose contract was signed just before or actually in caretaker mode or another one made some very questionable distribution of public funds to shore up re-election chances.
Andrews may not be my favourite politician and I still don't agree with the so called West Gate "Tunnel", the mess he's decided to make of the NE Link or the Fitzsimons Rd roundabout in Eltham as some examples but I'll give him credit where it's due for getting things done in other areas like LX crossing removal, Metro 1 SRL, etc.  

Neil

It certainly is a pity the SG line is disappearing, but the reality is there not really any contestable freight on the outer part of line (the sand in Lang Lang area could be a possibility). The passenger service was always really slow because of the track curves beyond Nyora - 2.5 hours from Leongatha to Melbourne, and pre 1993, the vast majority of passengers only went as far as Cranbourne. I went on the regular pass a few times in the last few years, but the absence of fellow travellers was noticeable.

26 years after the passenger service was axed, large parts of the track formation on the Koo Wee Rup swamp are crumbling and complete refurbishment would be hugely expensive.
The Bracks ALP Government did commit to the Leongatha pass coming back but the local Council and general population seemed quite apathetic (unlike the very active Bairnsdale Save the Train group). Rail services require considered propositions and political support to be saved/reinstated - such as the Traralgon-Sale pass, which was slated for closure by Kennett in 1993 but retained after representations.

There does not appear to be any mention at all of any reopening plans in publicly available State transport strategies, apart from the short suburban extension to Clyde. The private Rail Futures group also did not include South Gippsland in its wish list. Given the enormous demand for new rail services in the metropolitan area, it would seem very hard to justify the enormous cost for the limited return - but there are precedents, like South Morang/Mernda. At least the reserve remains in public ownership.

This whole thread is a bit silly. The tracks were rooted. There’s no state government or opposition hints, even, at restoring passenger or freight service beyond Clyde. So the council is absolutely right to want the reservation to be useful to the community, VicTrack are absolutely right to hand them the lease and recover the assets which would have been of little use to a rail project anyway. And the whole thing has the enormous upside, from a railfan point of view, of protecting the corridor; and the very minimal downside of adding a couple of million dollars to a future rail restoration.

Those among you who have an aneurysm whenever someone says the words “rail” and “trail” really need to have a Bex and a good lie down.

This whole thread is a bit silly. The tracks were rooted. There’s no state government or opposition hints, even, at restoring passenger or freight service beyond Clyde. So the council is absolutely right to want the reservation to be useful to the community, VicTrack are absolutely right to hand them the lease and recover the assets which would have been of little use to a rail project anyway. And the whole thing has the enormous upside, from a railfan point of view, of protecting the corridor; and the very minimal downside of adding a couple of million dollars to a future rail restoration.

Those among you who have an aneurysm whenever someone says the words “rail” and “trail” really need to have a Bex and a good lie down.

There was a lobby group that had grand plans for the dilapidated railway Including running steam tourist trains, commuter trains (to Clyde) building a walking trail besides the railway and employing full time staff all with private money (their story evolved rather considerably)  

Well they raised the "white flag" today.

A number of years ago, I was involved in the RFR project as well as what we called Regional Slow Trains. The Leongatha line was selected for reopening. However, the site inspection revealed lengths of rail dangling across Koo Wee Rup swamp. The whole formation across the swamp needed replacing and this big-ticket item basically killed the project. As far as I know, the swamp is still there.

So
- The local council wants to convert this rotting snake invested industrial waste corridor it a open public asset such as a rail trail
- Other local community groups also want the same
- No community group has been able to make it a viable Heritage railway (Yes, I would love to see it happen, again)
- There is no plan to use this corridor within the next two decades for commuter rail (note 18 year lease isn't very long)

Yet, despite this some of us are outraged?

- Kennet didn't rip up the rails because he was playing politics. In the eyes of the politicians, they know closing the line but leaving the rails in place seems appeases the voting peasants. Their primary goal is to stop the bleeding of money from the treasury and this is done when the last train runs, Kennet had other things to do than spend state money ripping up the rails. May have also genuinely believed there was a potential future for the line outside the constraints of the early 1990's Vic budget.

Future predictions
- the new rail trail will be a success and prove very popular
- Commuter line extension will not be funded this side of 2050.
- Bevan's will vote ALP at the next election

This proposed rail trail may well be one of the few that is actually viable, being very pretty countryside only just beyond the metropolis.

All done and dusted for the time being, Formation being kept is the most important part and hopefully the rails are reused elsewhere as per others have said.

Its Shame the SGR did failed though, suffering from vandalism and a lack of support. What's done is done, it may be sad for some however I doubt that the non Gunzel crowd will mourn the loss of this decaying rail line. Would need pretty much a full rebuild anyway, the same crap came out last year when people were crying about the southern half of the Yarra Valley line being pulled up for the same thing. Move along everyone, move along

So
- The local council wants to convert this rotting snake invested industrial waste corridor it a open public asset such as a rail trail
- Other local community groups also want the same
- No community group has been able to make it a viable Heritage railway (Yes, I would love to see it happen, again)
- There is no plan to use this corridor within the next two decades for commuter rail (note 18 year lease isn't very long)

Yet, despite this some of us are outraged?

- Kennet didn't rip up the rails because he was playing politics. In the eyes of the politicians, they know closing the line but leaving the rails in place seems appeases the voting peasants. Their primary goal is to stop the bleeding of money from the treasury and this is done when the last train runs, Kennet had other things to do than spend state money ripping up the rails. May have also genuinely believed there was a potential future for the line outside the constraints of the early 1990's Vic budget.

Future predictions
- the new rail trail will be a success and prove very popular
- Commuter line extension will not be funded this side of 2050.
- Bevan's will vote ALP at the next election

This proposed rail trail may well be one of the few that is actually viable, being very pretty countryside only just beyond the metropolis.

Presumably/hopefully there will a suitable interchange, and shared facilities, at the Clyde station?  If that ever eventuates?

Ok what is happening with the remaining Redhens?

Ok what is happening with the remaining Redhens?

I was under the impression that they and all the other non reallocated stock were to get the gas axe? I could be wrong though.

Simply a disgrace.  The council is behind this but who is really behind it?

VicTrack disposing of dilapidated assets.

I will ask the question again, What is happening to the two remaining Redhens?

Free to anyone who can take them, as far as I know.

Simply a disgrace.  The council is behind this but who is really behind it?

I doubt there is any hidden agenda's here, the line has been sitting unloved for how many years now.

What is your proposal?

I am starting to smell corruption here in this matter. How would an un-elected council who is only in an administrative capacity until the new council is elected make decisions and fund the removal of the rail line?

https://www.railpage.com.au/news/s/stop-the-destruction-of-the-south-gippsland-railway-line-under-the-unelected-council

It's no different to the old Healesville line, where we now have (with considerable Council assistance) an excellent cycling/walking track to Yering (with the promise of more to come).  This line was equally as degraded/unusable/unrestorable as was Nyora-Leongatha, but not a word of protest about the tracks being ripped up, although in terms of potential use, Healesville has a larger population than Leongatha.  (About 6,600 and 5,200 respectively, according to the 2016 census.)

Where a railway line ceases to be viable and is closed, conversion to a rail trail is one of the best alternatives for future use, and it should be done promptly, before the corridor is compromised in some way (e.g. Mt Lilydale College on the Warburton trail).

There is an old saying "use it or lose it".  One wonders if passenger numbers had been much greater, whether the Leongatha line (or Healesville for that matter) would have overcome their physical difficulties and survived.

Because the State Government Is behind the removal.