Edited 09 Mar 2020 15:58, 7 months ago, edited by Nightfire

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.

honerstly..............misinformation.................the rail trail around the back of Mt Lilydale College was never compromised, the land was returned to its original owners that had the land prior to the Warburton Line being built....................