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THE push is on to extend the Great Southern Rail Trail from Leongatha to Korumburra.

The launch and branding of the rail trail was held recently for the rail trail between Leongatha and Welshpool, and there is now momentum for the trail to be extended to Korumburra.

New owner of The Bicycle Fitting Store in Korumburra, John Kennedy, an ex-world champion cyclist, believed the link should happen sooner rather than later.

The prospective expansion is another boon for Korumburra, in the looming

opening of the Karmai Community Children’s Centre in January 2017. The centre will provide kindergarten, childcare, and maternal and child health services from a modern complex.

Mr Kennedy said, “Now the tourist rail is no more and the rail line itself is almost beyond repair, we should be getting on with it and pulling up the line.”

Speaking at the opening of his bike store last Tuesday, November 29, Mr Kennedy said the trail should initially stretch from Leongatha to Korumburra and then eventually to Nyora.

“Has anyone got a backhoe; we can start straight away!” Mr Kennedy said.

“We have a couple of councillors here tonight listening to this so let’s get a move on with it.”

South Gippsland Shire Council chief executive officer Tim Tamlin welcomed the prospect from a personal perspective.

“If we can get the railway line from here to Nyora, what a coup, and then maybe we could get it connected to Yarram,” he said.

“If we could link a bike path throughout our municipality from one end to the other, how good would that be?”

Mr Tamlin said the new council was yet to formulate an opinion on whether to advocate for an extension of the rail trail and said council was still negotiating with VicTrack about access to the railway easement.

Great Southern Rail Trail committee chairman Neville Pulham said while extending the trail would further buoy the region’s tourism, he believed any extension would need to come from the Korumburra community.

“Our committee would be looking for another committee to start that,” he said.

“We are getting to the stage where we have a few dinosaurs amongst us. We have got maintenance grants organised and in the next six to 12 months we will be looking to see if we can get an arm of the shire to look after it (the trail).”

Mr Pulham said while the committee always had reservations about taking on new projects such as trail extensions, he added, “If there is enough enthusiasm from that community (Korumburra), then I would say go for it.

“They would need to canvas it pretty well. The biggest thing is to get grants from the State and Federal governments, and you need to get some support from the council as well.”

Mr Pulham believed the best option would be to extend the rail along the existing line, rather than building a new trail alongside the existing railway line, in case passenger and freight rail services returned.

“Once you have done the basic work of taking the ballast off and putting in decent soft ground, the basic work has been done,” he said.

“We’re just resheeting the section from Leongatha to Koonwarra for the first time in 18 years, so it’s weathered pretty well.”

Win for Korumburra: from left, Quinn, Hamish, Louise and Angus Wilson checked out the new Karmai Community Children's Centre, due to open in January 2017. The Korumburra community could then turn its attention to extending the Great Southern Rail Trail to town.

Win for Korumburra: from left, Quinn, Hamish, Louise and Angus Wilson checked out the new Karmai Community Children’s Centre, due to open in January 2017. The Korumburra community could then turn its attention to extending the Great Southern Rail Trail to town.

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Posted by on Dec 6 2016. Filed under Featured, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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