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South and West Gippsland Transport Group

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25.01.2022 LETTER TO EDITOR: '21st century ideas for rail', South Gippsland Sentinel-Times, Tuesday the 21st of January 2020 by Lindsay Love. IMAGE CAPTION: 'A new form o...f fast, reliable and low-cost driverless personal transport is now being used by thousands of passengers every day at Heathrow airport, says Lindsay Love'. ARTICLE SOURCE: https://sgst.com.au/2020/01/21st-century-ideas-for-rail/ Are the South Gippsland Administrators stuck in the past? We have put to the Administrators the concept of using the rail line from Leongatha to Cranbourne and the possibility of creating a 21st century public transport system along the line. The Council seem stuck in the past and locked into a limited use rail trail. Not much use if you cannot ride a bike. Already around the world there are various autonomous rapid transit systems deployed. These do not use the heavy rail systems of the past but instead use small light-weight computer-controlled vehicles that respond to the needs of the individual. The Heathrow system (pictured) runs from Terminal T5 to the parking garage, all computer controlled and dispatched for personal use. These systems are lighter and can run on steeper grades than old heavy rail and hence passing loops and bridges over roads can be built at a lower cost. However, the great advantage of our existing line is that it is already in place and has the train system separated from the road traffic. We do not need to consider the rail as for trains as we used to know them. What we do need is an Administration that is keen to look to the future and make the most of assets we already have. Pulling up train lines before we have researched the options is vandalism. In the meantime, a tourist steam train and an adjacent rail trail built at a private cost is a better investment for our community. It’s time for our Administration to push for a public transport system that uses the new technology and the old resources. Running autonomous vehicles on a fixed rail system is much easier than trying to run driverless cars on the road. We are increasingly being told that driverless cars are upon us. Let’s see if we can get small driverless trains running from Leongatha to Cranbourne. We need a new personal rapid transit system for the 21st century not an old slow train. Lindsay Love, South Gippsland Action Group secretary.

24.01.2022 Last week the South Gippsland Shire publicly awarded the tender for the rail asset removal. The removal work commenced straight away by a local contractor, desp...ite the Shire not having the rail trail extension fully funded. This makes Southern Rail Group’s Tourist Railway proposal untenable. It comes as a great loss for the community, as our proposal included about 30 local jobs, a greater economic boost and provided the region with a company that was prepared to reinvest into the infrastructure for the return of a passenger rail service. The Southern Rail Group’s team would sincerely like to thank all of our supporters for being able to understand the benefits and see the vision in Southern Rail’s proposal for South Gippslanders. The use of the railway corridor as a sole rail trail will set the region back by decades. It is most concerning that there are still some community groups up until as late as this weekend, continuing to spread misinformation about our proposal to the community. It is very important to understand that Southern Rail has always been open to meeting community groups to provide further information, but unfortunately the same can't be said for those same groups. We are pleased to announce this is not the end of the Southern Rail Group brand. We are currently working on several feasibility studies and more information will be announced in the months to come. As always thank you for your continuing support.

20.01.2022 ON THIS DAY: (Lang Lang, Dandenong & Spotswood) '22nd Anniversary since the Withdrawal Australian Glass Company & Koala Siding Sand Train' (Thur. 15-Fr. 16/01/1...998). IMAGE CAPTION: ‘V/Line T369 shunts at the Australian Glass Company/Koala Siding, Lang Lang on Thursday the 18th of February 1993. Mineral sand is conveyed in VHSF/Y hopper wagons to glass manufacturers at Dandenong and Spotswood’. This image was taken by Bryce Leydon and featured on the front cover of the Newsrail May 1993 edition. Across the afternoon of Thursday the 15th of January 1998 and morning of Friday the 16th of January 1998, the last regular freight service on the South Gippsland railway line beyond Cranbourne ceased operation to this day. Across the next 24 hours will mark exactly 22 years since the Australian Glass Company Sand Train was withdrawn. Although Bryce Leydon’s photograph of T369 at Koala Siding in 1993 occurred 5 years prior to withdrawal, it depicts the train as it typically operated during the V/Line era. V/Line's Y135-T392 with two VHSF/Y Sand Hoppers hauled the last Sand Train. The operation was not just known for the cessation of the Koala Siding/Lang Lang Sand Train as Y135 was on transfer to the South Gippsland Tourist Railway at Korumburra after assisting T392 haul the final down freight service. This train was hauled by two still surviving ex-Victorian Railways and V/Line diesel locomotives. T392 is still owned and in active service with Pacific National while Y135 has been out of service since the disbandment of SGR between November 2015 and January 2016, although has been allocated to the Yarra Valley Tourist Railway since. The reasons for the closure were due to the declining condition of the rail infrastructure situated between Cranbourne and Nyora and because a previous owner of the Lang Lang Sand Quarry in the Koala State Forest went out of business.

20.01.2022 IMAGES: These photographs of various locations along the former Wonthaggi Branch Line were all snapped during the day before the rain came tumbling down. The s...moke haze as a result of the devastating bushfires across the nation continues to cover the landscape in many places around the state. Hopefully those in the vast impacted areas from fire and poor weather conditions will receive some relief and stay safe. Tragic what has occurred in the communities at the heart of the bushfires that will need the support of many to recover and rebuild.

15.01.2022 Today again in the local paper (South Gippsland Sentinel Times) we read about a community group making claims about the misinformation been spread on the return... of passenger trains. So far, we have noted it is this particular community group promoting the idea that the Tourist Railway will also lead to the return of passenger rail straight away. Southern Rail Group has said it will reinvest into the railway and in time lobby for the return of the Commuter Rail. One of the goals is set up South Gippsland for the best chances for the return of Commuter Rail Services, with the added bonus of SRG running both Tourist Railway and Commuter Rail. Both can run together. There is a lot of work to get the Commuter Rail through Government, but you need to start somewhere for putting the case up for discussion. We have noted from these groups there is a lot of I not community wants or needs on the sole use rail trail. So far, the destabilising and division in the community is been produced by them by failing to listen to the general community and been open to the idea of the Tourist train returning. It is very fair to say that the removal of the rail asset and transformation into a rail trail will seal the end of any railway returning for decades. Are you happy about some of your community groups and local council pushing for this outcome?

10.01.2022 Listen out tomorrow on ABC Gippsland around 10am.

09.01.2022 Today's historic photo of the day: P11 hauling a morning VLine train bound for Leongatha stops to pick up at platform 1, Melbourne Flinders Street station, Dec...ember 28 1984. Leongatha is in the South Gippsland region of Victoria, 127km south-east of Melbourne. The South Gippsland main line opened in 1891 and carried passenger trains between Melbourne and Leongatha/Yarram were withdrawn in 1981. After a period without rail service, passenger trains were re-introduced as far as Leongatha in 1984. However in 1993 passenger trains were once again withdrawn. Today, the South Gippsland line beyond the suburban terminus at Cranbourne is closed to all trains. The photo seen here was taken just after services were re-introduced in 1984. In those days, VLine trains to and from the Gippsland line and the South Gippsland line used platform 1 at Flinders street station. Nowadays there are no trains to South Gippsland, and Gippsland line trains through Flinders Street use more southerly platforms that avoid the need to cross over all suburban lines.

06.01.2022 LETTER TO THE EDITOR: 'Huge patronage growth in rail', South Gippsland Sentinel-Times, Tuesday the 24th of December 2019, by Graeme Skinner. Very interesting to... read in the December 10 edition of the Sentinel-Times that there has been a suggestion made that with Wonthaggi and Bass Coast’s booming population, there will be a need for rail services (Re: ‘We need rail, they say’). I harken back to the infamous Lonie Report tabled in State Parliament in September 1980, which recommended mass closure of country railway lines in Victoria including the Nyora-Wonthaggi railway line. I was part of a group who called themselves the ‘Save our Train Committee’ and our aim was to save the Wonthaggi line from destruction. At the time we were ridiculed by many who said rail would never be needed again in the Bass Coast area and Wonthaggi township. I recall we stated back then that Wonthaggi would grow and that there should be a long-term vision to retain and upgrade the then Nyora-Wonthaggi railway line. Victoria is now seeing country rail undergoing huge patronage growth and current train capacity is regularly exhausted with more rolling stock being constructed. How ironic that our vision has now come to pass and the call is out for rail to return to the area. Is it not also time for a re-think on the proposed removal of the Nyora to Leongatha railway? Graeme Skinner, Eltham. Letter Source: https://sgst.com.au/2019/12/huge-patronage-growth-in-rail/ IMAGE CAPTION: 'Walker railmotor RM 34 awaits departure from Wonthaggi, 1977. Railmotor services finished between Nyora and Wonthaggi on Dec. 4 1977'. Photographer - Kent Smiley: http://victorianrailways.net//eas/wonthaggi/gal06-20.html

06.01.2022 The following series of photos are a perfect example of how a trail next to the railway will look. The photos are taken at the Puffing Billy Railway. The path w...as completed just over 2 years ago and currently runs from Clematis to Gembrook. In some areas the path does deviate from the railway line, but still works fine. See more

05.01.2022 NEWS ARTICLE: 'We need rail they say', South Gippsland Sentinel-Times, December 12 2019. More pragmatic and logical thinking when it comes to rail from members ...of the community in the Bass Coast. While some people with vested interests in the rolling hills to the north in South Gippsland are sharing contrary views. IMAGE CAPTION: Successful business in Bass Coast will require market targeting and the area will need rail transport in order to maintain growth according to demographic expert Simon Kuestenmacher (third from left), alongside Christian Stefani, Teresa Mahood, Mayor Cr Brett Tessari, Emilie Barkley and Peter Francis at the Wonthaggi Clubhouse. ARTICLE SOURCE: https://sgst.com.au/2019/12/we-need-rail-they-say/

04.01.2022 Nearing 25 years since the rails had been dismantled beyond this location just south of Leongatha by mid-December 1994. The original plans by the state governm...ent in 1993/94 under the leadership of Jeff Kennett was to retain the railway line as far as Cranbourne. Back then, it was stopped by the action of people power and the establishment of the South Gippsland Tourist Railway. Whether it will survive into the next decade or future generations...? Tuesday December the 3rd 2019.

01.01.2022 Southern Rail Group are aware that work has commenced on the removal of the railway line. We will be making a further statement soon after we have received some... clarification. We believe South Gippsland Shire are still yet to fully fund the rail trail extension, but are all to egar to proceed with the rail asset removal program.