Friends of the Bendigo-Kilmore Rail Trail

Four members of the City of Greater Bendigo project team and parks group visited the Goulburn River High Country Rail Trail (GRHCRT) in late February.  This was an initiative of the Friends group, with four Friends members accompanying the visitors, the field trip was an opportunity to learn first-hand from a similar project.

GRHCRT project manager, Ian Greer and project communications coordinator Lyn Plummer took the visitors to key points on the still-under-construction trail. They looked at

• standard toilets (11 new toilets installed along the trail)
• standard shelters with tables and chairs (7 new shelters in total, built from a supplied flat-packed kit)
• different road crossing treatments for busy and quiet roads
• town treatments (car parks and toilets, some at old railway stations and yards)
• bridges (new concrete decks to enable horses to cross safely)
• hazard identification and management.

Many areas of crown land adjoining the trail are now being leased to farmers for grazing, which will help with maintenance along the trail.

The target date for completion of the new trail is now the end of March, although recent bad weather may push that date out. At the time of the field trip, there were still five bridges to be completed. Details of the new trail and news are available on its web site or the Rail Trails Australia web site.

Seven new shelters have been constructed along the GRHCRT from flat-packed kits.

Inspecting the Cheviot tunnel