The brand-new Goornong Station is officially open, giving passengers access to more reliable and faster journeys.
Minister for Transport Infrastructure and Member for Bendigo East Jacinta Allan was among the first passengers to stop at the new station, following a nearly 43-year break in service. The station is now running 18 weekly services – with two daily services on weekdays and four daily services on weekends.
The new station is the first of three new stations being funded by the Andrews Labor Government, as part of the $49.6 million Bendigo Metro 3 to give people in growing communities access to trains close to where they live. It includes a new single-sided platform, seating and shelter, bike hoops, a car park with lighting and CCTV, as well as a pedestrian crossing on the Midland Highway to improve local access.
Trains can now also travel from 80km/h up to 130km/h between Epsom and the new Goornong Station, following the completion of track upgrades to enable people to get where they need to go sooner. The works saw crews replace more than 20,000 ageing wooden sleepers with concrete sleepers and add more than 50,000 tonnes of new ballast along the track.
Finishing touches on the station were completed last month, including the installation of platform access stairs for maintenance needs, and site clean-up works.
Works on the Bendigo and Echuca Line Upgrade continue, with the delivery of Huntly station targeted for completion in mid-2022, and Raywood Station to follow late next year.
Design and development of the new electronic train order (ETO) system is also progressing, as part of Bendigo and Echuca Line Upgrade. The ETO system will allow additional weekday return services to both Eaglehawk and Epsom and triple the number of weekday services to and from Echuca when the project is completed.
The Bendigo and Echuca Line Upgrade is part of the Australian and Victorian governments’ investment of more than $4 billion to upgrade every regional passenger rail line in Victoria.
Timetables are available online at pvt.vic.gov.au, vline.com.au or on the PTV app.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Transport Infrastructure and Member for Bendigo East Jacinta Allan
“This is great news for Goornong – with the new station to give passengers more reliable services – and it’s fantastic to see that trains are once again able to stop here, following a nearly 43-year break in service.”
“We promised to deliver this new station and that’s exactly what we’ve done – giving passengers more choice when they travel on our regional train network.”
Reviewed 13 December 2021