Railway Digest Magazine

NSW Government announces new program to replace Fixing Country Rail program
On Friday 18 October the NSW Government announced a new strategy to replace the Fixing Country Rail program, which had provided funding for rail improvements across the NSW regional rail network since its announcement in 2016. The RNEW Program team will commence engagement with freight industry, rail operators and users, and local government in 2025, with the final strategy to be delivered in 2026. John Hoyle looks at some of the ways this new policy may play out.

Riding the Metro Tunnel
In October 2024, Tom McGuire had the privilege of riding a Metro Tunnel test train in Melbourne, as part of a promotional initiative by the Victorian Government. With the project due to open in 2025, train testing has been underway for over a year now, reaching a point where Tom, along with some other invited guests, were able to ride from Parkville through to Anzac station.

Mildura Corridor operations update
Mildura is a large regional city, located in the northwest corner of Victoria. Located on the Murray River and surrounded by fertile irrigated farming, it is around eight hours drive north of Melbourne. The railway runs from Melbourne, but the train takes close to 16 hours, partly due to following an indirect route via Ararat. Much freight arriving/leaving the region runs to/from Adelaide, which is even closer to Mildura. In the circumstances, rail probably does well to remain competitive. David Campbell provides a snapshot of current rail operations on the line.

Wimmera Weekender – Part 2
In our July 2022 edition, Graham Crichton reported on the successful Seymour Rail Heritage Centre tour to the town of Beulah on the Victorian Wimmera /Mallee standard gauge line to Hopetoun. This tour was repeated on Saturday 5 October 2024. The major difference with this recent tour being that it included a trip to Rainbow on Sunday 6th. Graham Crichton was there again.