Current Status
The track beyond Leongatha to Yarram and the Barry Beach branch line was dismantled in 1994, but removal of other infrastructure along the line such as level crossing signals took place around mid to late 1992, soon after the last train ran to Barry Beach. The section between Leongatha - Foster was turned into the Great Southern Rail Trail in 1998. The section between Foster and Yarram is planned to be a future extension of the trail.
The branch line from Nyora to Wonthaggi was closed in 1978 and later dismantled, now forming the Bass Coast Rail Trail. A significant section of the former Wonthaggi Line has been leased or sold to farmers, while other sections have been cut away to widen highways and main roads in the coastal South Gippsland region.
The section from Dandenong to Cranbourne was electrified in 1995 and is now part of the suburban rail network as the Cranbourne Line. The first level crossing on the closed section of the line, the South Gippsland Highway crossing in Cranbourne has since been paved over. The Victorian Transport Plan of 2009 has stated that the Cranbourne line will be extended 2 kilometres to a new station at Cranbourne East by 2015. The new Cranbourne East station will be built near Renyard Street and the Casey Complex.
The line from Nyora to Leongatha is now used by the South Gippsland Tourist Railway. However some bridges have been repaired between Leongatha and Korumburra which has allowed the South Gippsland Tourist Railway to restore its services on this section of the track after it was prevented from using it due to the declining condition of the bridges.
The remaining section of track from Cranbourne to Nyora is disused but mostly still intact. Two metres of track was pulled up at Koo Wee Rup to put toilets at the bus and coach stop. The Wonthaggi desalination plant pipeline has also made it necessary to remove three more sections of the line. The first section is about 100 metres on the down side of Monomeith Road where about 50 metres of track have been removed. The second is about 5% m on the up side of Caldermeade Road where about thirty metres of track have been removed and the third, is about halfway between Caldermeade and Lang Lang stations. At this time the track from Cranbourne East to Nyora has not yet been lifted to be converted into the proposed rail trail.
Much of the operational and safeworking infrastructure remains in place in this section, including signalling equipment, level crossings, and easements not having been otherwise leased or sold. Station platforms are also in place, but mostly without station buildings, such as Lang Lang, Koo-Wee-Rup, and Tooradin. Parts of the track have warped due to erosion or movement of the supporting groundwork and displacement of sleepers, these are especially evident near Lang Lang, Tooradin and north of Koo-Wee-Rup. Other potential problems include questions on safety of certain bridges and culverts along the route.
Prior to the 1999 Victorian election, the state Labor Party made a promise to return passenger services to Leongatha. In 2008 a report commissioned by the Victorian Department of Transport found the cost of returning passenger services to Leongatha to be unjustifiably high, at an estimated $72 million, and that only 20 per cent of respondents surveyed about their transport needs considered restoring train services to be the main priority. Instead $14.7 million will be spent on road coach service upgrades.
The former Minister for Public Transport Lynne Kosky has stated that the State Government is providing funding for development of a rail trail between Cranbourne East and Nyora to support tourism in South Gippsland. Such a move may result in the track being lifted, thus ending any hope that the line may reopen in the future. However it still could be possible for the line to reopen in the future even the new rail trail does go ahead between Cranbourne East and Nyora due to reports of a proposed new route for the South Gippsland line if it ever reopens. A proposal is to relocate the tracks of the South Gippsland line prior to Koo-Wee-Rup. The proposed new location of the line would branch off from Pakenham instead of sharing the line between Dandenong and Cranbourne, located around Pakenham - Koo-Wee- Rup Road then join the existing tracks at Koo-Wee-Rup. This would mean the track could be dismantled between Cranbourne East and Koo-Wee-Rup via Clyde, Tooradin and Dalmore for a new rail trail but not from Koo-Wee-Rup to Nyora unless it locates alongside the actual rail tracks. Another proposal is to have the line branched off from Drouin and diverting through Poowong and joining the existing tracks at Nyora. This would mean that the tracks could be dismantled between Koo-Wee-Rup and Nyora to allow a rail trail to be constructed all the way from Cranbourne East.
In April 2011, the South & West Gippsland Group formed at Lang Lang to campaign for a new solution for the region. The group is proposing for rail passenger services to be reinstated to Leongatha, a dedicated freight line to Port Hastings from Dandenong, a new rail line from Nar Nar Goon to Monomeith (forming a loop) & freight services to Port Anthony (Barry Beach) via Fish Creek. In February 2012, parts of disused line at Koo Wee Rup were being dismantled for the proposed rail trail from Cranbourne East to Lang Lang, possibly limiting the chances of the line being reinstated in the short to medium term.
Read more about this topic: South Gippsland Railway Line
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