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Community facilities Public Transport | March 22, 2016

Kealy – Win for locals with Overland set to continue

Nationals Member for Lowan, Emma Kealy MP is celebrating a local win today with the announcement of $10.35 million to keep The Overland rail service between Melbourne and Adelaide running until the end of 2018.

“Over the past year I've been working with the local community to fight for the Victorian Government to commit to provide long term funding of The Overland rail service,” Ms Kealy said

“This agreement has been delayed far too long, with the Victorian agreement coming six months after the South Australian Government's commitment. It was never feasible to continue to extend funding every six months, which had a big impact on ticket sales.

“Local people had significant concerns for the future of public transport in Western Victoria, particularly as we were seeing all rail services falling apart across the State. Thankfully we now have certainty that the only current passenger rail service to the Wimmera will continue,” she said.

Last year Public Transport Victoria (PTV) reviewed all services in regional Victoria to form a Network Development Plan for the next 20 years. PTV then released a summary of feedback received from surveys and workshops held locally in Horsham and Hamilton.

“The PTV review highlighted the vital need for improved public transport services to our region, including passenger rail services,” Ms Kealy said.

“Today’s announcement means we can now focus on extending and improving rail and road public transport services in Western Victoria.

“Thank you to everyone who raised this issue with me and helped to actively lobby for this funding. It just goes to show that by working together we can make a real difference to our local region,” she said.