The Victorian Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan has inaugurated the new Goornong station following 43 years of closure.
The new station is the first of three new stations being funded by the Victorian government, as part of the AD 49.6 million (USD 35.5 million) Bendigo Metro 3 project to provide passengers new stations at Goornong, Huntly and Raywood to give people in these growing communities access to train services close to where they live.
The Goornong station includes a new single-sided platform, seating and shelter, bike hoops, a car park with lighting and CCTV system, as well as a pedestrian crossing on the Midland Highway to improve local access.
The trains can now also travel from 80 km/h up to 130 km/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 covered the replacemen of 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 in November, including the installation of platform access stairs for maintenance needs, and site clean-up works.
Works on the Bendigo and Echuca Line upgrade project continue, with the delivery of Huntly station targeted for completion in mid-2022, and Raywood Station to follow late next year.
The 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 upgrade of the two lines is part of the Australian and Victorian governments’ investment of more than AUD 4 billion (USD 2.9 billion) to upgrade every regional passenger rail line in Victoria.
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