All aboard as new station opens

LAST Sunday morning’s Echuca to Melbourne train marked a special occasion for residents of Goornong.

At 9.46am, a V/Line passenger service rolled into Goornong Railway Station for the first time in decades.

The facility was officially opened by minister for transport infrastructure Jacinta Allan, who was also one of the new station’s first passengers.

“It’s thrilling because of what it means for local communities like Goornong to have a train station that connects them to not only their nearest town, but to the rest of the world,” she said.

She said the train station will open options for new and old residents of the area, providing access to jobs, education opportunities and travel to Melbourne.

The station is one of three new facilities part of the State Government’s $49.6 Bendigo Metro 3, with the Huntly and Raywood stations expected to open mid-2022 and at the end of next year, respectively.

The State Member for Bendigo East said it was a “logical” move to have a station in Goornong again, as the train line passed through the town anyway and the 18 weekly services will increase once all track upgrades from Echuca to Bendigo are completed by the end of next year.

Local resident Barrie Winzar, who first caught the train in Goornong in 1940, said the closing of the original station in 1979 was a “terrible example of a government in power changing things for all time.”

“The demolition that was done was rather brutal and meant this one had to start from scratch,” he said. “If the other one stayed, it would’ve been a base to begin with.

“In the pursuit of change sometimes we abolish things too rapidly and it costs us more to put them back, this is a huge cost, and it won’t be justified for a long while, but it will in time no doubt. The fact you can pull in and get on the train is great.”