General News
3 June, 2026
Residents rally for rail renewal
“It’s a travesty and disgusting, an absolute disgrace and a scandle that you have also been fighting for this for 33 years."
RESIDENTS from around the region made their message clear over the weekend as they rallied for a passenger train through St Arnaud.
Another large crowd of passionate locals again gathered at the St Arnaud railway station, joined by a group of potentially incoming and outgoing politicians in hopes of garnering support for their cause.
St Arnaud advocate and rally organiser Lauren Sherson said the people were sick of being ignored when it came to just wanting a public transport connection to major centres like Mildura and Melbourne.
“All these decisions are being made in Melbourne for Melburnians,” she said.
“Well we’re here to fight for the regions.”
Rail Revival Alliance president Noel Laidlaw made the trip to St Arnaud on Sunday, ready to share the plan the group was asking for.
The Mildura railway line, a heavy rail corridor running from Yelta station to Ballarat via Mildura, Ouyen, and Maryborough, has operated freight services but lacks passenger trains. Initial sections of the line opened in 1874, with the route reaching Mildura in 1903.
This more recent proposal involves the introduction of a standard gauge locomotive-hauled passenger service. It would be based in Mildura, running to Maryborough and connecting with the broad gauge VLocity service through to Melbourne via Ballarat. Mr Laidlaw said the plan was to start with a shuttle and evolve over time.
“This is the first step,” he said at the rally.
“And then after a few years of this shuttle running from Mildura down to Maryborough, we will expect the State Government to announce a permanent plan for the future.
“The existing stock is rolling on the Swan Hill line, this isn’t just some plan we’ve thrown together. This has come from years of gathering highly technical advice and planning.”
Former Independant State MP for Mallee and current Mildura mayor Ali Cupper said she had been fighting for this train for over a decade.
“I’ve been giving this same speech for 16 years,” she said.
“It’s a travesty and disgusting, an absolute disgrace and a scandle that you have also been fighting for this for 33 years.
“This public transport is as fundamental to you as this state government providing primary schools or CFA stations.
“I sat down with the Premier (Jacinta Allan) who said no one is going to use this train - that’s bullsh*t.”
Buloke Shire mayor Graeme Milne, who was on the Wimmera Mallee Tourism Board begged to differ.
“Just from a tourism point of view alone, that’s not true,” he said.
“There is an often full train that does run on that line for tourism purposes and that shows how this can and will be used.
“It’s difficult that we country people constantly have to come together like this and fight for what we want, but if we don’t the government will walk all over us.”
Northern Gramipans Shire councillor Karen Probst said she was constantly hearing personal stories of the struggles a lack of transport was causing.
“It’s everything from people with disabilities, teenagers and the elderly,” she said.
“My daughter moved to Melbourne and it’s so hard for us to see each other - and I’m someone who is able to drive.
“We are isolated here and it’s really quite atrocious that it is the way it is in this day and age.
“We know it’s possible, it’s been done before, so why aren’t we able to do it again now.”
Read More: St Arnaud