Thursday October 5, 2023
Annual bike ride a cycling success
The annual Great East Rail Trail Ride was held on Saturday, September 23, for its eighth year.The event saw 76 participants ride the 100km+ from Bairnsdale to Orbost over three days, it’s a spectacular event that showcases the region’s beautiful country side and the collaboration with local businesses, bringing people…
Thursday October 5, 2023
Expressions of Interest for appointment
Expressions of Interest for appointment to the EAST GIPPSLAND RAIL TRAIL COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENTDo you want to be involved in caring for, protecting and developing your local rail trail? Do you have skills in marketing and tourism, administration, conservation and facilities management, or business and financial management?The Department of Energy,…
Thursday July 13, 2023
Rail trail gates rammed
Volunteer committee members of the East Gippsland Rail Trail Committee of Management were disappointed to learn a set of newly installed gates on the trail at the Simpsons Creek Road crossing were deliberately rammed by a vehicle on the weekend. The recently installed gates are part of a multi-million dollar…
Thursday July 13, 2023
FAT bikes
Nowa Nowa hosted its first East Gippsland Win-ter Festival event recently with a FAT (Food, Art and Tunes) bike ride along the East Gippsland Rail Trail to Orbost. Organisers were thrilled to see 52 riders turn up along with their supporters and all enjoyed a toastie provided by The Local…
Thursday May 5, 2022
Rail trail draws touring riders
East Gippsland’s Rail Trail is proving a drawcard for international cyclists. Riding from Melbourne to Cairns by bicycle is not for the faint-hearted but in recent times Bairnsdale Warmshowers hosts, Maya and Malcolm Mathieson, have had two Japanese cyclists stay on their way to start riding the rail trail from…
Thursday November 18, 2021
Trail work starting
Work is set to start on the biggest upgrade of the East Gippsland Rail Trail in its 30-year history, thanks to a $2 million Federal Government grant.Member for Gippsland, Darren Chester, has secured the $2 million, on top of the $1.5 million received under the local economic recovery program, from…
Thursday November 4, 2021
Rail trail upgrades to start
Significant upgrades to the East Gippsland Rail Trail are set to commence in coming weeks. Works being undertaken include cleaning of culverts or replacement to address drainage and erosion issues, bridge repairs or complete rebuild, road crossing safety standardisation, fencing and installation of barriers to prevent illegal access to the…
Wednesday May 26, 2021
$2 million for the East Gippsland Rail Trail
Federal Member for Gippsland, Darren Chester, and the Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack, last Friday visited the East Gippsland Rail Trail to inspect the site before work gets underway. Mr Chester secured $2 million for an upgrade of the first stage of the rail trail as part of the Regional…
Friday April 9, 2021
Happy on trail
East Gippsland Rail Trail upgrades are on the horizon.Federal Member for Gippsland, Darren Chester, has secured $2 million for the first stage of a much-needed upgrade of the trail.Mr Chester said he had been working closely with the volunteer committee of management for more than two years to seek government…
Wednesday February 17, 2021
Trail sadness
Letters to the editor - Bairnsdale Advertiser 17/02/2021Dear Editor,- We read with sadness in last week’s Bairnsdale Advertiser the current East Gippsland Rail Trail committee missed out on any major funding from governments at all levels in recent handouts.To add further distress it appears the dilapidated Snowy River viaduct going…
Wednesday February 10, 2021
Rail trail funding setback
The East Gippsland Rail Trail Committee of Management has expressed dismay that its application for a grant to fund major upgrades to the trail surface was rejected. The Rail Trail committee had applied for $5 million under the Local Economic Recovery Program, which was set up to fund projects in…
Thursday December 17, 2020
Rail trail on track for major upgrades
When the volunteers of the East Gippsland Rail Trail committee of management heard there was a chance of substantial grant funding available, they jumped into action. Not wanting to miss out on this opportunity, and being heartened by the news the Snowy River Rail Bridge restoration committee had received funding…
Thursday November 21, 2019
Great things happening on East Gippsland Rail Trail
Volunteer committee members of East Gippsland Rail Trail Committee of Management have been busy over the past 18 months securing funding for a range of projects on the trail.Two projects of interest to Orbost and district residents will be the design and installation of new signage for the length of…
Wednesday November 20, 2019
Rail trail ready
A $100,000 upgrade of the East Gippsland Rail Trail has been completed in time for the busy summer holiday period thanks to a Federal Government grant.Federal member for Gippsland, Darren Chester, has congratulated the rail trail committee for moving quickly to secure local contractor, Cranes Asphalting and Bitumen Sealing, to…
Tuesday November 19, 2019
Stratford Primary School
One of the highlights of this year at Stratford Primary School involved a group of Grade 5 & 6 students participating in a 3 day, 2 night bike riding experience along the East Gippsland Rail TrailThe ride began at Howitt Park in Bairnsdale and students rode their bikes along the…
Monday October 28, 2019
Trail works get underway
East Gippsland Rail Trail committee of management has secured funding from the Federal Government, through Member for Gippsland, Darren Chester, to reseal the section of trail from McEacharn Street, East Bairnsdale, to the Nicholson River Bridge.Preliminary works for this long awaited upgrade commenced last week and will continue this week,…
Friday October 18, 2019
A sign of great things ahead
Great things are happening on the East Gippsland Rail Trail, with new trail distance signs showing the way. In a project jointly funded by the Victorian Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, East Gippsland Shire and the volunteer East Gippsland Rail Trail committee of management, new signage has been installed…
Wednesday October 9, 2019
East Gippsland shines for cyclists
East Gippsland shone as 130 cyclists hit the East Gippsland Rail Trail for the sixth Great East Bike Ride across the weekend.Starting in Bairnsdale last Friday, the cyclists pedalled their way along the trail, or caught a lift from their parents, finishing at Orbost’s Forest Park on Sunday.Conducted by Snowy…
Friday May 24, 2019
Resealing the rail trail
Work will start as soon as possible on a $100,000 upgrade of the East Gippsland Rail Trail, following the re-election of Federal member for Gippsland, Darren Chester.Mr Chester said the project would reseal 12 kilometres of the trail from Bairnsdale to Nicholson.“More than $3 million has recently been announced to…
