Great progress on GSRT Welshpool to Alberton extension

GREAT progress can now be seen along the Great Southern Rail Trail (GSRT) from Welshpool to Alberton, as a 20.5-kilometre extension to the increasingly popular walking, cycling and horse-riding pathway is built along the former railway corridor.

Wellington Shire Council is coordinating the construction of the Welshpool to Alberton project, with the support of South Gippsland Shire Council, as this new section of the GSRT crosses portions of both municipalities.

From Welshpool in South Gippsland Shire the distance to the boundary with Wellington Shire, just east of Hedley where James Road and Birds Road South meet the South Gippsland Highway, is about eight kilometres.

The remaining 12.5 kilometres to Alberton lie within the Wellington Shire and, when completed, will link the GSRT to the already-built six-kilometre Tarra Rail Trail along the former Woodside railway line between Alberton and Yarram.

At Welshpool, the GSRT also connects to the five-kilometre walking and riding path that follows the historic horse-drawn tram route to Port Welshpool.

When the Welshpool to Alberton stretch is finished, the GSRT, together with the Tarra Rail Trail, will reach from Nyora in the far north-east of South Gippsland Shire all the way to Yarram, and will cover about 135 kilometres in one continuous route.

Welshpool Post Office licensee Alan O’Neill said he “zig-zags on a daily basis” over the western end of the GSRT’s Welshpool to Alberton section during his mail delivery runs.

“It’s so good to see the works being done on the section of rail trail between Welshpool and Yarram, and can’t wait for it to be finished,” he posted on the Post Office’s Facebook page.

“How exciting is this?!” he wrote, alongside photographs he had taken of the new path under construction near the intersections of the South Gippsland Highway with Linforths Road, and with Salmon Road and Rendells Road, at Hedley.

In one of Alan’s images, some of the original Great Southern Railway’s steel rails can still be seen in position.

Another picture shows a rolling and compacting machine drawn up on newly-laid gravel beside the former Welshpool railway station platform. 

“[Soon] we will be able to walk/run/bike or horse ride from Welshpool to Yarram,” he stated.

Both the South Gippsland Shire and Wellington Shire have received substantial funding from the Victorian Government towards their respective sections of the GSRT in recent years, as well as allocating money out of their own budgets.

In July 2021, Wellington Shire, with South Gippsland Shire support, attracted a $6 million State Government grant through the Regional Infrastructure Fund’s Stimulus Round towards what the then Victorian Regional Development Minister Mary-Anne Thomas described as “Gippsland’s iconic Great Southern Rail Trail”.

Building the Welshpool to Alberton section of the GSRT includes new and upgraded bridges and crossings across the Jack and Albert Rivers and over other waterways and wetlands along the way as well as creating an all-weather walking, riding and cycling surface.

In the past, the Welshpool to Alberton section had represented what the two Gippsland shires and Rail Trail users alike called the GSRT’s “missing link”.

Now that works are well under way South Gippsland Shire and Wellington Shire’s shared long-term vision of transforming the GSRT into one of Australia’s longest rail trails is steadily being realised.

GREAT progress can now be seen along the Great Southern Rail Trail (GSRT) from Welshpool to Alberton, as a 20.5-kilometre extension to the increasingly popular walking, cycling and horse-riding pathway is built along the former railway corridor.

Wellington Shire Council is coordinating the construction of the Welshpool to Alberton project, with the support of South Gippsland Shire Council, as this new section of the GSRT crosses portions of both municipalities.

From Welshpool in South Gippsland Shire the distance to the boundary with Wellington Shire, just east of Hedley where James Road and Birds Road South meet the South Gippsland Highway, is about eight kilometres.

The remaining 12.5 kilometres to Alberton lie within the Wellington Shire and, when completed, will link the GSRT to the already-built six-kilometre Tarra Rail Trail along the former Woodside railway line between Alberton and Yarram.

At Welshpool, the GSRT also connects to the five-kilometre walking and riding path that follows the historic horse-drawn tram route to Port Welshpool.

When the Welshpool to Alberton stretch is finished, the GSRT, together with the Tarra Rail Trail, will reach from Nyora in the far north-east of South Gippsland Shire all the way to Yarram, and will cover about 135 kilometres in one continuous route.

Welshpool Post Office licensee Alan O’Neill said he “zig-zags on a daily basis” over the western end of the GSRT’s Welshpool to Alberton section during his mail delivery runs.

“It’s so good to see the works being done on the section of rail trail between Welshpool and Yarram, and can’t wait for it to be finished,” he posted on the Post Office’s Facebook page.

“How exciting is this?!” he wrote, alongside photographs he had taken of the new path under construction near the intersections of the South Gippsland Highway with Linforths Road, and with Salmon Road and Rendells Road, at Hedley.

In one of Alan’s images, some of the original Great Southern Railway’s steel rails can still be seen in position.

Another picture shows a rolling and compacting machine drawn up on newly-laid gravel beside the former Welshpool railway station platform. 

“[Soon] we will be able to walk/run/bike or horse ride from Welshpool to Yarram,” he stated.

Both the South Gippsland Shire and Wellington Shire have received substantial funding from the Victorian Government towards their respective sections of the GSRT in recent years, as well as allocating money out of their own budgets.

In July 2021, Wellington Shire, with South Gippsland Shire support, attracted a $6 million State Government grant through the Regional Infrastructure Fund’s Stimulus Round towards what the then Victorian Regional Development Minister Mary-Anne Thomas described as “Gippsland’s iconic Great Southern Rail Trail”.

Building the Welshpool to Alberton section of the GSRT includes new and upgraded bridges and crossings across the Jack and Albert Rivers and over other waterways and wetlands along the way as well as creating an all-weather walking, riding and cycling surface.

In the past, the Welshpool to Alberton section had represented what the two Gippsland shires and Rail Trail users alike called the GSRT’s “missing link”.

Now that works are well under way South Gippsland Shire and Wellington Shire’s shared long-term vision of transforming the GSRT into one of Australia’s longest rail trails is steadily being realised.

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