Leongatha is a railway station in the town of

Leongatha, Victoria Leongatha is a town in the foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges, South Gippsland Shire, Victoria, Australia, located south-east of Melbourne. At the , Leongatha had a population of 5,869. Canadian dairy company Saputo which trades in Australia ...

on the former

South Gippsland railway line The South Gippsland railway line is a partially closed railway line in Victoria, Australia. It was first opened in 1892, branching from the Orbost line at Dandenong, and extending to Port Albert. Much of it (the section up to Leongatha) remaine ...

South Gippsland South Gippsland, a region of Gippsland in Victoria, Australia, is a well-watered region consisting of low, rolling hills descending to the coast in the south and the Latrobe Valley in the north. Low granite hills continue into Wilsons Promonto ...

, Victoria, Australia. The station opened in 1891 as a

terminus Terminus may refer to: * Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination * Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination Geography *Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...

, the line being extended to

Welshpool Welshpool ( cy, Y Trallwng) is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, historically in the county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn; its Welsh language name ''Y Trallwng'' m ...

the next year. Initially the station was planned to be named "Koorooman", later being changed to "Leongatha" at time of construction. For a number of years after the ending of regular

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross ...

passenger operations on the line east of Cranbourne in 1993, the station was the terminus of the former

South Gippsland Tourist Railway The South Gippsland Railway was a tourist railway located in South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. It controlled a section of the former South Gippsland railway line between Nyora and Leongatha, and operated services from Leongatha to Nyora, v ...

, but its operations ceased in January 2016. The track south of Leongatha has been dismantled and turned into the

Great Southern Rail Trail The Great Southern Rail Trail is a 109-kilometre rail trail from Nyora to Welshpool in South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. This mostly flat or gently undulating trail goes through lush dairy farmland, areas of remnant bush and lowland scrub. It ...

. The station precinct includes a well preserved red brick station building,

goods shed A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

and

footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

. The goods shed has since been demolished with a view of converting the unused railway reservation for a

shopping plaza A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to ref ...

, which has not yet eventuated. The track east of Leongatha Station ended at the rear of a

petrol station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoline ...

, approx 500 metres away. The

home signal The application of railway signals on a rail layout is determined by various factors, principally the location of points of potential conflict, as well as the speed and frequency of trains and the movements they require to make. Non-provisio ...

for trains approaching Leongatha from Koonwarra remained, but because there was no rail for any significant distance from the signal, it was decommissioned. From the end of the rails, the reservation is a

crushed rock Crushed stone or angular rock is a form of construction aggregate, typically produced by mining a suitable rock deposit and breaking the removed rock down to the desired size using crushers. It is distinct from naturally occurring gravel, which i ...

pathway mainly used by

bicycles A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

and

pedestrians A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term usually refers to someone walking on a road or Road surface, pavement, but this was not the case historically. The meaning of pedestrian is dis ...

. The South Gippsland Shire Council had successfully attained a 18 year lease of the 35 km railway corridor from Leongatha to Nyora. Its intention for the corridor is to remove the railway tracks and replace it with a bicycle track aimed to attract a Melbourne based tourism market. Regardless of community representations to the Victorian state government seeking return of railway services, the council has, since January 2020 commenced works to remove the railway infrastructure from the railway reservation from Leongatha station to Nyora station.

Current status

The reopening the South Gippsland railway line as far as Leongatha is continuing to feature as a prominent issue for the region. The line was first closed along with numerous other regional Victorian railways by the

Lonie Report The Victorian Transport Study, better known as the Lonie Report, was an extensive study of freight and passenger transport within the state of Victoria, Australia. The study was set up on 13 June 1979 by the Government of Victoria, and the report ...

in 1981. The Transport Users Group was successful campaigning to have passenger rail services reinstated to Leongatha on 9 December 1984. The line would again be closed first to Barry Beach and Yarram in 1992, and then to Leongatha in July 1993. The promise in 1999 to revive the railway line for freight and passenger services, by the

Steve Bracks Stephen Phillip Bracks (born 15 October 1954) is a former Australian politician and was the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Labor Party and was party leader and premier from 1999 ...

-led Victorian state Labor government, was abandoned in 2008 by his successor

John Brumby John Mansfield Brumby (born 21 April 1953) is the current Chancellor of La Trobe University and former Victorian Labor Party politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2007 to 2010. He became leader of the Victorian Labor Party and premier ...

. A community campaign involving the South and West Gippsland Transport Group is continuing to work collaboratively with key stakeholders and governments to have rail services reinstated, and generally improve transport accessibility in the region. The South and West Gippsland Transport Group, a public transport and rail lobby group, established in April 2011, is closely associated with the South Gippsland Shire Council and other local governments. It has continued to campaign for an integrated transport plan in the region, which includes rail at the forefront of the proposal. A South Gippsland Shire Council Priority Projects documents released in June 2013 acknowledged that the return of rail as a major community priority where funding and support are sought from all forms of level government. In early 2014, a report into the extensions of the Melbourne metropolitan rail system identified the population growth corridor from Cranbourne to Koo-Wee-Rup along the disused Leongatha line as a key planning priority.

V/Line bus terminus

Leongatha Railway Station is used as a terminus for the

Road Coach service, and as a stop on the Coach route to

Yarram The township of Yarram (formerly Yarram Yarram) is in Victoria, Australia, in the Shire of Wellington, located in the southeast of Gippsland. At the , the population of the town was . The town is the regional centre of a prosperous farming distri ...

. The railway station toilet facilities have recently become available to V/Line bus passengers. As of 2017, these toilet facilities have been closed, although a newer toilet was provided at the stop in recent years.

Location

Leongatha Railway Station is located on Long street,

Leongatha Leongatha is a town in the foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges, South Gippsland Shire, Victoria, Australia, located south-east of Melbourne. At the , Leongatha had a population of 5,869. Canadian dairy company Saputo which trades in Australia ...

. Long Street is accessible from the

Strzelecki Highway Strzelecki Highway is a short 55 kilometre highway that connects the towns of Leongatha and Morwell. It was named after the Strzelecki Ranges, the set of low mountain ridges the road travels through. History The passing of the '' Transport Act ...

and Nerrena Road, just off the

South Gippsland Highway The South Gippsland Highway is a partially divided highway in Victoria, Australia which connects the city of Melbourne with the South Gippsland region of Victoria, ending in the town of Sale. The highway begins at Lonsdale Street (Princes High ...

Trains from Leongatha

Since the closure of the South Gippsland Tourist Railway, no train services operate from Leongatha Station.

V/Line coach services

To compensate for the government not re-opening the railway to Leongatha for passenger services, a new bus timetable provided for additional services from Spencer Street Station (now

Southern Cross station Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, between Collins and La Trobe Streets, at the western edge of the Melbourne central busi ...

) in Melbourne to Leongatha and Yarram. The current timetable provides for eight coach services daily, four of which continue through to the former railway terminus at Yarram. Weekend timetables provide for four services on each of Saturday and Sunday. The increased timetable had proven popular, with some services needing two coaches to cope with the traffic.

Gallery

Image:Leongatha eastview.jpg, Leongatha railway station in 1906, looking east

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leongatha Railway Station Victoria (Australia) tourist railway stations Railway stations in Australia opened in 1891 Transport in Gippsland (region) Leongatha, Victoria Shire of South Gippsland