The long-discussed Daylesford to Hanging Rock Rail Trail looks set to be shelved, with councillors to be asked next Tuesday to cease actively progressing the project and hand a section of the rail corridor to Daylesford Spa Country Rail for its planned extension.
The rail trail concept dates back to a 2013 regional tracks-and-trails study involving Hepburn and neighbouring councils. Between 2021 and 2023 Council invested in early-stage planning, and in December 2021 resolved to support both the trail and a rail extension, and to seek funding for a $1.5 million planning stage.
That funding never materialised. Officers report several unsuccessful attempts to secure external money, with the next planning stage now estimated at $2 million. A more recent economic and visitor analysis, commissioned with Macedon Ranges Shire Council and the regional tourism body, found the trail had a favourable benefit-cost ratio and recommended proceeding with it. But officers say major risks remain: tenure and technical challenges along the route, potential conflicts with farming and rail uses, mixed community support, and — critically — a low likelihood of attracting construction funding. Macedon Ranges Shire has since dropped its commitment to its section of the trail.
Under the recommendation, Council would relinquish its leases over the corridor between Bullarto and Lyonville so that Daylesford Spa Country Rail, which already runs tourist trains on part of the route and has the resources to proceed, can take up the leases from VicTrack to build its extension. Council would also negotiate an agreement leaving the door open to revisiting a rail trail should it become a live prospect again.
Officers frame the move as significantly reducing Council’s financial and reputational risk at a time when the number and scale of major project ambitions is under scrutiny.
