THE meeting of a V/Line community reference group in Wodonga yesterday brought some good news to a region that has battled for years to get rail service improvements.
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Those at the meeting were told speed restrictions on the line between Albury and Melbourne had been reduced significantly and there is a program to get complete track upgrades before the end of the year.
The group, which had a list of 30 grievances, also reported most of those had been satisfactorily dealt with by V/Line and signed off by them.
Perhaps most important is the commitment by the Australian Rail Track Corporation to maintain the rail infrastructure to ensure it would never again degrade to the standard that forced the closure of services while major works were undertaken.
The committee said a report by the corporation on the track had been well received, in spite of the extended program of infrastructure upgrades and flow-on effects including the transfer of services to road coaches, late trains and cancellations.
There is no doubt Border and North East residents will increasingly return to the rail service if its reliability and timeliness can be proven.