The Port Fairy - Warrnambool Rail Trail is a 37 kilometre rail trail nearing completion in southwestern Victoria, Australia. At present the path is open for travel between Port Fairy and Illowa. The remaining link to Warrnambool is nearing completion mid 2011. The trail begins in Port Fairy, running north then east through Koroit where it turns back southeast to Warrnambool. About two thirds is within Moyne Shire and one third within Warrnambool City. The overall cost of the project is put at $2.2 million of which the committee must find $200,000 in cash and kind.
The trail follows the path of a former branch line which ran from Port Fairy to Warrnambool and connected with the Melbourne-Ararat line, via Hamilton. This branch line was commissioned in 1884, completed in 1890. It served primarily to connect the ports of Warrnambool and Port Fairy with destinations inland. With declining port usage, the line closed in 1977. The rail trail is incomplete as of July 2011; however, it is possible to join the trail at Illowa on the outskirts of Warrnambool and proceed some 24 kilometres westward from there.[1].
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