YOU mightn’t realise it, but one of the biggest managers of land in the heart of Mildura is V/Line.
V/Line manages land around the railway track that cuts through some of Mildura’s most visited and visible streets.
And it is badly letting this city down.
You can’t miss all the railway land, because, right now, it is the biggest eyesore in Mildura.
Take our precious Seventh Street, the street that runs alongside the Murray River, where visitors enter Mildura from New South Wales. It should be immaculate, but it is sadly brought undone by railway land, which is littered with waist high weeds, unkept shrubs, rubbish and dust.
The track sweeps through town, up through Eighth Street, running alongside kindergartens, parks and people’s front yards. The contrast between well maintained parks and the railway land couldn’t be more stark.
It’s a disgrace and one that eats away at our sense of civic pride.
I approached V/Line this week to seek some answers, and sent them a bunch of photographs as evidence of their neglect.
I wanted to know does V/Line have a maintenance budget for railway land and when was the last time the organisation cleaned up its land along tracks through Mildura.
I also asked does it plan any cleaning work in Mildura? And if so when?
“V/Line regularly conducts reserve maintenance across the network including fire prevention slashing, herbicide spraying and collecting illegally dumped rubbish,” V/Line replied in a written statement on Thursday night.
“V/Line completed the fire prevention slashing program along the Mildura line in November, with a second round of slashing to commence in coming days.
“V/Line operates a significant program of vegetation management works throughout the year on the land we maintain, including fire prevention slashing and herbicide track spraying across the network.”
So after Sunraysia Daily’s enquiries this week, V/Line plans to do some slashing in the coming days. That’s a positive.
But here’s the thing: If all V/Line has to do is a bit of slashing and some spraying once every six months or so, is that good enough when their land is right in the heart of a major regional town?
Mildura may be out of sight and out of mind for V/Line, particularly as we have no passenger trains.
But that doesn’t excuse it for trashing the aesthetics of our city.
Councils can (or should) hold businesses and residents to account for not maintaining property, so where is the accountability for a government statutory corporation like V/Line? Can we fine them?
No property owner should have to put up with overgrown weeds, shrubs and unkept grass at their doorstep. It is not only unsightly, but a great hiding place for snakes.
It’s not good enough and it needs to be urgently addressed.
Perhaps Mildura Council, the Victorian Government and V/Line could look at beautification works on railway land within the city limits.
If the Victorian Government continues to deny Mildura a passenger train, then improving the amenity of the land around railway tracks, and ensuring they remain tidy, is the very least they could do.
