Rail Trail Conference a Great Success
The 2024 Rail Trail Conference brought together 110 delegates (RTA’s biggest conference yet!) in Melbourne to learn more about ‘Attracting more rail trail users – providing better experiences and facilities’.
The packed first day featured presentations from people including Christina Harris, Ride High Country and Tiffany Stodart, Northern Rivers Rail Trail, who had delegates jotting down important takeaways for their own trails, including Christina’s: “‘Build it and they will come’ needs to be changed to ‘promote it and they will come’.”
Two panel discussions went in depth, discussing increasing rail trail usage and the often challenging role of volunteers in friends’ groups and committees of management. Bicycle Network CEO Alison McCormack discussed how e-bikes had risen in popularity (some 11 percent of cyclists were on e-bikes in BN’s recent Super Tuesday bike count) and a presentation on Artwork on the Great Victorian Rail Trail explored how the initiative has increased rail trail patronage.
The second day of the conference was more informal: a leisurely ride/walk on the Lilydale to Seville section of the Warburton Rail Trail, with lunch at Carriage Cafe and a chance for more networking. These connections are a great outcome for the conference: it was terrific to see some who were stuck or struggling with their rail trails connecting with, and learning from, those who have experienced success.
Thanks to main sponsors Canyon and Brompton as well as PieProof and Tour de Vines, the RTA events committee and all the attendees for a successful conference.
More in the summer Connections magazine and we will look at sharing the presentations more widely.
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More News
On the 8th of November 2024 the Amy Gillett Bikeway Rail Trail celebrated a significant milestone with the completion of...
The duplication of the Main South Road involved some major earth works, including the reconstruction of the underpass be...
The O’Keefe Rail Trail takes a bit of a detour to reach Axedale, but that little loop has its compensations. The n...
Construction of the 11km western half of the Waranga (Murchison-Rushworth) Rail Trail is moving along nicely and it is a...
Riders and walkers on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail are enjoying yet another new bridge over one of the difficult-to-tr...
Yarra’s gone electric, but this has nothing to do with Toyota. Ramping up it’s Ride Yarra Ranges projects wi...
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In August, Rail Trails Australia regional representative for southern NSW, Dennis Puniard, presented at and was a co-fac...
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