Gympie’s historic Mary Valley Rattler returned to the tracks on Saturday 19 March following the completion of a safety assessment.
The recommencing of services follows significant rehabilitation and restoration works completed in the wake of the recent floods that impacted the Gympie region.
The go-ahead for a return of services was provided by an independent panel of experienced civil engineers, who assessed the tracks this morning and confirmed that the safety certification works had been successfully completed.
Further flood rehabilitation work will take place over the coming months, but this work will have little impact on train services.
Micheal Green, General Manager of the Rattler Railway Company, said that it was good news for the Gympie region that the Rattler would be returning to normal services.
“It took us a little while to be able to complete a comprehensive review of the tracks because of the floods, but a full independent assessment was undertaken and work has been completed to remove debris from the tracks and ensure that it was totally safe to restart services,” Mr Green said.
“The past six months have been very difficult with the pandemic and then the floods, but we recognise the importance of the Rattler to the Gympie community and we have done everything possible to get the trains back on the tracks as quickly and as safely as possible.
“We would like to thank and acknowledge all of the Rattler ‘family – Gympie Council, our volunteers, our staff and the wider Gympie community – who have provided so much support in helping get this iconic tourism attraction back up and running after such a challenging natural disaster.”
Special Easter and holiday services will be announced in the next week.
Full details of services: maryvalleyrattler.com.au
