The Yass Valley Council has been allocated $220,000 by the NSW Government under the Get NSW Active program in 2022/23 to fund the strategic planning and design of a local rail trail.
The Yass Tramway was operational between 1892 and 1988, connecting Yass Junction station on the main Sydney-Melbourne railway with Yass town to the south of the line. The tramway corridor is relatively short at 4.5km, but when constructed, the rail trail will become an important part of the local Yass cycling and active pathways network, giving locals and tourists the opportunity to enjoy the surroundings of Yass.
The tramway corridor (called a tramway because of the relatively lighter rails used in construction) includes a heritage-listed 1892 constructed large steel bridge across the Yass River.
The tramway corridor ends near the centre of Yass at the Yass Railway Museum housed in the heritage-listed railway station, which also had the shortest platform in the world when operational.
The funds will be used for Phase 1 of the project, to plan and design the rail trail as part of a local active transport project.
