Work on the next stage of the upgrade of the Dimboola to Rainbow railway line will ramp up this week.

The line was booked out of service mid-last year due to its condition, and it received a small amount of maintenance earlier this year to allow trains to again travel to the grain storage sites at Jeparit and Rainbow.

Since reopening in late March, trains run by operators Pacific National, Southern Shorthaul Railroad, and Qube Logistics have traversed the line transporting a reported 100,000 tonnes of grain.

The earlier stage of the upgrade included the replacement of a relatively small number of timber sleepers, and the upcoming works will see many more sleepers replaced with both timber and the more durable concrete ones. These works will allow the current 25 kilometres per hour speed limit to be raised.

The new concrete sleepers have been manufactured near Geelong and delivered to the site by road truck. After being stockpiled at regular intervals along the line, crews are now distributing these new sleepers along the tracks in preparation for installation.

This week additional crews will commence working from the northern-most end of the line at the Bow Hill loading site just north of Rainbow, and work their way 70 kilometres south towards Dimboola.

Above - new sleepers beside the railway line at Pullut, north of Jeparit, ready to be installed over the coming weeks.