THE City of Greater Bendigo has joined a neighbouring council in requesting a meeting with the state government following a spate of Bendigo line commuter concerns.

The concerns were the subject of an urgent motion of business put forward by Councillor James Williams at Wednesday's council meeting. 

It follows a similar motion at a recent Mount Alexander Shire Council meeting which resulted in its mayor, Michael Reddon, writing to Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder about the need to discuss timetabling and other service improvements on the Bendigo line.

He also wrote to other councils along the line, including City of Greater Bendigo, seeking their support.

Cr Williams said he decided to support Mount Alexander Shire on behalf of commuters from the Bendigo region who shared concerned about changes to do with the Regional Rail Link.

"I've had a lot of calls from people with concerns," he said.

He said Wednesday's unanimous support in favour of the motion meant council could now find out what the government had planned for the Bendigo line. 

Mount Alexander Shire councillor Jess Howard took the lead on the issue after fielding a number of complaints from Castlemaine commuters about increased travel times and timetabling issues.

"The average train time (to Melbourne) now is about 1 hour 40 from Castlemaine, with similar impacts up and down the line," she said.

After meeting with commuters, Mt Alexander Shire conducted a snapshot survey over a 24-hour period.

Cr Howard said the survey confirmed what she and others knew anecdotally.

"It found about 65 per cent said Regional Rail Link had negative impact on timetabling, only 5 per cent were positive," she said.

Cr Howard said a subsequent meeting with rail representatives had done little to allay concerns because they discovered the goal of having completely separate metro and regional lines would not fully apply to Bendigo.

"Geelong and Ballarat will have a dedicated rail line all the way into Southern Cross, we will only have a dedicated track into Sunbury, then 18km of shared track," she said.

The council was told the majority of the works on the Bendigo line were effectively complete. 

"People moved here for country lifestyle but easy access to city study and work. Now people are saying they might have to consider moving back to Melbourne," Cr Howard said.

"Our community always knew it (the Regional Rail Link) would be a couple of years of pain, but not irreversible."

But Cr Howard was hopeful of a positive resolution and said the main thing was to make sure the issues were "clearly in front of the minister".

"The Regional Rail Link is overall a good thing but it seems it is having some negative effects on our line," she said. 

"We think we have a good chance of achieving a resolution to these issues."