When I exited the train carriage at Castlemaine Station to swipe my myki card I realised that my wallet was no longer in my pocket.

I immediately went to the VLine counter where the helpful and thoughtful rail Gguard took the details of what happened as well as my personal contact details.

She made contact with the train and the Bendigo Station and asked if they could  board the train at Bendigo and have a look for said wallet.

The rail guard then said she would call me if they happened to find the wallet, as you can imagine, the anxiety was going over time. 

I immediately went home and prepared to ring all the relevant agencies  to  cancel my  Medicare Card,  bank cards, Savings Cards, Drivers licence, etcetera.

The Phone rang a few minutes later and it was the helpful attendant from Castlemaine station ringing, to let me know they had no luck finding my wallet.

I rang all the banks and relevant agencies to cancel all cards.

Where was the last place I remember having it? Did anyone else now have my details in their possession? Did I lose my wallet in Melbourne where did I lose it?

After calling and cancelling the cards I decided to watch the end of the footy then off bed I went.

The next morning at 10.30 am the phone rings and it is Bendigo police saying that they have my wallet with all contents intact – an honest guy from Huntly had found it on the train and handed it in to them.

Firstly thank you sir for finding and handing in my wallet and secondly thank you for restoring my faith in the honesty of people and a big thank you to the VLine Staff for your help but most of all the honest man from Huntly. Thank you

I have been following the Regional Rail Link with much interest and reading the concerns raised recently in this paper by Castlemaine Council and residents.

There are concerns for all commuters on the Bendigo Line past Sunbury, they are not getting the value from the service they should be.

Compared to the commuters on the Ballarat and Geelong lines - they have a designated line from Southern Cross to Ballarat and Geelong.

But Bendigo doesn't have that luxury because we still have to share a line with the Metropolitan Service to and from Sunbury and Southern Cross Station.

The Regional Rail Link won't be completed until such time as a designated line between Sunbury and Southern Cross is put in.

Commuters travelling on the Bendigo line and wanting to exit at Sunshine, Footscray etc., should exit the Bendigo train at Sunbury and catch the suburban network into the city.

This would enable the Bendigo train to run express into Southern Cross with no stops.

And you can tell that the train isn't going at anywhere close to its capacity speed.

This would also be the same travelling to Bendigo.

Commuters use the Metropolitan service to either go to Southern Cross or Sunbury to connect to the Bendigo service.

If this was done then there could be a far greater time reduction than the few minutes that are being heralded a great success.

The success will only come with the building of the designated line from Southern Cross to Sunbury - it's not that hard to do.