The grant will fund an environmental study along the 106km route of the former rail line, which closed in 1957, before work on a combined cycling and walking path, either side of the existing central rail trail section between Cowaramup and Witchcliffe, can start.

Lotterywest chairman John Atkins said he was pleased to hand over a cheque for the rail trail because it was a joint project between the two shires and the National Trust.

“One of the things that Lotterywest does like to do is create connections,” Mr Atkins said.

He acknowledged Margaret River Newspower representative Andrew Wagner, who attended the cheque handover, and his customers who purchased lotto tickets.

“It’s through the retailer that people buy lotto tickets, and it’s through people buying those tickets that Lotterywest can help fund community projects like this.

“It is a symbiotic relationship and Western Australia is the only place in Australia where this happens.”

On a personal note, Mr Atkins, who has a holiday home in Augusta, said he was “very familiar with the bottom part” of the proposed rail trail.

Augusta-Margaret River Shire president and Capes Regional Organisation of Councils chairman, Ray Colyer, accepted the cheque and thanked Lotterywest.

Busselton Shire’s deputy president, Cr Tom Tuffin, said 40,000 people a year already used the Cape to Cape walking track along the coast.

“This (rail trail) will be even bigger because it will be for cyclists, as well as walkers,” Cr Tuffin said.

Augusta-Margaret River Shire’s manager asset services, David Nicholson, said Lotterywest had provided $50,000 in 2007 for replacement of two bridges near Margaret River, $30,850 direct to the National Trust in 2009 for a rail trail concept plan and $23,000 for an aboriginal heritage study along the rail trail route.

Also last year Lotterywest provided $108,000 to fund a development plan for the rail trail and $35,680 for an interpretation plan, Mr Nicholson said.