It comes after a Facebook campaign calling for a train service between Horsham and Ararat sparked widespread community support.

A Mail-Times online poll attracted hundreds of participants and showed 98.15 per cent of people supported the idea.

By Monday morning, five people, or 1.16 per cent, voted no and three people were unsure.

Mr Brown said the idea needed lots of community support.

Earlier this year,  the council re-calibrated its approach to getting a public transport study for western Victoria.

Under the new plan, eight councils will contribute $32,000 to fund the study, the state government’s transport department will contribute $5000, and two grants from Regional Development Australia will make up the remaining $20,000.

Mr Brown said council would continue to work with other municipalities in western Victoria.

‘‘A state government review of public transport is about to start,’’ he said.

‘‘We will be working with that process to look at specific matters, particularly around a shuttle service from Ararat to the west of the Wimmera and Ararat to the southern Wimmera.’’

Member for Lowan Emma Kealy said she had received many comments from residents about the return of passenger rail.

‘‘I’m more than happy to be an advocate for anyone because we do need decent public transport in the region,’’ she said.

‘‘We also need a review of bus leakages and to look at returning a bus service from Hamilton to Horsham.’’

Ms Kealy said she had lost count of the number of times she had written to ministers about the issue.

‘‘This is something I will keep pushing for and make sure people’s voices are heard,’’ she said.

‘‘Many politicians just don’t understand the issue here. They don’t understand that we don’t have a train.’’

Ms Kealy said it was great to see the community getting behind the issue.