The move was welcomed by Wannon Water, which was being billed about $250 a day for the flagman while contractors laid underground sewerage pipes nearby.

On Wednesday, The Standard revealed the level-three flagman had been sitting in his car next to the rusty track for the last three weeks.

Two heavy sleepers and a pile of rocks block the track about two kilometres away near the Rooneys Road level crossing.

A condition of Wannon Water doing works near the line, which V/Line still deems to be ``live'', was that the flagman was on site at all times.

But faced with mounting criticism - after Melbourne media outlets climbed aboard the story on Thursday - V/Line contacted Wannon Water to say the flagman was no longer required, according to the water corporation's marketing and communications manager Annette Cannon.

``V/Line has revised the permit for our works and has advised their employees to ensure that nobody is using the track during the next couple of weeks,'' Ms Cannon said.

Ms Cannon pointed out that the flagman was only expected to be required for the next two weeks, once the contractors had moved away from the line.

V/Line spokesman Daniel Moloney confirmed the company had taken the unusual step of ``booking out'' the line.

``Obviously we wanted to see a sensible solution in place that takes care of our safety needs as well as Wannon Water's need to do the work,'' Mr Moloney said.

V/Line said earlier this week it only required Wannon Water - or its contractor - to ensure a worker undertook a two-hour safety course before working on the line.

Instead, a better qualified level-three contractor was brought in from Melbourne and put up in a Warrnambool motel for more than three weeks to do the job.

The man said that while V/Line rarely closed its live lines to allow third parties to do works, keeping maintenance vehicles off the largely disused line would cause minimal inconvenience.

A high-rail four-wheel-drive vehicle last used the stretch of track near Drummond Street on Tuesday, he said.

Dennington General Store co-owner Tom Bertrand said the community had been chuckling about the idle flagman for weeks but said he was a ``nice bloke''. The signalling subcontractor is believed to now be working on another line.