So our philanthropic benefactors the Elements Resort are about to gift the shire a three-kilometre rail service enabling their guests to travel into town avoiding the traffic jam.
How’s the irony in that those who derived their wealth from coal mining in NSW are being permitted to impose an antiquated and polluting diesel loco on the residents.
Driving into Byron suffering the crawl to turn left at Bayshore (ozigo), secure a park and meet the proposed hourly train service only to be dropped off at Simmo’s Caltex servo and to repeat the procedure on the way home is ludicrous!
Why not create a walkway/cycleway with solar powered lighting for all to use 24/7, being greener and cheaper and supply the Element’s guests with a fleet of new cycles or heaven forbid, electric bikes.
Alas, another nail in the coffin of the goose that laid the golden egg.
Ron Land, Ocean Shores
There already is a good cyclepath all the way from the Ozigo into town, why make another one? Why not just improve the existing cyclepath with better lighting, that’s all it needs?
The railway corridor is for trains. Keep pressuring the resort to follow through with the concept of converting the rail car to bio-fuels or solar hybrid, it is possible, and it’s worth saving the tracks for. If people are serious about more fuel-efficient transport and less pollution they should be supporting restoring rail. we are far too dependent on roads.
Yes! that is exactly right Angie. I cant help noticing every time I am caught in traffic there is this bike way/walk way that nobody uses sitting idle on the side of the road!. There is no need to make a new cycle path – that would just be a waste of money – money that could be used to fund the restoration of the rail line to say Bangalow and have a train running on it and actually taking some cars off the road.
Oh and I find it ironic, Ron, that you can call the railmotor ‘polluting’, but the fact is, the cars that are in Byron right now are much more (and I emphasise the MUCH) ‘polluting’ than this little railmotor.
You are spot on Ron, yes it’s very ironic indeed… A coal miners little toxic train! You would think that as a zero emissions town the resort would come up with a forward thinking alternative and not WW2 antiquated transport.
Gary Ainsworth – have you seen the photos of the train blowing smoke and the video showing the noise of this thing? Take a look at Lithgow State Mine Railway facebook page if they have not deleted it.
As the Sunrise Resident Group have always said, the train weighs 53,000kg and is impossible convert to electric/solar. Even the pro train councillors Cubis and Ibrahim agreed when the train was discussed at Council. You would need another carriage full of very expensive lithium iron batteries and it would only get you once down the track.
Elements (eco) Resort will not commit to a date or even a year of implementation to convert as they know full well it’s not feasible.
The train is proposed to operate from 7.30am till 10.30pm 7 days, effecting the lives of residents and holidaymakers for the benefit of so few. It will not take any significant number of cars off the road as there is very little parking at the Club EleMEDs resort.
I cannot stop laughing at the sheer irony and misinformation being displayed by a select few residents in the Sunrise area. Honestly, look around, the amount of cars, trucks and buses pumping dirty exhaust 24/7 from the highways, roads and alleyways into the environment is horrendous compared to a two car railmotor. Unlike cars, buses and trucks (especially Volkswagens), trains have very low CO2 emissions. As for “WW2 antiquated transport” and the “Toxic train”, the engines, braking systems, brakes and wheels inside this railmotor have been extensively upgraded to provide quieter, less pollutive running since its original build date. Elements have said they are committed to providing solar power in the future, but are currently focused on getting the train operational.
The reason it belched some smoke in the LSMR video was because it had not been started in 10 years.
Anyway if you ever need facts, here is the best website: http://northbyronbeachresort.com.au/rail-shuttle/