For several hours yesterday (Thursday) Mullumbimby was brought to a standstill by a Council crew working on the railway crossing.
At times during the morning the gridlock filled the streets with stationary traffic, while the queue of vehicles waiting to get into town stretched away into the distance.
Byron Shire Council had been enlisted by NSW Transport to make emergency repairs to the crossing, where the rails, unused since the train service was abandoned in 2004, have been lifting from their bed.
The repairs followed complaints by motorists about the bumpy surface. When the complaints were referred by Council to the railway authority, it decided as a matter of urgency to co-opt Council workers to remove the metal from the crossing.
The work took place during Mullumbimby’s busiest shopping period, three days before Christmas.
