Luis Feliu
Rail-transport campaigners have welcomed the derailment of a bill which they say would have enabled the dismantling of the disused Casino-Murwillumbah rail line to make way for cycling and walking trails.
But the rail-trail lobby say the defeat of the private member’s bill has not sidetracked their campaign, claiming that a recent $75 million proposal to convert the Casino-Murwillumbah rail line corridor into recreational rail trail will be approved.
NSW Greens, the National and the Shooters parties combined in the Upper House last Thursday to vote down the Transport Administration Amendment (Rail Trails Community Management) Bill 2014 moved by Labor’s Mike Veitch which he said aimed to ‘transfer rail corridors to community organisations for use as recreational rail trails’.
Trains on Our Tracks (TOOT) say the bill was always ‘dubious’ and the argument ‘bandied all the time’ by rail-trail supporters that public ownership of the corridor would be protected with a rail trail in place was ‘a red herring’.
‘The bill would have enabled the removal of rail infrastructure and conversion to cycling trails of disused rail lines in NSW, without the current need for parliamentary approval to formally close a rail line,’ TOOT spokesman Basil Cameron told Echonetdaily.
‘With this bill now defeated, TOOT believes it’s time to look again at multi-use options for the Casino to Murwillumbah rail corridor that leave the rail tracks intact,’ he said.
But spokesperson for the Northern Rivers Rail Trail group, Marie Lawton, said the bill’s defeat ‘will make no difference to the rail trail getting approval’, adding that ‘the transport minister will be looking at each NSW rail trail on an individual basis’.
Ms Lawton said ‘if the tracks have to be removed, that will make no difference to the trains being reinstated, apart from the fact that it will make it easier, as the corridor will be cleared and maintained.
‘Replacing tracks isn’t such a huge problem. Keeping the corridor available in public hands is the most important thing.
‘The old railway line corridor between Ballina and Booyong was unused and finally sold off. We don’t want that to happen to the Casino to Murwillumbah line,’ Ms Lawton told Echonetdaily.
Mr Cameron says TOOT says has ‘always been supportive of the development of a cycling trail within the rail corridor, alongside the rail track as it would be a ’win-win for the community’.
‘In recent months we’ve been seeing a resurgence in community support for keeping our rail infrastructure. There are many options for rail-based tourism and public transport along this line, including shuttle and tram services within Byron Shire,’ he said.
Extinguished
‘These options would all be extinguished if the line is dismantled, an action which could pave the way for the corridor to be built over by developers.
‘There is strong support in the community to provide tourism infrastructure funding for a multi-use corridor incorporating shuttle rail services, cycling and walking.
‘We don’t need to dismantle rail infrastructure to develop a regional cycling trail. We believe muti-use of the corridor is the way forward,’ he said.
Last week, Tweed Shire councillors voted to put concept plans for what could be the state’s first public rail trail, a 2.5-kilometre pilot project between Murwillumbah railway station and the Tweed Regional Gallery, on display.
Funding for the pilot project, costed at around $1 million, is being sought from Infrastructure NSW. Council has already allocated $275,000 this year for the first stage of the project after deciding last year to support establishing such a rail trail.
But some councillors expressed doubts about the feasibility of the project and whether it would be used that much by tourists or the elderly.
Mr Cameron said that ‘no doubt the rail trail supporters hoped the bill would get through’ but the recent rail feasibility study ‘makes it clear’ that ‘unless protections are removed, the whole project is uneconomic and unfeasible’.
He said the rail-trail lobby’s claim that public ownership would be assured with a rail trail was a ‘red herring’ as it any rail-trail proposal would mean ‘alienation of the land over and around the rail corridor’ and organisations required to issue leases and concessions over the line.
‘They’d rather not talk about the study but spend more time trashing people who support maintaining the corridor for future rail and multi-uses,’ he said.
Mr Cameron said Mr Veitch’s bill required removal of a section of the transport act which ‘ensured the corridor can’t be closed without parliamentary approval’, so it was ‘dubious’.
‘Once protections are gone, they can sell it off,’ he said.
Earlier this year, a state government feasibility study found that the conversion of the Casino and Murwillumbah rail line to a rail trail would cost $75.5 million and that if eventually approved would become a big tourist draw.
A NSW Greens spokesperson told Echonetdaily that the likely reason the bill was voted down was because the coalition wanted to present their own bill to parliament.
Great news. The prospect of having a rail shuttle operating alongside a multi-use track would have been dashed forever had this bill got up. Now we can have a serious conversation with all parties about how we can best use to corridor to cater to all the wider needs of our community. I hope in particular that Sol and Cameron will get behind this dual usage option so we can all move forward! For the diehards who refuse to see the logic in offering both rail AND trail options, I say “meh”.
If you think that any Government will fund a train (in the wake of the 2004 Waterfall rail disaster) with anything less than the normal mandated safety standards found elsewhere on the state rail network, you’d have to be dreaming. Just think sitting-duck for law suits because the State Government provided a rail service with inferior safety standards (unless you are expecting $900Million to bring it up to scratch). The corridor as it is, is incompatible with contemporary safety standards, it’s all very well demanding dual use, but who will take the risk of being sued and provide the funding to revive this 19th century train? Both sides have said NO! A 21st century train is pushing its way south through Southern Queensland and will follow a new alignment according to population dictates. History will not be kind to the train lobby if the thousands who support the rail trail are made to wait another ten years! Promises made, promises broken, a decade later, isn’t it time to embrace something that is achievable? $900Million is pie-in-the-sky, would you say yes to a $75Million injection into our region to revive the corridor as a rail trail or does getting absolutely nothing (no train, no rail trail) sound like a better prospect?
The facts are that a rail trail is the only option that has been thoroughly presented for the approval process. There’s absolutely no point in pretending that rail services of any kind in the near future have any likelihood of anything like the possible $75 million that’s likely for the rail trail.
I’m so tired of Basil Cameron banging on about private developers moving in! And “red herrings”.
Talk about red herrings! Guilty, Basil. Where’s HIS plan for our corridor??
The rail trail is actually the Win Win Win, in this “debate.
The TOOT scenario (whatever that is), can only be a Lose Lose Lose. Here’s why . .
If TOOT has its way . . (Lose Lose Lose)
1. Their rail services prospects are not going to happen. Way too expensive to rebuild and then run. Period.
2. The $75 million funding for cleaning up and maintaining the corridor, is rejected outright.
3. The likelihood of the NSW government itching to sell off the corridor in the medium future, will therefore escalate dramatically.
If NRRT (Rail Trail) is successful . . (Win Win Win)
1. Then we get a world class eco friendly zero carbon tourist attraction that will boost the local economy greatly, whilst enhancing the local’s transport needs and aesthetic awareness, with a highly multi usable soft track corridor, well into the future.
2. We, the community, get the $75 million funding for cleaning up and maintaining the corridor.
3. If at any stage, modern rail services are considered, then the corridor will definitely still be in public ownership for this to be possible.
It’s that easy. Just support the NRRT (Northern Rivers Rail Trail), if you truly care for our stunning corridor, and wish for any possible trains in the future.
The community has shown time and again that they overwhelmingly support a rail service on the publicly owned Casino to Murwillumbah rail line-it has nothing to do with one person’s plan. Personal attacks on people who are just representing the community’s needs (which is what our politicians should be doing) will not change that.
The way people are unwilling to compromise and have a rail trail along the line, but continue to aggressively demand the line be ripped up, doesn’t give the public any confidence that they would EVER concede to their rail trail being ripped up to get trains running again. Even if the land had not been sold off to developers.
The community getting $75m for an eco friendly, accessible to all. train service AND cycleway, is the only WIN WIN WIN.
May I make a correction to Lousie’s comment about overwhelming support for trains on the MBah to Casino line. This isn’t quite true, yes most people support a train for the whole of the Northern Rivers but not on the old corridor .It does not and will not give the majority of people on the whole of Northern Rivers a public transport solution.Yes it may work as a slow transport mode for a bit of Byron Shire but it will leave our neighbours in Tweed Shire,Ballina Shire and Lismore Shire without a real public transport solution. When looking at the whole of the Northern Rivers from Tweed Heads to Ballina and inland to Casino you will notice that the population growth and the existing population is not on the old corridor .
Check the Community Run petition website and you will notice a 4 to 1 ratio of people wanting a rail trail compared to a train/trail . Approx 4000 people want a rail trail and 1000 want a train/trail.
Yes a train would be brilliant but it must follow the population corridor or that $1B will be totally wasted. Don’t forget also that the old corridor will give us a VST (Very Slow Train) for the next 200 years ,who will apologise to the next generation for leaving them with a useless and very slow public transport solution.
The rail trail has a greater of succeeding now that all councils, through which the rail corridor passes, have agreed on the idea of the rail trail.
The Transport Administration Amendment (Rail Trails Community Management) Bill 2014 may have been lost but it may appear again before the next election probably worded differently. I am also aware that it is well and truly on the agenda to be underway prior to the next election.
The Byron community, who think they own the whole railway, need to realise the train will never again stop at Byron Station in its current form. It was proven to be uneconomic back in 2004 when it was stopped and nothing will have changed-lack of paying passengers for a start.
To expect anyone to run either a tram or train service on part of the line will not happen. Again, due to the fact that approval would have to come from Government in the first instance and then to find a gullible operator with money to subsidise it will ensure nothing happens.
There are rail lines that may have made a profit, if reopened, have been closed for a long time. A great example is the rail line from Armidale north to Wallangarra. It has had various areas dismantled to allow passage of large vehicles. It will never reopen as it is adjacent to the more profitable road freight corridor of the New England Highway. This is also being worked up to become a rail trail linking into Queensland’s disused lines.
The benefits to the whole rail corridor community will include the start up of new businesses such as bike hire and trail-side accommodation as well as other attractions. The Local Governments will most likely win the tender to maintain the rail trail and other businesses will benefit from the removal of rail sleepers and rails as well as other disused rail infrastructure.
The number of rail trail users in the Central Otago region has exceeded all expectation. Originally they estimated 30,000 people each year but have been getting around 90,000. Our climate would be more conducive to year round use.
It is time to forget the railway and unite to get the rail trail under way as soon as possible.
Spot on Tim Shanasy, I agree wholeheartedly and the TOOT group seem to only be interested in delusional fantasizing…I can see that nobody at TOOT ride bikes otherwise they’d know it’s hard & dangerous pedaling over lines & sleepers thru dark tunnels, maybe they think we should become mountain goats when the going get impossible, who knows…if they did go ahead with the Billion dollar rail I’m pretty sure they would have to rip up the lines or re-engineer them to be seamless welded, replace the sleepers with modern concrete or steel sleepers & re-ballast all 150 klm etc etc, & hope that someone eventually rides on the train…
Better idea, rip up the lines, except at stations, leave all remnants of station buildings, rail nails, bits n pieces of track etc like they have done on the Otago Rail Trail…stations all become restored with nice gardens etc…and have a world class bike trail for a fraction of the cost…
We can’t get funding for a commuter train between Casino and Murwillumbah. $75 million will not cover it. That amount is enough for a rail trail not the $950 million for the train to come back. The transport minister said there will not be a train on that corridor.
A rail trail would be great, provided that it doesn’t involve removing the rail line. Surely one day we’ll get some politicians who can see the need for rail services to take the pressure off our ever-deteriorating road network. One only needs to observe the amount of traffic on the Lismore-Bangalow road during morning and afternoon peak times to see the potential for a well-patronised commuter train service. Same thing for the Bruxner Highway between Lismore and Casino.
If the line was extended the relatively short distance from Murwillumbah to the Gold Coast Airport, which will eventually be reached by the Queensland rail network, it would take multiple thousands of cars off the Highway between the Northern Rivers and Brisbane. A win not only for the Northern Rivers, but for SE Queensland as well. The Federal Government needs to step in and make it happen.
As for the rail allegedly not being feasible because it doesn’t go through Ballina, when the Pacific Highway upgrade is complete, it would be about a 15-minute bus ride from Ballina to the Bangalow rail station. Problem solved.
The rail and associated infrastructure on the murwillumbah line is nothing but rust. It can’t be reused. Conversely if a rail trail was built it could also achieve the same goal of getting cars off the road and also the secondary goal of getting people off their backsides and getting healthy.
The vision for the Rail Trail as I understand it includes converting the tunnels and any of the redeemable bridges to pedestrian-only. Most of the bridges and trestles which are long past their use by date as railway infrastructure are made from big-scrub timbers, representing some of the last remaining traces of it in fact. To demolish them is unthinkable isn’t it? They can live on for many years yet, preserved as rail trail infrastructure. A beautiful rail trail would include shady avenues with gloriously arching trees providing healthy habitat for people as well as wildlife. It might be possible to preserve sections of the tracks if it weren’t for all the contamination remediation works that will need to be done and that starts with the ballast! It will all need to be removed. The NSW Government might be prepared to invest $75 million for a piece of regional development infrastructure that could help to remediate youth unemployment and poor access for safe walking and cycling in our region, but not for a bike track beside the rails. It would be a hot and polluted experience in a sun-bleached and snake infested industrial zone (there won’t be a train to use the rails that have been left behind because both sides of politics have said NO!). A bike track beside the rails would not be a hallmark attraction that could underpin the future of tourism for the whole region.
LOL, a couple of cyclists on a rail trail – fail. Bring back the trains.
Thousands of tourists already here in the region on any given day (and looking for something else to do before they go somewhere to spend the balance of their holiday budget) is something the Central Otago rail trail doesn’t have, yet people are drawn there in their thousands by that one attraction. The doomsayers can’t get their heads around it because they don’t want to. Despite the fact that it is way off the beaten track, 300 locals and visitors use the Central Otago rail trail every day. When this rail trail exceeds all expectations as rail trails and recreational pathways frequently do, there will be heaps of people with egg on their face.
The whole corridor should be heritage protected, some amazing old tunnels on the line.
One of the many worrying things surrounding the trail is how tourist based it is, and the fact that the locals and their infrastructure wont get a penny. But the private tourist businesses will get everything!. But on the other hand, trains will not only generate tourist dollars, but also give more money to local infrastructure like hospitals and schools. And I also would like to correct marie when she said; ‘The old railway line corridor between Ballina and Booyong was unused and finally sold off. We don’t want that to happen to the Casino to Murwillumbah line,’. But the truth is, that line actually got ripped up and therefore the protections weren’t there, so of course it got sold. Marie, I suggest you brush up on your railway facts before you go commenting like you do on newspapers like this. False comments really don’t help your reputation and the overall reputation of the rail trail proposal. Please think twice.
Central Otago Rail Trail, 80% locals, 20% tourists. We focus on tourists because that is how we will earn money from the rail trail, individuals and locals will be able to use it for free.
How does the ownership of the corridor change when the rail trail is built? The Northern Rivers Rail Trail will be the property of the NSW Government, it will generate revenue every time an enterprise uses the rail trail for profit. Without charging individual users or local residents, the options to collect revenue are still broad, from business sponsorships to contributions from tourism operators and site fees for events. If the Government decided it wanted the $75 million paid back, it could be done and I’m sure the local councils will be vying for a slice of the action as well. Why all this panic over nothing?
The greatest benefit for the region would be a Rail trail alongside a light rail service. To start building a cycle way within the corridor, no change of legislation is required. It can happen right now. NSW allows to have cycleways in disused rail corridors. That would mean a light rail service can be introduced in the short term as well. That is called a Win Win situation. Money can be spent and the corridor preparing for a proper solution, not only for the few. Stand up to the scaremongering. If there is $75 million available, it should be put to better use than building an exclusive cycleway.
I do not understand how supposedly intelligent people believe that the train will return to this line. On its current track that will never happen.
The cost of repairing bridges and culverts we are told will cost an enormous amount.
The other recurring issue is the lack of patronage of the current line prior to its closure 10 years ago. It was so uneconomical to run that was why. The patronage would not change as nothing has changed on the current destinations along the line.
Governments do not run totally uneconomic ventures for too long and if at all it is usually for a vote grab.
There are numerous lines west of the Great Dividing Range that were closed due to being uneconomic and they carried thousands of tonnes of paying freight as compared to passenger list consisting of a handful of pensioners on a $2.50 ticket to Sydney from Murwillumbah.
Today it is quicker and more efficient to run road coaches to more centres than the train could ever go to. Even these coaches are never full of passengers so the train would be even worse.
Bring on the Rail Trail expeditiously.
Please read the Murwillumbah to Casino Transport Study,not the train or rail trail studies. This 16 page study shows that the old corridor is not suitable for a train system to take us into the next century.The report shows the expected corridor route will be from Tweed Heads thru Pottsville and down to Ballina and on thru Alstonville/ Goonellabah to Lismore. This should happen after 2030 . Why keep putting up barricades to what the majority of the whole of the Northern Rivers needs. I have lived in Byron Shire almost 50 years and I believe that there are other shires around us who also make up the Northern Rivers region.Think of our neighbouring shires and also think ahead at least 150 years.
A light rail on the old corridor will give us a short sighted white elephant ,it may look cute and give us joy but what about when it dies ,who will bury the mess.
Tweed ,Ballina and Lismore Shires will be stranded without a transport solution if the old corridor is used.