Rusty Miller (Letters, 3 May) is right. After we were assured that despite the removal of the legislation that had prevented the Casino to Murwillumbah (C–M) rail corridor land from being sold off, that’s exactly what the state government is now doing.
The documented facts are: As Don Page, National Party MP for Ballina for 27 years, said of the train closure in 2004: ‘approximately 133,000 people use this train each year and its termination will particularly affect the elderly and disabled.’
The Liberals/Nationals also said the social, environmental and cost benefits of a commuter train service on the line ‘would be enormous’. After promising for so long they would return trains to the C–M line, they even had cute t-shirts made saying: ‘You Can Have Your Trains Back’. They are now spending so much taxpayer money destroying the line for a bike track. This is a huge injustice and betrayal of the Northern Rivers community.
When Justine Elliot, Labor MP for Richmond, promised $150m for train services on the C–M line in 2004 she thanked all those people who fought so hard and said it was ‘a great victory for our community, which has run a tireless campaign to save the train’. They’re still campaigning today for the trains we need.
When the Labor Party closed the train service in 2004 they claimed it would cost $88m over ten years. That’s $666,666 per kilometre to upgrade the line for the old heavy XPT train. In 2016 it cost $660,000 per kilometre to repair the line in Byron for the Solar Train. The first section of rail trail cost $600,000 per kilometre for a few fit cyclists and (‘cycling tourism’) which has increased traffic not reduced it.
All North Coast councils should be demanding the state government provide the train services we were promised and have needed for so long. Otherwise, ratepayers and taxpayers will be paying hundreds of millions to build and maintain more roads to cope with the increasing traffic gridlock.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
