The latest leg of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail opened in style on Saturday, with hundreds of two-wheeled travel enthusiasts spinning along the newly opened 13.4 kilometre section from Casino to Bentley.
For those Richmond Valley cyclists accustomed to sharing the road with trucks doing 100 km/hour, it was a striking contrast to turn off and glide along the newly completed trail, with only the sounds of wheels on gravel and birdsong. The new trail is wider than the Tweed section of the rail trail, with a separate track for horses in several sections and safety fences where there are steep drop-offs.
Surprises along the way include beautiful mature grass trees and a big hill over the Naughtons Gap tunnel, with spectacular views in both directions from the top.
The tunnel contains threatened bats, who have been left in peace.
For the opening speeches, Casino and Lismore locals were joined by people from Grafton, Sydney, Brisbane, Tweed, Dubbo and the Gold Coast, including Cycling Without Age representatives, who led the opening contingent along the trail.
Elder Sam Walker gave a welcome to country before Richmond Valley Mayor Robert Mustow spoke about the ten year odyssey to get the rail trail built, and the history of the old Casino Railway Station site, where the trail begins (near the Richmond Dairies).
He spoke about the great success of the Tweed Valley section, which has exceeded all expectations, and Casino’s hopes to replicate that, especially once the neighbouring sections are completed to create a 143 kilometre rail trail.
Mayor Mustow credited the lobbying of all the people in different levels of government with different political affiliations at different stages who helped make the new trail a reality, particularly the Member for Page, Kevin Hogan.
40,000 visitors expected
Mr Hogan spoke about his initial disappointment about the railway being closed, and his growing enthusiasm for rail trails since that time, as he came to realise (via conversations with Pat Grier) the significant regional and international tourism implications. He said he expected the new trail to generate at least 40,000 visitors to the region per year, with funding in part from the National Tourism Icons program, assisted by Austrade.
Member for Lismore Janelle Saffin acknowledged Mr Hogan’s role in securing the finance, and agreed the new rail trail would bring a major tourism boost, following the inspiring path laid down by Tweed Shire (represented at the Casino opening by Mayor Chris Cherry).
Lismore Mayor Steve Krieg was also present, and asked when the next section would be finished, from Bentley to Lismore. ‘By Christmas!’ he said.
Sam Palmer from Austrade was present on behalf of Don Farrell, NSW Minister for Trade and Tourism, who said the government believed the rail trail was perfectly positioned to take advantage of the latest tourism growth trends, in Australia and internationally.
‘The interest in participation in nature-based travel has expanded dramatically over the past 10 years,’ she said. ‘There’s been about a doubling of the number of people who are getting involved in bushwalking, riding bicycles, horses, visiting national parks, looking at nature reserves and bird watching.
‘This is everything you offer with this rail trail, so we’re very assured of your success.’
Thanks to the workers
Richmond Valley GM Vaughan Macdonald paid tribute to the many people who worked hard to make the trail a reality.
In practical terms, he said 48,000 tonnes of quarry products were needed to construct the bike and bridle trails. Council also built 207 car spaces across three new car parks, 14 kilometres of fencing, created extensive plantings, signs, picnic shelters and a new toilet block at the Bentley end – a major undertaking by any measure, and ‘a great team effort’.
John O’Brien from Rail Trails Australia talked about the tenacity of those who had fought for the idea of the trail over many years, to create ‘fantastic community assets that can be used by anyone at any time’, and thanked everyone involved.
‘We know that it’s a long and frustrating process, and it needs people that have got motivation, passion, courage, conviction and determination,’ he said. ‘These people have got all of those wonderful qualities.’
Mr O’Brien spoke about the transformation of Tumbarumba in southern NSW, which has seen more than 60,000 visitors to its rail trail since it opened two years ago, and the 140,000 users of the Murwillumbah trail in just over twelve months.
He said the completion of the entire trail would be a major national and international drawcard for the Northern Rivers.
Restoring faith
Tim Coen from Rail Trails for NSW echoed these sentiments, and thanked former member for Ballina Don Page (who was also present) for giving the keynote address at a function in NSW Parliament House, ten years ago, to get the idea of rail trails in NSW into people’s minds, and overcome the legislative hurdles.
‘NSW has been really slow in comparison to the rest of Australia,’ he said. ‘Overseas, the USA has 42,000 kilometers of rail trail, so they’re not a passing fad.
‘I want to thank all of the politicians and members of parliament in NSW and the local government areas who’ve worked across parties and in a sensible fashion to realise that rail trails are essentially a local issue, and are good for their communities.
‘You’ve restored my faith in parliamentary democracy!’ he said.
Mr Coen also asked those present to lobby for easier access of bikes on to trains in NSW, without 20 kg limits (effectively prohibiting e-bikes) and the need to box up bicycles, which he said was preventing many families and others from enjoying rail trails.
Pat Grier, the President of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail Supporters Group, said that with the growth of e-bikes, rail trails were only going to increase in popularity, and that when completed, the Northern Rivers Rail Trail was going to be one of the best in the world.
Mr Grier thanked all who had fought for the trail, and said the latest section was going to be a ‘game-changer’ for Richmond Valley. ‘This is your day, Casino. Enjoy your rail trail and enjoy every bit of the new energy that it will bring to the Casino region.’
Bats
Dr Elizabeth Williams is a senior wildlife ecologist who was educating rail trail users on the weekend about the threatened bats that live in the Naughtons Gap tunnel. She talked to the Echo in between fending off joking complaints from cyclists who don’t like going over hills.
As she explained, Richmond Valley Council have built a sealed overpass over the old railway tunnel, to protect the bat roosts which have established since the trains stopped coming through. ‘This tunnel has got two main species of microbats in it,’ said Dr Williams, noting there are two vulnerable stages for populations ‘so they don’t die’.
‘One is breeding roosts, or maternity roosts, which is where they birth and raise their young. The other one is called an overwintering roost. And that’s where they go to hibernate in winter, when there’s not as much food around.
‘Microbats eat insects,’ she explained, ‘and in winter, when it’s cooler, there’s not as many insects around. So they go into a light form of hibernation during winter. And they use this area for both those purposes.
‘There’ll be some that are here all year round, but as it’s approaching winter, bats from two or three hundred kilometers around will come to this particular tunnel to go into hibernation over winter, and then start departing again in spring.’
Dr Williams said there two major species represented, the little bent wing and the large bent wing (both threatened), as well as other bat species using the tunnel sporadically.
It’s important for the bats’ survival that they not be disturbed, not just because of their importance in the ecology, but also to humans, with bats eating many mosquitoes every night as well as major agricultural pests such as helicoverpa moth.
She said many people had been stopping at Naughtons Gap and talking about their own local microbat populations at home, showing growing awareness of the importance of these species.
What next?
It’s obvious that many sections of the rail trail have only just been finished, with room for small improvements, such as a bin at the Bentley end (and a sign about what happened there with the historic Bentley blockade), but there’s no doubt the Richmond Valley Rail Trail is a significant and impressive piece of infrastructure.
Hopefully it heralds a new era for Casino, where the region focuses more on environment-based economic activity rather than destructive plans such as gasfields and incinerators. If the opening was anything to go by, the local community seems very supportive of the idea of a rail trail, with the usual smiles from riders young and old going up and down the track, despite the threat of rain.
Long time rail trail supporter and former Lismore mayor Jenny Dowell OAM told The Echo it had been a ‘long slog’ to get to the point of opening the Tweed and Richmond Valley sections, but she was thrilled with the progress.
‘After the success of the Tweed section, it’s now got a momentum all of its own, and this section has been beautifully done by the Richmond Valley Council. We look forward to it linking up to Lismore.
‘Some of the opponents along the way have now embraced it and particularly the businesses,’ she said.
‘I don’t think anyone who’s been on it will ever say this is a bad idea. So it’s really great to see.’
From the air over the Bentley bridge terminus, it’s clear that Lismore Council workers have already made substantial progress on the next section, which will put extra pressure on Byron Shire Council to build their piece of the puzzle sooner rather than later, and complete the Northern Rivers Rail Trail.
What great news! Thanks David for a really informative, interesting positive story
This is a great achievement and held back for so long by those who pointlessly lobbied to get rail services restored.
Great photos and coverage of this excellent addition to the NRRT, thanks David Lowe.
We already now have two wonderful windows of viewing some of the wonderful vistas our old rail corridor has to offer.
With Lismore to Bentley coming online within a year, we will have another great addition to explore.
Cycling these trails is so vastly a different experience to the traffic laden and risky general road network, that it’s very repeatable and enjoyable for all.
Byron Shire, being very late to this regional project, has an enormous amount to look forward to.
Forgive them Lord, They know not what they do.
Cheers, G”)
What they’re doing is celebrating the excellent use of a public asset that has gone begging for 20 years with no viable prospect of being any different.
So what happens to the microbats when diesel rail motors or heritage steam trains want to use the tunnel again ?
It should be a multi use railway corridor for a regular public train service and a bike path on the side for recreational bikers and walkers, ripping up the tracks for a non user pay bike path only is not looking after the needs of the whole community, we need to have a multi use railway corridor for all to benefit. I have walked around Mullumbimby and Bangalow over the past week with a survey to get signatures to see who wants trains returned as climate friendly, non road , public transport and 98% of everyone l asked in shops, various venues and cafes and on the street signed to say they wanted trains returned, l did not expect such an overwhelming response but it is very clear people want our trains back.
Give it up, Dee. The Rail Trail is real and it is coming to Byron Bay, and hopefully sooner rather than later. The train is dead for many years, and will not be revived in any form.
Professional engineering reports on the Byron sections have unambiguously stated that it is not possible to have both a railway and trail within the corridor. This matches what was long ago determined by council engineers in Tweed Shire where the reality can easily be confirmed by anyone using the trail there.
Surveys by people with a preconceived agenda are notoriously inaccurate, especially when respondents are presented with the false prospect of having both the railway and trail on the corridor, and unsubstantiated notions of climate change benefits. There is no evidence that returning trains to the old corridor would result in any significant reduction in road traffic or pollution. And of course, railway advocates would never dare ask the respondents what other facilities they would be willing to forgo to fund the enormous sums of money it would take to reinstate the railway, or what else they would rather see that money spent on.
The decision not to return rail services was made over a decade ago and had bipartisan support in parliament. Nothing has changed. The decision to convert the corridor to a trail was also made with bipartisan support over three years ago. It doesn’t matter how many signatures are collected from those with such an inflated sense of entitlement. No government is going to fund the hundreds of millions of dollars required to reinstate a steam age railway between a few small towns that could not make a significant contribution to the current or future transport needs of the region.
The railway tracks have already been removed from forty percent of corridor. Two sections of trail are open and construction is underway between Lismore and Bentley. Trains will not be returning. Completion of the rail trail is explicit state government policy and the steps to complete the trail are in progress at both local councils governing the sections yet to be commenced..
It is time those fighting the inevitable reality stopped stirring up pointless conflict and wasting everyone’s time with their futile bleating.
Dee, I reckon if your survey asked if we should all get free ice cream delivered every day you’d get 98% positive result as well.
Yes Dee,
The community support for rail has always been strong-over 30,000 names on petitions presented to parliament and thousands attending numerous rail rallies- that’s why no local politician or council would organise genuine, let alone extensive, community consultation on rail or trail as they know what the results would be. Not many of them turning up to the media events either-they know there’s few votes in this disaster.
The communty knows there was NEVER any professional engineering reports claiming it’s not possible to have rail and trail. Anyone who takes the time to do some basic research will find the truth is quite the opposite. The dodgy report claiming that it would cost $7m per kilometre to repair the line for commuter trains has been discredited by the $660,000 cost per kilomtre to repair the line in Byron for a train. People who are unable to quote genuine sources for their claims, but resort to childish personal attacks on people to justify repeating unsubstantiated nonsense, have zero credibility.
Yes politicians-some of them very dodgy a’ la Eddie Obied MLC- ignoring the transport needs of the North Coast community with over 5.2m tourists per year (Tourism Research Australia) causing traffic gridlock- breaking promises and deciding what happens in this community sans genuine consultation are precisely the problem. We pay them well to provide the infrastructure and services needed-not waste untold millions of taxpayers’ money destroying valuable rail infrastructure for cycling tourism.
How dare they waste so much taxpayers’ money on cycling tourism, and unecessarily destroying our valuable train line so expediently, while so many whose homes were destroyed by the flood are still waiting after over two years for promised funds to repair, rebuild or move their homes to higher ground!!
Something very wrong with priorities here.
Contrary to Louise’s assertion of ‘Not many [politicians] turning up’, the opening of the Richmond Valley Rail Trail was attended by the Federal Member for Page, Kevin Hogan, the State Member of Lismore, Janelle Saffin, Richmond Valley mayor Robert Mustow, Lismore mayor Steve Kreigg, Tweed mayor Chris Cherry and a representative for the Federal Minister for Trade.
Nobody is hiding from it because the Northern Rivers Rail Trail is an immensely popular project.
The professional engineering reports that indicated the trail could not be built beside the railway were written by Burchills Engineering and tabled at the August 2023 council meeting.
These reports were instrumental in the decision by the council at that meeting to progress the trail on the formation.
The report of the original study on the use of the Casino Murwillumbah railway corridor for a rail trial that found off formation was not feasible for much of the corridor; the Hazells’ proposal for a possible off-formation rail trail and the advice of Tweed Council staff that it would require large and likely expensive earthworks; the recent study by Burchills on the corridor West of Bangalow and North of Mullumbimby that found off-formation was not feasible were all done by professional engineers The engineers’ advice to the Northern Rivers Joint Organisation is expected to confirm that it is not feasible.
The one hundred and forty thousand visits to the Rail Trail in Tweed in its first year and the thousands more who have since used it in Tweed and Casino have discredited your repeated assertions that the rial trial would only be used by a handful of visitors. Those people have seen the rail trail , they understand now why it was only feasible to build it on the smooth level disused formation and that is what has made it so attractive for such a wide range of walkers and cyclists.
I am not sure what priorities you are referring to . The rail trail was funded from Federal and state grants aimed at promoting tourism; they are not contestable with disaster funding but are about creating a strong regional economy, (which is important to disaster resilience). The Richmond Valley section was funded from Austrade funding and that is about creating iconic Australian visitor destinations. When completed ours will be a world class rail trail and that’s because we followed and are following the advice of those professional engineers.
Can you believe the ‘bring back the trains’ people are still making complaints? They are still trying even though this article is about a completed section of the Rail Trail.
What will happen if government and casino council goes ahead building a massive incinerator burning all of Sydney’s rubbish ??
Who would want to come to a town that is contaminated with furans and dioxins that no filter today can stop ??
The furans and dioxins proven in europe who want to get rid of their incinerators that they cannot eat fresh farm eggs within 3 to 5 klm
Dioxins and furans cause cancers , child birth defects, copd, and much more.
Who wants to come to a rural town you cannot sell contaminated meat example beef , cropping , dairy etc ??
There would be more jobs in recycling not incinerator from all of Sydney’s rubbish
Stand behind the group residents against the Richmond Valley incinerator
All medical, scientific is on the page backed up by European countries that want to get rid of their incinerators
Well let’s work together to stop the incinerator. Public action stopped the Bentley Coal Seam Gas project so I don’t see why the incinerator can’t also be stopped.
Well there you go, ” people with a preconceived agenda are notoriously inaccurate,”_nothing could so accurately describe or account for Grrrrrs hysteric ravings when ever anyone states the obvious that, ‘rail and horsey hobby trails’ are a total waste of a publicly owned resource, designed to facilitate interstate commerce with goods and passenger services , without the need for a horse.
The cost of refurbishing the Rail-Way is a pittance in comparison with, say the funding we spend on private schools where In 2021, private schools received $18.6 billion in combined funding, so…there is nothing stopping the completion of this unequivocally massive boost to our economy.
Cheers, G”)
Ken, why have you put ‘rail and horsey hobby trails’ in quotation marks? You’re the only one I’ve seen repeatedly refer to the trail this way, in a childishly desperate attempt to win the point with silly name calling. What was a ‘total waste’ was the corridor sitting idol for so long. The corridor whose route, away from the most populous areas, no longer cuts it as a viable means of passenger and commercial transport.
Nothing ‘hysterical’ about Greg Clitheroe’s comments. He simply sticks to to the relevant information and logic.
The rail trail business cases were written, not by people with a preconceived agenda, but by independent professional consultants who projected the trail would be popular, bringing tangible benefits to the communities hosting them. The Tweed Valley Rail Trail has vastly exceeded those projections and was clearly not a waste of money no matter what misinformed prejudices and inane name calling is directed at it.
The Casino-Murwillumbah branch line has not facilitated interstate commerce within living memory. An independent transport infrastructure consultant’s report in 2013 determined that returning trains would require hundreds of millions of dollars be spent on repairs and upgrades and services would only benefit a tiny minority, mostly concession holders contributing next to nothing to the huge operational costs. Both sides of parliament accepted those finding and the railway was effectively abandoned a decade ago.
Private school funding is a federal government responsibility and the country has a public debt of around a trillion dollars.. Railways are a state responsibility. NSW has a public debt of more than $100 billion and a budget shortfall in the current financial year of about $10 billion. Squandering a billion dollars on a railway to connect a few small towns in a sparsely populated region would be an egregious irresponsible use of limited public funds. It certainly isn’t going to happen and it is high time that fact was accepted by everyone.
There is absolutely no evidence that such a railway would be ‘a massive boost to our economy’. It wasn’t when the trains were running and it wouldn’t be now. The trail is the best possible use of a valuable publicly owned asset that will prevent it being disposed. Any art of the corridor can be taken back for any transport use by the minister with the stroke of a pen.
Yes exactly Ken.
We need some decent politicians-who aren’t funded by fossil fuel billionares- and councillors who put the needs of communities ahead of the god of tourism. We have quite enough of that, but no infrastructure to cope with the massive numbers and the traffic. No wonder locals are getting fed up.
People choose to ignore the well documented evidence that, unlike the free bike track, 140,000 people per year paid to use the train service which returned 50% of running costs.
People obviously have not done any research in Tweed or they would know the economic benefits of this free trail have turned out to be pure spin, as expected. No bikes or people when it’s pouring rain and no economic benefits, let alone massive, to justify spending untold millions destroying a train line worth billions to be seen so far. And according to locals the numbers being quoted using the trail are very dodgy.
Unless we get the affordable, sustainable, accessible to all, even people with bicycles, train services that run in all weather and people pay to use, taxpayers will be paying hundreds of millions, or billions, and trees and land destroyed for new roads and road upgrades in Byron alone to accomodate even more gas guzzlers, some with bikes attached. On top of that, millions will need to be spent on multi-story car parks. Byron locals, who’ve battled for decades to stop the joint from being destroyed, will love that.
Perhaps they could build a tree museum while they’re at it.
Louise continually talks about her claims being “well documented” but never provides a scrap of evidence.
She can’t even manage to be consistent. The old myth of the services costing $11 million and returning a profit of $22 million has now morphed into ‘returned 50% of running costs’. Nor can she make up her mind whether nobody uses the trail or it is so popular that the extra road traffic is unbearable.
Her hearsay claim that there are no economic benefits from the trail is also completely unsubstantiated. Nor does she provide anything to back her assertion that the numbers from the counters on the trail are dodgy. I am a Murwillumbah local. I drive past the station on my way to work and the car park is often full. Anyone who uses the trail does not doubt the numbers.
Professional studies have found that running trains again would make a negligible difference to the road traffic. Hence the road upgrade and construction work would remain necessary. There is no evidence that trains would provide environmental benefits. Trains with small numbers of passengers are among the least efficient forms of transport of all.
So ironic that the only train along the corridor was funded by the generous support of a fossil fuel mining billionaire . And it is interesting that the 140,000 visits to the rail trail in its first year is a figure based on multiple counters and published by Tweed Shire Council. There is no such figure publicly available for the use of the solar train , nor on its costs and income, but on your own account it is still being heavily subsidized.
It is also worth noting that commercial users and events do pay to use the rail trail, funding maintenance and as you note allowing the public to enjoy it for free.
We wouldn’t be having this continued argument if they just put rail and the rail trail side by side and it’s not like they don’t have the money if they can build the Inland railway from Melbourne to Brisbane so it’s obviously political some lobby groups don’t want rail like trucking groups it’s not a financial one that’s for sure there got plenty of cash to waste on consultants and lots of other stupid stuff that we don’t need or want
Clearly Alan is not reading what is being written and simply expressing his uninformed prejudices. The trail cannot be built beside the railway.
The government correctly decided that the benefits from restoring and operating the Casino-Murwillumbah railway did not justify the huge expense. Spending money on a project such as the Inland Railway does not make more money available for frivolous expenditure. Quite the opposite.
Rail advocates endlessly repeat the myth about “trucking companies” being against railways. The fact is transport logistics companies use whatever means is available to move freight. I was stopped at a level crossing recently as a very long train passed. The vast majority of the containers displayed LinFox livery. Yet rail advocates would tell you that Lindsay Fox was against railways.
Hooray!!
Come on BSC, admit you were very wrong and get behind the completion of the NRRT.
Byron Council is already onboard with the project, voting 6-3 at the August 2023 Council Meeting to progress the trail on-formation from Crabbes Creek to Mullumbimby and Booyong to Byron Bay. Preliminary design work is being undertaken in preparation for funding applications.
A decision on the remainder (Mullumbimby to Byron Bay) is pending on the tabling of the Northern Rivers Joint Organisation report into the whole Northern Rivers Rail Trail.