At last Thursday’s Byron Council meeting a long and dedicated campaign to save rail tracks and restore trains in the Byron Shire was defeated by one vote. This campaign initially started by TOOTs was not an ‘either or’ campaign. It saw the possibility of maintaining vital train services by designing bike tracks besides the mobile trains. This single vote has quelled the possibility of $3 million to repair train tracks.
Underlying this vision was the question of equity. Ratepayers and tourists who required transport, in particular mothers with children, students, workers, disabled persons, aged persons who enjoy train travel had the equal advantages to relax on transport to required destinations. One could only deeply wonder why such a generous solution became a ‘future big problem’!
Denial of above can now be viewed as a ‘political sleepwalker’ decision. A decision that culls future options of safety in times of climate-change crisis. The North Coast floods of 2022 have heralded a new consciousness in the community still struggling to address the deep social trauma that exists in the community.
It must be acknowledged that mobility is essential to the development of an evacuation plan as these floods destroyed many roads and landslides added to greater safety fears. Corporate ‘pleasure tourism’ should never precede safety and right to life planning decisions. The request for a co-ordinated evacuation plan is now imperative and the demand to create alternative means to escape floods/fire due to climate crises. I have discovered much denial of the phrase ‘climate crisis’ amongst people with power to make meaningful changes to sentient trauma and suffering. This must not be tolerated. Please review this decision and accept an appeal addressing the need for a co-ordinated evacuation plan. Pleasure tourism and danger can be remedied but climate denial is soul destroying. Long term resident Rusty Miller wrote a brilliant letter addressing the above to The Echo. The original vision as stated is still possible with evacuation vision… a bonus. Trains save lives.
Newtown. Why do you bother?
Indeed.
Northern Rivers Rail Trail – New section Casino to Bentley now open for public use . 🙂
rail trail dinosaurs will soon be extinct
It’s unclear what Byron Shire Meeting is referred to. There was none that I could find on the Thursday before its date.
If only that was the only error in this epistle of misinformation.
Ha! It’s a vast and deep sea of misinformation put about by the likes of Jo and the rest of the training wheels. It’s also almost always unbelievable what they spit out. Made up facts is usually their first line of defense. The proof is that when they are called upon to supply supporting data for their particular style of chinese whispers they usually have nothing to back their ramblings.
There are kids and grannies and young people and parents and people with disabilities eagerly waiting to use the completed Byron section of the trail and you’re not helping them getting to do that Jo.
Stop trying to stymie the progression of the rail trail.
Maybe Jo is just behind the times, say, by a month?
Unless it was sent by Australia Post, in which case a month is about right.
There is zero possibility of trains coming back in the northern rivers as no one – government or private sector- is willing to spend the enormous sums that would be required to make it a reality. Government doesn’t even have the funds and political willingness to build the many houses that are needed right across the country. Yes, there is a climate crisis but trains that don’t and won’t exist are irrelevant to dealing with that.
Yes Andrew, and obstructing trails that can serve both leisure and clean transport needs is not helping the climate crisis either.
the northern rivers region has a handful of loud, toxic people who seem to want to devolve our region into a Neolithic state, somehow a romanticised cave man period is the ultimate position of humanity.
this isn’t about returning trains, its about trying to halt any form of progress.