Retain and Re-develop Great Northern railway from Armidale to Qld Border By Siri Gamage
Source : change.org
Why this petition matters
Save Our train line from Armidale to Queensland from being ripped up!
Sign this petition to prevent the rail line from Armidale to the Queensland border being ripped up!
A current proposal to build a bike riding track from Armidale to Glen Innes on the existing railway line-called a rail trail- is close to being successful. A bike riding track is all well and good, but we shouldn’t rip out existing essential infrastructure to do it.
Rail is, and has always been, critical infrastructure. As the inland rail line is constructed, it is absolutely essential that we do not cut off a potential link from the New England with the inland rail line.
Additionally, the need for people in the New England to go north to Brisbane as much as we need to go south to Sydney has always been ignored by people in power. We have family in Queensland, doctors, schools and services we need in Queensland, and we do business with our Queensland neighbours. The plane service out of Armidale that comes and goes has always been prohibitively expensive. The buses that used to stop in the middle of the night have been cancelled because of COVOD-19, so passenger transport will need an overhaul as we come back to COVID normal. We need rail to be part of the public transport mix.
Growth in industry throughout the New England is also dependent on businesses being able to get goods to neighbouring towns and beyond to major centres. As industry grows, and major developments happen all along the New England Highway, we need to support these new businesses to flourish by ensuring they can get goods and people in and out of the region – with good rail services
both north and south.
Plus, with the Olympics coming to the Gold Coast – with a significant expansion of rail services to support that event – now is absolutely not the time to be cutting New England’s rail line to the north!
Now is the time to fight for rail, not rip up the track.
This short-sighted proposal is based on the pessimistic view that our towns in the New England, which desperately need public transport now, will never again have a passenger rail service. Councils’ argument is that tiny visitor numbers from the tiny community of able bodied people that like to ride bikes for pleasure in nice places is better than essential public transport and industry made possible by being connected to the rail network.
Well, if you rip up the rail line, of course we won’t ever have passenger rail again! We must come together as a community to protect our critical rail infrastructure, and not allow more services and opportunities to be ripped away from our communities.
The group supporting the proposal, New England Rail Trail (NERT) commissioned a Rail Trail Plan several years ago. The two councils have simply accepted it without conducting an independent cost benefit analysis. Both Armidale Regional Council and Glen Innes Severn Council have received partial funding. Under the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund $8.7m government funding has been given to the Glen Innes Severn Council to construct the Ben Lomond to Glen Innes section. Armidale Regional Council received a 5.4 million grant in 2022 but it needs many more millions to complete the project between Armidale to Ben Lomond. Both councils are working with NSW Public works(part of dept of regional NSW) to progress the project and either applied to lease the rail corridor or in the process of doing so. The advice from Public Works to GISC is that they should start removing the rail line from this year. So we must act now!
Please sign and share this petition! And let candidates for your local government know you want to keep the train line!
“You can read more and sign the petition here: https://chng.it/MyPFJz2pWb
