Copy of letter to be sent to the Mayor, Armidale regional Council

Dear Mayor

Northern Main Rail Line and its need for preservation for future transport use.

I am sending a petition to the council signed by residents of the Armidale Regional Council area and those with close family ties and links to our region. The purpose of the petition is to emphasise the necessity to preserve and redevelop the northern main rail line to unleash regional growth, community wellbeing and greater connectivity.

I trust council will give due consideration to our submission, particularly relating to the ongoing council discussions regarding the future vision, population growth and infrastructure needs of the region.

The signatories to this petition believe that the preservation and redevelopment of the rail line is critically significant, given infrastructure developments in the north such as the Inland Rail Project, a planned intermodal hub in Toowoomba and many developments over the border in Queensland, which include works associated with the 2032 Olympic Games.

As the inland rail is constructed, it is vital that a potential link to this line from the New England region to Queensland is not removed. Rail must be part of the overall transport mix for so many reasons which may not have been fully considered. Growth in industry throughout the New England area is dependent on business moving goods to towns and to major centres. As industry expands and major developments are built along the New England Highway, support for these flourishing new enterprises is essential to ensure that they can connect with the communities, and good rail services are the proven means of achieving this.

Closing the northern railway line will not assist the region to be competitive, and removes access the numerous benefits to be gained through community wellbeing, incentive for industry relocation, and enhanced mobility with public transport options. Farming, business and population growth are the results of having a sound transport service.

Conversely, there is a strong likelihood that Tamworth’s new intermodal terminal will thrive compared to Armidale when considering freight deliveries and transfers. This is simply due to the fact that Tamworth has a rail connection via Werris Creek to Narrabri which is a key location on the inland rail route. A new campus for the University of New England in Tamworth will further enhance that region through student enrolments and the opportunities that research studies bring to that city.

Council’s acceptance of the New England Rail Trail Plan and its subsequent funding application and promotional activities, raises concern with the signatories to this petition. Since 2018 council has adopted a one-track mindset by accepting a bike way proposal and ignoring all options for the rail corridor. This could include returning railway services for passenger, freight and tourist operations, and a multi-use of the corridor where the infrastructure is shared by multiple users. 

The Community Consultation Report (2018) prepared for the Department of the Premier and Cabinet appears to have been ignored or discarded. This document proposed that Glen Innes Severn Council and Armidale Regional Council carry out feasibility studies to consider all options for use of the railway corridor but both councils appear to be following material laid out in the rail trail business proposals.

Has council considered the statements put forward in the rail trail documents and fact-checked? Or has every suggested rail trail benefit, opportunity and financial gain been accepted with no further independent analysis? The rail trail plan has divided New England communities and we believe that all options for use of the railway corridor be examined, including using current rail trail funds for creating an off-formation rail trail and procurement of funds to restore the railway infrastructure for tourist heritage rail operations between Armidale and Glen Innes. This idea was promoted in the Armidale Express (27 September 2013) so it is not new, and it is still a viable option.

Rail with trail is in use in many areas of regional Victoria as well as overseas (there are about 350 in the USA.) The Carlingford to Parramatta light rail line under construction in Sydney incorporates an adjacent rail trail. While rail trails may be moving ahead in the northern rivers region, Byron Shire Council commissioned a study into the best use for the railway corridor in the shire and the results suggested several forms of transport options for the corridor.

We believe the multiple options for use of the railway corridor have not been fully evaluated and considered and that ARC and GIS has rushed sound decision-making process to blindly accept the fictitious advantages to the region in the rail trail proposals.

Much of the rail trail documentation has been prepared in a glossy brochure style with statements of “immense opportunities” for job creation, health benefits for all, new business “regional recovery,” 10,000 new day-trippers each year, 2,500 overnight visitors will stay an extra night, 26 new fulltime jobs, an additional $5.8 million dollars in additional visitor expenditure, and so on. Has council studied the source of this information? Is it verifiable, accurate or even true? Has the ongoing maintenance costs and responsibilities associated with a rail trail been fully evaluated, or was the information in the rail trail plan just considered credible and accurate, tick the boxes.

This submission and the petition are presented in the spirit of goodwill and cooperation with the Armidale Regional Council with the aim of contributing to an alternative vision for our region.

I would be more than happy to meet with you and the Deputy Mayor at a convenient time to discuss this important community situation.

Signed electronically

Dr Siri Gamage, Armidale