Future Vision
for the Casino to Murwillumbah railway line
Our big picture
is to have a 16 train a day railcar service
on the Casino to Murwillumbah line with an extension to the Tweed and the Gold Coast and connecting to the Sydney XPT at Casino.
The benefits of a Casino-Murwillumbah-Coolangatta rail link are pretty obvious. The QLD and NSW governments have agreed to do a study to continue the Gold Coast rail down as far as South Tweed. To extend our railway line up to the Tweed would be only 22 kms.
The cost for a Murwillumbah to Tweed rail link would be several hundred, million dollars. If the Federal govt can give $460 million to the Gold Coast rail then why can’t they fund our cross-border connection?
PriceWaterhouseCoopers did a report in September 2004 several months after the service was closed. This report looked closely at the condition of the line and came up with a plan to develop a 16 train a day commuter service with the overall cost for the repairs of $28.8 million over 7 years.
A lighter railcar service would cost less and run more frequently. The additional cost for extra services would be low while the benefits to the community would be significant.
This service could reduce bus and car travel which would save road maintenance costs. According to the NRMA’s recent audit the North Coast region tops the state with the highest road maintenance backlog of over $430 million.
Aims and objectives
of the Northern Rivers Railway Action Group
The Northern Rivers Railway Action Group is a collective of local citizens wanting to see common sense prevail. Our aims include:
Bring trains back
onto the Casino to Murwillumbah Railway in a format that can provide an affordable, sustainable, public transport solution to support local communities and economies.
Raise public awareness
of the importance of the railway line to the whole community in terms of social justice and environmental protection.
To promote
the need for community consultation in saving the railway tracks from being ripped up and replaced by a bike track.
To lobby all levels
of government to support a commuter service between Casino and Murwillumbah that is timely and efficient.
Lobby to extend
the line to the Queensland border to increase economic, cultural and tourism benefits to the Northern Rivers community.
Charter:
We are passionate about supporting the Northern Rivers community to have efficient and effective public transport. We believe rail to be safer, more socially inclusive and environmentally friendly than road travel. We believe that the comparative cost of rail hasn’t been considered in terms of the cost of carbon emissions, road accidents, damage to roads and traffic congestion. The most vulnerable groups in society that are not able to travel by road such as the elderly, the disabled, young people and poor people need reasonable public transport and this community has a right to expect the government to provide public transport equal to other areas of NSW and Australia.