Hans Lovejoy
  • Home
  • Music
  • Journalism
  • Editorials
  • Consultancy
  • Contact

The railway’s fate 

7/7/2014

0 Comments

 
Mayor Simon Richardson is looking for suggestions to keep the railway tracks from being ripped up for a rail trail, but the odds are that it’s going to happen anyway. 

And here’s why:
The Northern Rivers Regional Organisation of Councils (NOROC) is the peak body representing Ballina, Byron, Kyogle, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Tweed councils.
It is the obvious organisation to head a Trust to oversee any use of the 130km Casino to Murwillumbah line. 

NOROC’s president is Tweed Shire mayor Barry Longland, and I asked him his position on light rail and rail trails and guess what – he is right behind a rail trail. 

It took a bit of persistence, but Cr Longland reluctantly acknowledged the absence of light rail in the 2013 Casino to Murwillumbah Transport Study. 
Taking the less-than-courageous position, he said, ‘If the state government wanted light rail they would be doing it.’
Cr Longland then pushed the rail study’s rhetoric as to why light rail was not possible. ‘For example, there’s 67 bridges along the line which need replacing…’
‘But such a claim is baseless as no formal study of light rail was ever undertaken’, I replied.
‘There is a real threat that the railway lines will be sold off,’ he then said. ‘Who is making that threat?’ I asked. 

It was around then that the line between pragmatism and acquiescence appeared. As state MP Don Page (Nationals) has the ear of Treasury and is armed with supporting ‘studies’, rail trails are all but inevitable. 

And thus the track will go, although it appears likely light rail will run from North Byron Beach Eco Resort into Byron.

‘I just want to see something happen on the tracks before I die,’ Cr Longland said in somewhat sad desperation. 

Another problem is that rail lobby group TOOT (Trains On Our Tracks) is nowhere as resourced, connected and organised as the rail trail mob. It’s unfortunate but true. 

Yet ripping up railway lines is an abomination. Especially this one. In Byron Shire, it’s fairly straight and flat with only a few (mostly small) bridges. I recall that, when at Mullum High, we could jump on the train to Byron – it made all the difference growing up in a quiet town. To think we are now at this point is not just depressing but embarrassing.

Regardless of the lies and deception that the last two government-sponsored reports provided, rail track removal signifies defeat to a community in desperate need of more public transport and a victory for lazy and inept politicians.

0 Comments

A government off the rails

29/4/2013

0 Comments

 
The $2 million dollar rail study into this region is a failure because its terms of reference do not mention peak oil, climate change, food security or the intelligent design that rail offers.

And MP Don Page obviously carries little weight in parliament – he told ABC radio last year that he would ask for a broader environmental scope but somehow that was ignored.

The study provides answers the government was looking for: more roads. It’s a rail study that looks like it was written for the fossil fuel dependent freight industry.

So while the fossil fuel dependent freight industry move almost everything about, including food, why did this report not mention any of the environmental and social benefits of rail?

Wilfully concentrating transport options could perhaps be considered treasonous in more informed and engaged societies.

Interestingly, the government report alluded to this region as being home to a bunch of welfare dependent moochers.

It says accessibility and mobility needs, ‘are not primarily driven by economic growth, but by a large and increasing dependent population needing regular access to services.’

Perhaps we should instead blame ourselves for not breeding enough to create a consumer economic need. Or for not developing this region as fast as Queensland.

Light commuter rail between towns is in the best interests of this Shire, not ‘tourist trails’. It would create instant economic stimulation, and apart from easing traffic burdens, the greatest gains from trains would be in ensuring food security, self dependence and resilience.

Where are the vision and balls in current political governance? Was it ever there? Maybe the last future vision was when then- premier of NSW Sir Henry Parkes arrived by train to make his famous federation speech in Tenterfield. It was a speech that set in motion the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia.

0 Comments

    Archives

    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010

    Categories

    All
    Banglaow
    Brunswick Heads
    Byron Bay
    Byron Shire Council
    Capitalism
    Civilisation
    Class Warfare
    Climate Change
    Community Markets
    Conservative Intellectuals
    Corporations
    Counter Culture
    Crime
    Development
    Drugs
    Elections
    Environment
    Federal Coalition
    Federal Government
    Federal Labor
    Festivals
    Finance
    Food
    Health
    Hemp
    History – Australia
    Holiday Letting
    Human Rights
    International
    Journalism
    Language Usage
    Lobbyists
    Mardigrass Festival
    Media
    Mining
    Mullumbimby
    Nationals Party Nsw
    Nsw Government
    Piracy
    Police
    Religion
    Renewable Energy
    Social Contract
    Sovereignty
    State Coalition Party
    Technology
    The Greens
    Transport
    West Byron

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • Music
  • Journalism
  • Editorials
  • Consultancy
  • Contact