Amongst many claims and counter claims about the rail trail proposals has been one important nugget of truth: the NSW Government owns the line, and they haven’t given anyone else permission to use it. Yet.
A Transport for NSW Spokesperson confirmed to New England Times that Transport for NSW has not granted authority to either Armidale Regional Council or Glen Innes Severn Council to develop the non-operational rail corridor between Armidale and Glen Innes as a rail trail.
“Prior to consent being granted by Transport to use a non-operational rail corridor for the purposes of a developing rail trail, a Council needs to demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the NSW Government, that the provisions of the NSW Rail Trails Framework have been met,” the spokesperson said.
“Should this happen, this would allow an amendment to be made to the Transport Administration (General) Regulation 2018, which would then allow a lease to be executed between the landowner and Council.
“Only at the point of the lease being executed would Transport for NSW authorise use of the land for development of a rail trail.”
However, there have been some limited approvals given. Armidale Regional Council was given approval to apply for grant funding for the project under the Regional Partnerships Pathways Program, but that approval was limited to the extent of the lodgement of the grant application, and did not include allowing Council to access, use or commence construction within the non-operational rail corridor.
Glen Innes Severn Council are considerably more advanced in their process. They have what is called a ‘Minor Activity Licence’ which enables Council to have non-exclusive access to do environmental assessments and similar minor activity only, on the rail corridor from Ben Lomond to Glen Innes. It was only issued earlier this month, and remains valid until November 2026.
Armidale Regional Council also applied for a Minor Activity Licence for the Armidale to Ben Lomond section, which apparently Council has not yet signed.
Rhetoric not matching reality
All manner of politicians have weighed in to protect the loss of grant funding, with similar lines and claims of money being ‘ripped’ from the projects – project that have not secured the most basic level of approval nor demonstrated viability – with the details a bit fuzzy, but the outrage on point.
Barnaby Joyce, in a members statement in parliament house, packaged the loss of funding for the rail trail with some concerns around the veracity of figures given for infrastructure projects.
Guyra based NSW upper house member Aileen MacDonald described the cuts as ‘savage’ and “slammed the Albanese and Minns Labor Governments for their callous decision to sabotage the New England Rail Trail.”
“This decision has both distressed me and infuriated me because it affects the lives of thousands of
people around the 35 km stretch from Glen Innes to Ben Lomond,” Ms MacDonald said.
(The Glen Innes Rail Trail proposal
“This savage cut in the lead up to Christmas is typical of this Sydney-centric NSW Labor Government
who couldn’t care less for those of us living in rural and regional NSW,” she said.
Northern Tablelands MP Brendan Moylan also ‘slammed’ the cuts.
“Whether you were for or against the Rail Trail, the reality is Mr Minns and Mr Albanese have taken approximately $14.1 million out of our region,” he said.
A bizarre claim on an ’embargo’ being placed on the story by Moylan was reported by a number of insiders as being the reason the news was not made public in a timely fashion, and the coordinated feel of the statements.
Rail transport north of Armidale may be considered
The rail trail supporters were extremely upset by reports earlier this year about the rail union lobbying for improved regional rail services, and the new strategy of the NSW Government to reimagine the way with think about rail transport in the regions. Their core argument that the rail line will never again run trains is hard to maintain when the government says they’re looking at running trains again.
The Transport for NSW spokseperson confirmed it is possible for the line north of Armidale to run trains again as part of this new effort.
“The RNEW Program will consider rail infrastructure across regional NSW with a primary focus on the Country Regional Network. The RNEW Program will also work with adjacent networks, such as Sydney Trains and ARTC.”
“As the Regional Network East/West Uplift Program (RNEW Program) is currently under development, no specific projects have been determined.”
“Non-operational lines may be considered as the RNEW Program progresses.”
There were multiple references to the failure of the rail trail grant in last night’s Armidale Regional Council meeting, but no explanation as to why it wasn’t communicated to the public. The failed grant remains listed in the ‘State of the Region’ report.
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