NEWS: D-Day for the Newcastle CBD Rail Line to be voted on to OFFICIALLY close it

[Red_Rattler]

https://railpage.com.au/news/s/d-da...l-line-to-be-voted-on-by-the-baird-government

Their is a bill to officially close the Newcastle Rail Line between Wickham & Newcastle Stations in Newcastle, NSW.
It's to be debated either tonight or tomorrow Australian EDT (GMT + 11 hrs)

In NSW lines can be physically closed, but very rarely do they use this Transport Act 99A to officially close rail lines.

Officially closing a NSW rail line means it can be sold off, as it is no longer considered a rail corridor.

The Transport Act 99A states:

TRANSPORT ADMINISTRATION ACT 1988 - SECT 99A

Closure and disposal of railway lines
99A Closure and disposal of railway lines

(1) A rail infrastructure owner must not, unless authorised by an Act of Parliament, close a railway line.
(2) For the purposes of this section, a railway line is closed if the land concerned is sold or otherwise disposed of or the railway tracks and other works concerned are removed.
(3) For the purposes of this section, a railway line is not closed merely because a rail infrastructure owner has entered into an ARTC arrangement or a lease or other arrangement in respect of it pursuant to an agreement entered into by the Commonwealth and the State.​

They claim that they need to officially close it to convert it from trains to light-rail/trams. That is NOT true. You can convert a train line to light rail or tram in NSW without officially closing it.

Let's put it this way, with the exception of about two places, it's the only land in Newcastle CBD & inner Newcastle that is not undermined, & sits on valuable real estate.

 

[Red_Rattler]

It's a sad day for Newcastle, as the bill to officially close the rail line has been passed by parliament, 17 to 14 votes.

 

[JCitron]

That is sad, Red. I had a feeling this would happen, but I didn't want to say anything. It sounds like the developer had some "influence" in the decision. What will happen is people will find that traffic is horrific without the train service. Some MP will then get a brainstorm and push to have a new line built or that one reopened. He'll then take credit and a promotion.

 

[Red_Rattler]

And do you know what?

This decision was made BEFORE the outcome of the court appeal by the state government and their Hunter Development Corporation arm.

But we thought they had to wait for the outcome of the court case.

But rest assured that developers (just the greedy ones) are rubbing their mits with glee.

At the same time, though, if the group called Save Our Rail supported light rail on the existing rail corridor, then that group may not needed to take the matter to court, as the outcome before the appeal, was that the state government could not rip up the tracks without an act of parliament. So perhaps it MIGHT be possibly to say that the state government was "forced" to use this rarely used act of parliament.

 

[Red_Rattler]

JCitron, once an Act of Parliament is enacted, it's too late, as it's no longer a rail corridor and can now be up for sale.

And do you know what?

This decision was made BEFORE the outcome of the court appeal by the state government and their Hunter Development Corporation arm.

But we thought they had to wait for the outcome of the court case.

But rest assured that developers (just the greedy ones) are rubbing their mits with glee.

At the same time, though, if the group called Save Our Rail supported light rail on the existing rail corridor, then that group may not needed to take the matter to court, as the outcome before the appeal, was that the state government could not rip up the tracks without an act of parliament. So perhaps it MIGHT be possibly to say that the state government was "forced" to use this rarely used act of parliament.

 

[JCitron]

I'm sure this decision was made before the court case. This is usually how it goes, sadly. We've lost a few local lines to a similar fate very recently. One that once ran between Lawrence and Manchester, one of the oldest lines in the US, was turned into a parking lot, trail, and everything else. The southern part of the route was railbanked for years, however, that was sold to a so-called preservation group which ripped up and sold the scrap.

In 2000 the local rail company, a not so favorite one, abandoned the line because of lack of business. They caused the lack of business by driving up the cost of service and deferring maintenance. They petitioned to abandon but it was refused so they embargoed the line and eventually got their way as the line sat un used. Like all lines in eastern Massachusetts where I live, they are owned by the state as part of a rail corridor preservation program. Under our not-so-wonderful previous governor, he put some people in place on the MDOT and MBTA (The "T" commuter agency), who looked to sell these lines to special interests such as a rail-to-trails group. This particular line was earmarked as a commuter line as far back as the early 1970s, and even showed up on "future" maps of the commuter rail system and even some on current maps. The plans were to put in a station at the junction of two very busy highways. The local towns were all for it as it would relieve the traffic - mostly those people coming down from New Hampshire which has no commuter service at all.

It never happened. Instead this Iron Horse Preservation, or whatever they're called, came in and scrapped the line. The residents protested but a few out of town NIMBYs got their way as they sighted there might be noise. They in fact came down from nearby Salem New Hampshire to protest. Go figure as they would have benefitted the most. So Methuen got a rail trail, which they accepted nicely, however, they didn't know they would have to maintain the corridor at their expense. The thing is a good portion of the line south of the town goes into some unsavory areas where there have been bodies found along the tracks. There's nothing there but abandoned mills and drugs if that says anything. So now the line sits pretty much rotted away, and even the new rail trail looks deplorable because people are afraid to use it.

In the case of the Newcastle line, I'm sure that even if there was a petition in place for light rail, the developer would have gotten its way anyway. It's always that way it seems.

John