Rural Rail in Crisis
After years of underfunding and neglect, the Government has abandoned the State's rural and regional railway network instead of fixing it. The Greens NSW have been campaigning to reverse this trend.
The Labor Government is in the midst of a full-scale dismantling of rail services and infrastructure in rural and regional New South Wales. Not since the ripping up of Sydney's tram lines has public transport endured such a serious assault. After years of underfunding and neglect, the Government has abandoned the State's rural and regional railway network instead of fixing it.
The enthusiasm of the previous Transport Minister Michael Costa for cutbacks and downgrades - widely seen as his audition for his Treasurer's job - caused outrage, anger and frustration in rural and regional New South Wales. Rather than restore the system, the short-sighted Carr Government at that time chose to trash this valuable asset inherited from previous generations.
The former Carr Government:
- Cut CountryLink rail services, and flagged further cuts to both services and ticketing agents - see our separate CountryLink campaign;
- Allowed rural branch lines to decay for years, despite impassioned lobbying from affected communities and councils - read about our branch line campaign;
- Signed a lease deal with the Federal Government that meant a loss of
jobs, expertise and quality on the freight lines - see Lee's speech in
Parliament below.
This litany of bad decisions and wilful neglect continues to result in the railway system that has served New South Wales for over a century reduced to a bare skeleton.
The question for today - What will Premier Rees do to fix it?
- Read Lee's speech to NSW Farmers Association on Grain on Rail Day 31/3/04
- Article from THE LAND Newspaper 29/4/2004:
