FUTURE OF NEWCASTLE BRANCH RAILWAY

This submission from Action for Public Transport (APT) is in response to calls from the public to do so. The closing date provided was Friday 19 April 2013. APT is a Sydney based advocacy organisation for public transport and "alternative" transport consumers and advocates.

We are strongly in favour of retaining the 4 km railway link between Hamilton Junction and Newcastle Terminal Station.

That the future of this short but important transport corridor has been debated for more than a decade is testament to the failure of successive versions of the urban planning legislation in NSW. It also casts an unfavourable light on the planning profession, for failing to rein in the needless waste in time and other resources over this period.

Our preferred solution is for the railway to be lowered into a trench, to facilitate movement of all kinds and in many directions, at ground level. It has been claimed that this is too expensive.

The irony is that if the present rail corridor is wholly or partially yielded to new development, much of that new development will take the form of multi-storey buildings. Such buildings are often provided with below-ground car parks and spaces for other services. Unless mandated, these underground spaces will be created, but will be unfit for carrying a railway.

It should be relatively simple for the redevelopment authority to declare an underground easement fit for a railway, on or near the present railway alignment. Such an easement could be used for car parking and other purposes until future demand requires the reinstatement of the railway, or similar technology. The additional cost of providing for the railway, over that required for underground car parking, should be manageable. We even envisage the future extension of the railway to Stockton and Nelson Bay, as population increases.

Are Newcastle's planners up to the task?

Yours sincerely,

Kevin Eadie
Advocacy Manager
Action for Public Transport (NSW) Inc.
PO Box K606, haymarket, NSW, 1240.

http://www.aptnsw.org.au/

16 April 2013.