Can we Let them Rip up the Tracks?
Can we as a City afford to allow the NSW Government to abolish laws requiring an act of parliament to decommission disused railway lines?
Unfortunately the NSW Government is planning to do just that. The Transport Administration Act says the following about closure of railway lines, “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”.
According to Mr Campbell, the Minister for Transport, has confirmed that the NSW Government will push ahead to remove this protection. He claims that this change in law will allow community group to build bikepaths and public facilities along these existing corridors, however I and many others believe that this will lead to inner city goods yards being sold to developers to raise revenue for the government.
The proposed legislation does not define which lines this new law will affect, however it is anticipated that all lines may be covered by this new law. This is turn could see all rail public transport corridors closed at a moments notice, and sold off as part of revenue raising.
Some residents believe that the Rozelle goods yard would be converted to high-density residential development to help increase patronage on the CBD Metro which is lacking patronage figures under current modelling. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if this development on the Rozelle goods yard is where the increased patrons come from in the latest round of modelling for the CBD Metro.
