There are few issues in the the New England as contentious as the New England Rail Trail proposal, but some unprofessional moments in last Wednesday night’s debate about the proposal has now devolved into claims, counter claims, and petitions this week.
“We’d support a Rail Trail on a Branch Line”: The reason why NERT will never succeed made clear
Last Wednesday’s meeting began with an open forum section, with Caroline Chapman from local lobby group Trains North and Paul McCann from New England Rail Inc speaking against the motion to spend money on the Rail Trail. Trains North advocate for the return of passenger and freight rail, while New England Rail have been working for many years on a heritage rail tourism project that would be thwarted if the rail trail proposal was successful.
In order for a rail trail proposal to progress under the NSW Government’s guidelines there are a number of criteria that must be met, including that the project must have demonstrated community support. The presence of organisations like New England Rail and Trains North infuriates the rail trail supporters as they know, no matter how many other ducks they get in the proverbial row, the evidence of strong opposition will prevent the proposal from progressing.
During the questions Trains North secretary Caroline Chapman was noticibly attacked and derided by – declared members of Friends of New England Rail Trail – Sam Coupland and Todd Redwood, including a lecture from Redwood that was in breach of the Code of Practice.
But in one of her answers, Chapman gave the clearest and simplest reason why the New England Rail Trail will never get that community support.
“We’d support a Rail Trail on a Branch Line,” she said.
Proponents of the rail trail often point to the success of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail and Brisbane Valley Rail Trail as nearby examples of what could be in the New England. However, unlike these other Rail Trail projects frequently referenced, the New England Rail Trail is on a main line, not a branch line.
A branch line is a secondary line that extends from main lines out to smaller centres, usually ending a dead end. The Northern Rivers Rail Trail was built on the Murwillimbah to Casino branch line, which tracks through Byron Bay. The Brisbane Valley Rail Trail was built on an old branch line that goes from Ipswich to Yarraman.
In our region, there are substantial branch lines from Tamworth to Barraba, although part of that line near Tamworth is still in use, and the Inverell to Moree line has already been identified as a potential rail trail tourism venture but it is understood there is no work being done on it as yet. Additionally, the proposed Tallowood Mountain Rail Trail on the Dorrigo branch line, which has been closed since 1972, could be the foundation for a truly spectacular trail for our region if it could be extended beyond the original rail path that terminates at Dorrigo to follow the picturesque spots and waterfalls of the Waterfall Way along to Ebor and potentially through to Armidale.
By contrast, the New England Rail Trail proposal involves plans to rip up the Great Northern Railway, also known as the Main North Line as it was the original mainline between Sydney and Brisbane. This is a major arterial line north, and while – similar to the New England Highway – it has been allowed to fall into disrepair through persistent defunding and shortermism by multiple governments, it remains a critical piece of national transport infrastructure.
A review into our national transport system is currently underway, as well as the significant RNEW NSW Government review of regional rail assets announced in October last year. The Great Northern Railway is under consideration as part of both of these reviews. As advocates for the return of rail point out, the increasingly frequent and severe flooding affecting both the Pacific Highway and the main rail line between Sydney and Brisbane, as well as the Brisbane Olympics in 2032, has sharpened the focus on the need for the nation to have a second main route capable of handling significant traffic between NSW and Queensland.
Ahead of last week’s meeting, Chapman argued that with the ongoing significant review of rail infrastructure, which includes the potential reactivation of the Great Northern Rail being under active consideration, the view of Trains North that no decision should be made on the Rail trail proposal until that review was complete.
Power games, posts and petitions
The vote to go ahead with spending $500,000 of ratepayers money – and more should grants be received – was won 6-2, with Susan McMichael and Brad Widders voting against the motion and Dorothy Robinson abstaining.
Brad Widders had tried to make the case that this was an opportunity to reallocate the funds from the “dead horse” of the rail trail which was consistently hitting obstacles to another project that may be more successful.
“It’s getting to the point of being a dead horse, it keeps getting flogged, the poor thing keeps getting flogged,” he said.
“You flog a horse too much and it keels over, and sometimes you need to get off that horse and get on a new one.”
When asked if the funds could be reallocated or were tied to the rail trail proposal, Acting General Manager Darren Schaeffer initially stated the money was tied to the rail trail, before ultimately conceding that Council could reallocate the money, as it was Council budget, not a grant.
Eli Imad and Rob Taber, who were both elected to council last year on a platform of opposing the rail trail and supporting the return to rail services north of Armidale, voted for the motion with clear indications – particularly from the behaviour of Mayor Sam Coupland who spoke for Imad at several points during the amendment motion – that they had been bullied or intimidated to do so. Both Imad and Taber made comments to the effect that they were new councillors, and that they believed they were supporting a concessional amendment to a procedural budgetary motion that would give them more information before they could make a decision.
Train North Vice-President Margaret O’Connor called out the indications of bullying after the meeting.
“With all due respect I cannot understand how councillors who claimed the amendment was a ‘win’ for ratepayers could think their actions were heroic,” she said.
“I think they’ve been duped or bullied by the pro rail trail group on Council into thinking that an amendment asking for more information about the railway corridor somehow justified the waste of ratepayers money.”
That odd dynamic between Imad and Coupland continued onto Facebook pages this week. Imad made a long post revealing the details of several meetings about a proposal for a freight business, seemingly trying to justify to his supporters why he has backflipped from the pro-train position he was elected on. This post was shared very quickly afterwards by Sam Coupland, again indicating an uncomfortable level of coordination at best, at worst intimidation with a side helping of gaslighting that arguments against the rail trail were ‘fiction’.
“Armidale Regional Council has to deal in fact, unfortunately it often collides with fiction and this makes people uncomfortable,” Coupland wrote.
“For trains to run north the first step is to find a credible organisation with the desire, the experience and the financial wherewithal to access the many hundreds of millions of dollars it will cost to rehabilitate the line. Only when this is done can we imagine how the line can be used for trains.”
As noted by Brad Widders during last week’s council meeting, the only entity that will decide whether or not the train line north of Armidale will run trains again is the NSW Government. Not Armidale Regional Council, nor “a credible organisation”.
Trains North have turned their campaigning effort precisely in that direction, with another petition launched to the NSW Parliament, this time specifically seeking to block a rail trail proposal on the line north of Armidale and to support projects that return rail services. Separately, the group are also appealing to federal politicians for a Senate committee to look into reinstating the line as a major part of the rail network.
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