Rail report 'lacks facts'

A STATE government report stating that the re-introduction of trains on the Murwil- lumbah-to-Casino rail line is not viable, and spending money on planning a rail link into Queensland would be ill-conceived has been slammed by National Party MP for Lismore Thomas George.

Mr George said the report gave insufficient information explaining the recommendations.

After months of pressure from the Liberal, National and Greens parties, NSW Transport Minister Ian Campbell on Monday finally released the five-page Cross Border Transport Taskforce Report which took three years to prepare.

It concluded additional work to re-introduce commuter trains on the line was not recommended, and buses could best suit local public transport needs. But according to Mr George it is short on information.

“We haven't been able to access any of the information that led the Government to coming to this decision,” he said.

“When this area is facing the biggest popu- lation increase of any part of the state, to come out with such a negative report is just treat- ing the people of the Northern Rivers with contempt.”

Mr George questioned why the Queensland Government would spend a huge amount of money bringing its rail line down to the border at Coolangatta when the NSW Government was concluding a rail line was not needed “a kilometre away”.