People power in push to remove rail freight
More than 100 people packed public meetings last week at Goodwood and Unley, in a pre-election grassroots push to get the Federal Government and Opposition to commit to removing the rail freight line from the inner suburbs.
Residents at both meetings, organised by Unley Council, voted to write to Labor and the Coalition to seek funding for a northern bypass line in the 2014 federal budget.
Unley Council wants a $2.4 billion bypass to run north of Adelaide but the Commonwealth has opted instead for a $700 million upgrade of the existing line, which has long been the target of local complaints about noise and traffic disruption.
Mayor Richard Thorne said now was the best time to push the issue, before the August 21 federal election. “The busiest freight line in Australia is running through your suburbs and increasing in size and terror every year,” he told the July 28 meeting at Unley Council.
“I haven’t found anybody in Adelaide who doesn’t want to see freight moved from Adelaide … but we’re banging our head against a wall.”
Forestville resident Peter McInerney described the decision to stick with the existing line as “appalling”.
“The idea of dealing with that level of rail freight and traffic in the future is outrageous,” he said at the meeting.
“I don’t know how they can’t see it needs to be changed.”
However, Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure officer Mark Williams said the bypass was too expensive.
“Freight movements are essential to the state,” he told the meeting.
“As freight grows, the case to remove trains from the area may improve later on.”
Freight trains along the Adelaide to Melbourne corridor are expected to increase from 86 to 172 a week by 2025 and to grow from 1.5km in length to 1.8km, causing traffic delays of up to 15 minutes at level crossings on Cross Rd, Victoria St and Leader St.
More than 500 people were expected at a public meeting organised by Mitcham Council in Blackwood on Friday, July 30, after the Eastern Courier Messenger’s deadline.
