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.

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About 150 frustrated residents attended a Mitcham Council public meeting to push for a northern bypass at the Blackwood Hills Baptist Church last Friday, July 30.

Boothby’s Labor candidate Annabel Digance was scheduled to address the meeting, but did not attend. Ms Digance did not respond to the Hills and Valley Messenger’s inquiries before presstime.

The meeting resolved to write to the leaders of the major parties at State and Federal level, calling on them to fund a northern bypass by 2014.

It follows the release of the Federal Government’s Adelaide Rail Freight Movements Study in June which, much to the angst of long-suffering locals, found the cost to realign or upgrade the track would outweigh any social or environmental benefits.

Share your opinion: View and discuss the Adelaide Hills rail bypass proposals.

Earlier in the night, Boothby MP Dr Andrew Southcott (Lib) announced that, if elected, his party would suspend any current or future work on the existing line and “revisit specific elements” of the Federal study, prepared by consultants GHD. However, he did not pledge to fund a northern bypass.

Rail Freight Committee chair and Mitcham Cr Mark Ward welcomed Dr Southcott’s announcement but said more needed to be done.

“It’s much stronger than the position of GHD’s paper but it needs to be even stronger,” he told the Hills and Valley Messenger after the meeting.

“If the (Federal) budget is going to be in surplus by 2013, then let’s commit to a bypass by 2014.”

Eden Hills resident Stephanie McCarthy said Dr Southcott’s commitment needed to go further.

“At least it was better than nothing, at least it indicated support for it (northern bypass) and I would like to see the GHD report thoroughly pulled apart and some sensible action begun immediately,” she said.

Bellevue Heights resident Bob Hunt, who double-glazed his home to mitigate wheel squeals, said both parties needed to commit to a northern bypass.

“They’re all waiting around for somebody like Infrastructure Australia to come up and say ‘Yes, you should go with that’,” he said.

via Messenger News

Residents are calling for Port candidates to back noise buffers being installed at their homes, with the 23,000 vehicles now travelling on Victoria Rd every day expected to double within a decade.

About 180 trains are also tipped to use the rail freight corridor adjacent Mersey Rd each week by mid-2011, up from the existing 160.

“If you had a barrier for the noise it would have to help stop it, it would have to be better,” said Largs North resident Robert Brown, who has long endured truck noise at all hours of the night.

“Not a lot has been done to help residents towards this end of Victoria Rd, it seems like they’ve overlooked us.”

Port-Enfield Outer Harbor councillor Bruce Johansen said noise complaints had been repeatedly overlooked by the Federal and State governments, despite both jointly investing more than $300 million over the past five years to improve road and rail links to Outer Harbor. Cr Johansen said all homes lining Victoria and Mersey roads needed high fencing or double glazing.

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Port Adelaide MHR Mark Butler (Labor) while several residents had spoken with him about their concerns, he did not consider it to be a federal matter. “I have previously written to the State government, which has responsibility for noise and attenuation measures associated with the rail corridor and roads in the area,” he said in an emailed statement.

Liberal candidate Nigel McKenna was also aware of the problems.

“If elected I will fight to see this managed so that the local community enjoys the economic benefits … but with minimal negative impacts, which would include consideration of a train curfew,” he said.

Greens candidate Kalyna Micenko and Family First candidate Bruce Hambour both agreed residents should be offered some form of acoustic barrier to minimise the effects of the noise. Mr Hambour also said the relocation of worst affected residents might need to be considered in the longer term.

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In the lead up to the federal election, Mitcham Council’s Rail Freight Committee is holding a public meeting at which candidates will be grilled about their plans to address noise and safety concerns along the freight line.

While candidates in the federal electorates of Boothby and Mayo have acknowledged residents’ concerns, none has guaranteed a bypass during the next term of government.

Rail Freight Committee chairman and Mitcham councillor Mark Ward said not rerouting the trains, as recommended in the recently-released Adelaide Rail Freight Movements study, was simply not good enough.

“If we do nothing now, we are passing on the problem to the next generation,” Cr Ward said.

“We want a commitment from the Liberal and Labor parties that they are going to do something now they cannot leave it any longer.”

For more than 10 years, Hills residents have complained about excessive noise from wheel squeal, traffic congestion and safety risks from possible derailments.

During the 2007 election campaign, both parties promised $3 million towards a study into Mitcham’s proposal for a northern bypass.

In June, the 20-month study ruled out rerouting freight trains, saying it would be too expensive to move or upgrade the track and the cost would outweigh any social or environmental benefits.

Your opinion: Should taxpayers fund a Hills rail bypass this election?

Cr Ward urged people to attend the public meeting to show how important the issue was for the electorates of Boothby and Mayo.

“Politicians are there for the people, not for the government,” he said. “People are wanting action and the candidates are going to be asked what action they will take.”

Boothby MHR Andrew Southcott (Lib) said while he was supportive of a rail freight bypass, his party was still exploring options and would make its position known during the election campaign.

Dr Southcott said he and Mayo MHR Jamie Briggs were “looking at a whole lot of options for the Liberal Party to take forward”.

“It (a bypass) is something we are fighting for but we are not in a position to comment on the Liberal Party policy at this stage.”

Mr Briggs said a bypass “makes a whole lot of sense” but a major hurdle was the estimated $2.4 billion cost.

Labor candidate for Boothby Annabel Digance said the Federal Government had fulfilled its last election promise by releasing the Adelaide Rail Freight Movement Study.

She said she had been consulting with a number of groups about freight, including Mitcham Council and the Blackwood Action Group.

“I will make this issue a key priority and continue to work with all of the relevant stakeholders to achieve the best possible outcome for the people of the area,” she said.

The study has been given to Infrastructure Australia for consideration as it finalises the National Freight Network Strategy.

The Labor Party had not confirmed a Mayo candidate at the time of the Hills and Valley Messenger’s deadline.

The Greens Party has backed residents’ calls for a rail bypass.

via Messenger News

Cr Bruce Johansen will raise the issue at the council’s July 13 meeting after the Portside Messenger Last week reported Mersey Rd residents’ complaints that the noise from the 160 trains using the corridor each week was becoming unbearable.

Cr Johansen said the State Government must recognise the residents’ concerns as valid.

“Over the past decade we have attended many, many meetings and workshops with the Transport Department with the same outcome,” Cr Johansen said.

“They maintain we do not have a problem.”

He said while the council was told the 2007 upgrade of the line, which saw the track doubled, would fix the noise and vibration problems, it clearly had not.

“There are 78 houses that border the Mersey Rd section of the line, but even people one house back would be affected by the increase in traffic.

“Yet not one dollar was spent on noise abatement measures.” A spokesman for Transport Minister Pat Conlon confirmed no physical noise barriers were installed during the upgrade.

“The old single track featured passing loops, where idling locomotives sat waiting for trains to pass … it was these idling locomotives that were the main source of noise,” he said.

“The track duplication eliminated the need for further noise mitigation measures.”

The department said the results of the most recent noise monitoring in 2008 when an average of 30 trains used the line each week fell within EPA guidelines, and there were no immediate plans to do further testing at this stage.

via Messenger News