Article: Farmers demand fair go on rail plan

[ozbob]

From the Queensland Times 16 October 2008 page 16

Farmers demand fair go on rail plan

Farmers demand fair go on rail plan

Elizabeth SPRY

THE 1960s song about a railway running through the middle of the house has no humour for a farming couple facing that prospect.

David and Lesley Stephen have been told their 80ha beef cattle property has been earmarked to carry high-speed freight trains travelling between Kagaru and Rosewood.

They have spent the past year waiting for confirmation of the proposal but now they have powerful support from their neighbours who discussed it at a rowdy, chaotic meeting at Peak Crossing on Monday afternoon. They have lived on the property at Undullah, a farming community near Beaudesert, for 15 years. "Our property was just wild bush when we came here 15 years ago," Mr Stephen said. "We've cleaned it up and pasture improved it - all for a rail corridor."

At the public meeting, Mr Stephen and a group of 200 affected landholders formed Fair Go to fight for their rights. The Southern Freight Rail Corridor Draft Assessment Report compiled by Maunsell Australia for Queensland Transport was recently released, outlining the land requirements to 105 land owners and impacting on another 242 adjoining properties.

Ipswich City Council division 10 councillor David Pahlke, who attended the meeting, said the project was the most poorly consulted study he had seen in his 17 years as a councillor. "There's been so many inconsistencies - they've changed the corridor without any consultation at all," Cr Pahlke said. "The dates don't line up with prior correspondence, people have been left in the dark about whether it's (freight line) for transporting grain, coal or just goods, and people haven't even got letters to say it's happening."

A Queensland Transport spokesman yesterday said: "The proposed Southern Freight Rail Corridor connects the Western Railway near Rosewood to the interstate rail line north of Beaudesert, and is part of long-term planning for south-east Queensland."Community consultation has played a key part in the study." The preferred route will be considered for community infrastructure designation under the Integrated Planning Act 1997, which will effectively freeze the land from any development until a decision is made.

"While it is important to protect the corridor now, a range of factors will influence any future decision on whether the freight rail line will ultimately be constructed," the spokesman said. It is this point that has angered Fair Go members the most. Their future farm plans have been put on hold and their land rendered virtually unsaleable all for a project that may not happen. "There's only a one in seven chance they'll even build it," Fair Go member Darren Yarrow said. "At this stage, all they want to do is preserve the land, which means properties in the area can't be sold because no one will buy them with a potential rail line running through it.

"Most people bought out here for an investment - it's my super-farm and it's all gone."
Residents have been given until December 12 to comment on the 1160 page draft report.

SUPER TRAIN Corridor size: 55km long and 2km wide. Cost: Unconfirmed. No business case assessment has been conducted. Rail line requires two tunnels: 1km at Washpool and 200m at Woolooman.

[ozbob]

From the Sunday Mail click here!

Freight rail line threat to koala habitat

Freight rail line threat to koala habitat
Article from: The Sunday Mail (Qld)

By Darrell Giles

October 19, 2008 12:00am

A PROPOSAL for a freight rail line to be carved through a koala habitat could create a new environmental headache for the Bligh Government.

Campaigners say the Southern Freight Rail Corridor ? a $1 billion 55km line to connect the Western rail track between Rosewood and Beaudesert ? could threaten a large koala population and a koala rescue and rehabilitation clinic.

More than 1000 koalas are believed to live in the area.

A recent report said hundreds of the iconic animals were dying each year because of loss of habitat, dog attacks or getting hit by cars, and it prompted Premier Anna Bligh to concede not enough had been done to protect them.

"It would be a great tragedy if we stood by and let the koalas of southeast Queensland be wiped out," Ms Bligh said. "We face total loss of koalas within 20 years."

Community action group Fair Go, which held a protest meeting yesterday waving "killing koalas for coal trains" placards, accused the Government of ignoring the habitat near Mt Forbes.

Darren Yarrow, of Fair Go, said the 55km corridor, which would be up to 200m wide, would destroy "the largest and most healthy koala population on the south side of Brisbane".

"It flies in the face of Anna Bligh's declaration that the Queensland Government is all about protecting koalas and their habitat," Mr Yarrow said.

Liberal National Party Member for Lockyer Ian Rickuss branded the Bligh plan "completely ridiculous" and said more than 200 properties would be affected. "There is no need for this," he said. "It is a rail freight corridor where there is no freight."

Transport Minister John Mickel said there had been no final decision on the line.

[mufreight]

Mr Rickus is again like most politicians playing popularist politics on an emotive issue,
A rail corridor while it might be some 200m wide actually provides a nature strip that is beneficial in terms of conservation.  Even as a double track rail line it would at worst occupy only 12m of that corridor width, in terms of wildlife a rail line can provide crossing points for wildlife migration far more readily than a road either under the line or over it and as the flow of traffic along a rail line is intermittent rather than a continuous stream as is the case with a road far less intimidating to to approach for wildlife than a road, claiming to protect the environment as justification by the local not in my backyard group to block the construction of such a rail link is simply a misrepresentation of reality to justify their vested interests.
Yes there are environmental and conservation issues but these can be addressed and managed so how about a little reality rather than politicial expediency