Newcastle - Save our rail

[ozbob]

Twitter

NBN News ‏@nbnnews 20 mins ago

Save our Rail granted a hearing in the Supreme Court next Tuesday in a last ditch effort to prevent Newcastle rail line cut.

[pandmaster]

Good on them. At least someone has the guts to contest this. Other than a dodgy judge, how could this fail? Perhaps it will end up in the High Court.

[SurfRail]

Good on them. At least someone has the guts to contest this. Other than a dodgy judge, how could this fail? Perhaps it will end up in the High Court.

How could it fail?  Very simply, they could be wrong.

Regardless of the line's "closure" or not, there is nothing stopping the government withdrawing services on Boxing Day.  There are plenty of railway lines littered throughout New South Wales which are still "open" and happily supporting overgrown vegetation between the rails.

[ozbob]

Maitland Mercury --> Government uses loophole to dismantle rail line

[SurfRail]

Save Our Rail obtained their injunction, on the basis that the assets being transferred to the Hunter Development Corporation make it a rail operator bound by the same requirement not to close the line.

Still changes nothing - the court did not require them to continue services, or make sure the line remains electrified or anything remotely comforting to anybody who wants the service retained.  It just means they have to put something through Parliament when it resumes, probably after the election (which I have no doubt whatsoever the Libs will win).

[ozbob]

Transport for NSW Vlog No.401 Last Direct Service

[ozbob]

Newcastle Herald --> First day off the rails labelled chaotic

[ozbob]

Transport for NSW Vlog No.402 The Final Trains

[ozbob]

Newcastle Herald --> Newcastle's rail disappearance queried

[colinw]

SMH -> Newcastle: A city caught between a rail line and its harbour

The good folks in Sydney finally appear to have noticed.  Too late probably.

[ozbob]

ABC News --> Nile inquiry prompt call for rail services to be restored

[ghostryder]

Have been in the Hunter for the past two weeks and have spoken to a few people about the lines closing as well as getting out and about. While out taking pictures i noticed that several of the stations in the Maitland area that would have been packed with commuter cars were about half full, yes the time was school holiday but i had been at the same places during the sames times before and these car parks were full. Some have explained that the services either see them arrive too early for work or late for work.

I also went past Hamilton Station the current end of services i found about 10 buses sitting around  running shuttles from the station to town. Parking near and around Hamilton is cray at best but having all these extra buses just sitting there makes it even more frustrating, and should it go to Wickham suspect the outdated parking policy will bring nightmares there too.

[colinw]

A bit out of date, but worth posting here.

ABC News (February 11) -> Claims Newcastle rail closure has led to lower patronage

"Now that people are starting to get back to their normal patterns, it's become quite clear that there's really some significant drop in patronage on the Hunter Line, especially from Singleton," he said.

"It certainly appears as if the drop has been about 30-40 per cent in people travelling since the Newcastle rail line closure."

The fall comes after ticket sales at Singleton station grew by an average four-point-five per cent in the five years to 2013.

Transport for NSW is now proposing to make itself more agile by chopping its left foot off.

[ozbob]

NSW Parliament Hansard

Hunter Public Transport (Proof)

>> http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/0/A54CAFDA327D88B0CA257E5A007DBAB1
HUNTER PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Page: 76

Ms JENNY AITCHISON (Maitland) [5.19 p.m.]: Imagine for a moment that you are a 93-year-old woman and you live alone. You live in the same house that you lived in with your husband who has since passed away. You are a passionate woman, still with the strong accent you brought with you on a ship when you first came to Australia many years ago. You fight isolation every day of your life. You do not live in the village that you were born in; you are on your own. You force yourself to go out and spend time in the community, having coffee, seeing your doctor, doing a bit of shopping. You are proud of the beautiful trench coat that you wear to your local member's office. You bought it many years ago because you know that quality never goes out of style. It is true: it never does.

You have a few friends who are still alive and you like to go out. Up until 16 December last year you could leave your house to spend time with them. You could catch the train to Newcastle to walk along the foreshore and perhaps have some fish and chips from that iconic Newcastle restaurant Scratchleys. You catch a bus from the train station, but it is getting harder each day. Now you have to wait for a bus to come and pick you up from Hamilton.

Imagine for a moment you are 15-year-old boy from Thornton. On those hot humid Maitland summer days you long to catch a wave at Newcastle beach. Your parents work really hard at a small business and sometimes on weekends and during the holidays they do not have time to drive you to the beach. You think about how good it would be to take your surfboard down to Newcastle Beach. But now your surfboard is not always allowed on the bus that you have to catch from Hamilton—nor is your bike. You stop going because it is awkward getting caught out in Hamilton with a surfboard or a bike. You cannot take those on the bus.

Imagine for a moment you are married. You live in Telarah, and you and your partner are both lucky enough, under this Government, still to have jobs in the mines. At the end of a long week, you both get some days off together. You used to go out on nights like this. You used to take a night off without the kids, to go to the restaurants along the foreshore. You may get a pizza at Blue Water Pizza or you may eat at Silk Room Restaurant, and perhaps you would have listened to some live music at the Brewery before things got a bit rough there. Not wanting to drink and drive, of course, you used to catch the train back to Telarah station and then take a taxi ride to your house. Now you are scared of missing the connection, getting stuck at Hamilton, and being stuck with a $100 taxi bill.

I have been a passionate defender of public transport for over 16 years. Although I do not have any Government contracts to provide bus services, I have generally been to State or national conferences on buses or public transport once or twice a year, every year for the last 16 years. Most of the speakers at these conferences have reiterated the vital importance of public transport for socio-economic development, and as a social determinant of health. Distinguished transport and sociology academics like Janet and Jon Stanley from Monash University and David Hensher from the University of Sydney Institute of Transport and Logistics have been working on these issues. More recently I spoke to the President of the Urban Development Institute of Australia, who was very surprised that a Government would even consider replacing a heavy rail line with light rail, particularly outside the corridor.

To be clear, Labor started the revitalisation of Newcastle with the Law Courts and the 5,000 to 6,000 university spaces being relocated to just outside Civic Station. The new Museum of Newcastle is located at Civic station, which is also known as the museum station. The many restaurants along the foreshore are within a five-minute walk of Civic station, and there is a major shopping and residential development slated for the area.

The rail line into Newcastle is about giving people in Maitland the opportunity to directly connect with the major CBD in our region, and then into Sydney. It is about connectivity, transport and, ultimately, people. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Save our Rail, particularly Kim Cross and Joan Dawson for their long-term, sustained efforts in maintaining their campaign to save our rail over such a long time.

The Government has unlawfully ripped up essential rail infrastructure, without putting any alternative in place. For all his talk of mandates the Premier has been very silent, since the election, on the rail line. He said the election was a referendum on the rail line. That is what the Premier promised. He implemented one of his mandates yesterday; he should implement this one. The Government should look at the swings against members in country seats, where it lost up to 20 per cent of the votes. The member for Upper Hunter, in particular, should think about that.

[ghostryder]

Currently in Newcastle while taking some rail pics at Thornton i was able to talk to the station person he was saying the closure East of Hamilton has seen a 40% drop in patronage, his said people he used to see for years coming to his station his not seen since the stoppage on the line East of Hamilton. Since trains stopped going past Hamilton its been handled badly by the powers to be they are still tinkering with the blunders 6 months on.

[colinw]

40% drop in Maitland (Telarah) services is what I have seen quoted elsewhere (Maitland Mercury I think, but can't find the link at present).

The DMU service to Telarah, Dungog, etc., was a link to the Newcastle CBD.  With that gone, the service has lost much of its reason for existing.

[ghostryder]

An article that from the Newcastle Herald.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/3154442/heavy-rail-users-shun-buses-mp/?cs=305

[colinw]

The last of the original Adtranz Variotrams that re-introduced light rail to Sydney have now been withdrawn, replaced by an extended order for CAF Urbos 3 trams.   This gives the Central & Dulwich Hill line a uniform fleet.

These are still modern and useful low floor units, barely 20 years old.

If the NSW Government was serious about light rail for Newcastle, surely they would have moved these trams to Newcastle and done a quick "St Kilda" style conversion of the line from Wickham.

But apparently not - the trams are to be sold.

[colinw]

There you have it.  A monument to stupidty on a grand scale.





Anecdotally, DMU patronage on the line to Maitland/Telarah has halved.

[dancingmongoose]

For once it's not Queensland

[colinw]

Correct.  We stopped doing dumb things like that after 1969.

It completely does my head in that this was allowed to happen.

[ghostryder]

Newcastle's problem is that the parking model used for parking is outdated and in major need of revamping. Removing the rail line has just added more pressure, there are limited number of all day parking spaces many come at a fee. Metered parking has been extended in many areas with the usual array of confusing signs covering it. With the Uni moving the Legal Dept to the Newcastle CBD its gonna add more pressure. Many feel the light rail is too little too late they feel it SHOULD have been put in before the heavy rail was removed or atleast used the old rail corridor.

The other thing that has turned away many is that the transit times to Newcastle have increased and dont look like decreasing, the transit times have now blown out from 3-6 minutes Hamilton to Newcastle to 15-20m by bus. In a busy world time is money.

[colinw]

 

The Herald -> Government changes plan on rail line

[ozbob]

Twitter

Save Our Rail NSW ‏@SaveOurRailNSW 14m

. @SeanNic This bill opens the door for the permanent destruction of public infrastructure & seizing of public space.

[colinw]

I give up. This country is ****ed. 

[ozbob]

Very sad times indeed Colin. 

NSW Government has ignored legislation (law) and is now attempting to change the law to validate its actions. 

No wonder the locals are mobilising ..

[colinw]

To close the line into Newcastle is dumb.

But what would be truly criminal would be to lose the corridor, as was done into Southport & Tweed Heads in the 1960s.

Case in point - compare the relative ease with which rail returned to Cleveland (corridor preserved by Redlands Shire Council) vs. the expensive and protracted mess that rail back to the Gold Coast has been.

I can actually understand the logic of closing the entire Newcastle branch back to Broadmeadows IF the whole thing was converted to LRT (St Kilda style), forming the nucleus of a new Newcastle tram system.  Perhaps extend the electrification down to Waratah (for the uni) and Maitland as well.

But to close half the branch, shoehorn an interchange into the patently unsuitable Wickham site, then dither about whether LRT goes on the rail corridor or on Hunter St speaks of stupidity and corruption in equal measure.

A correctly done Newcastle branch closure and LRT conversion could have been a real asset to NSW and Newcastle.  But what has been done is just going to set the place back, and probably hasten the demise of the Maitland DMU service as well.

[colinw]

One of the good things about NSW is that patronage is reported unambiguously on a line-by-line basis, but with a few months delay.

http://www.bts.nsw.gov.au/Graphs/Rail/Patronage

I used this site to plot month by month patronage for the Newcastle and Hunter lines, from 2001 to March this year.  Surprise!  Newcastle line patronage for January 2015, the first month after the truncation, was the lowest in 15 years.

But the real fall was the Hunter line (Newcastle - Maitland/Telarah/Dungog/Scone).  Its January patronage was radically lower than in any of the last 15 years, although showing a trend of improvement by March.

After Newcastle truncation, the Hunter line recorded a mere 34,325 journeys for January 2015, vs. 55,323 for January 2014.  The REAL victims of the Newcastle truncation would appear to be the residents of Maitland area, who have lost their direct journey into town.

HUNTER Line patronage, 2001 - Mar 2015.  2015 figures in red



NEWCASTLE Line patronage, again 2015 in red.

[colinw]

Meanwhile, in South Western Sydney, the $2.1 billion SWRL has gained back approximately the same number of journeys per month as were sacrificed by truncating Newcaslte.

[ozbob]

March underway in Newcastle for Keep Rail on Corridor rally. @SaveOurRailNSW @MehreenFaruqi #nswpol pic.twitter.com/44wvmPJ152

— David Threlfo (@David_Threlfo) October 11, 2015

[ozbob]

ABC News --> Rail lobby group reports death threat to police, as hundreds rally in support of line

[ozbob]

Newcastle Herald --> Full steam ahead for rail closure

THE legal saga over the removal of Newcastle's heavy rail looked to be  over on Wednesday night, with a bill to close the line at Wickham passing through NSW Parliament by 17 votes to 14 in its upper house.

It paves the way for the tracks to be removed and major works to get under way, more than 10 months after the government ceased running trains into Newcastle  station.

Another $50million has been promised by the Baird government to the project, lifting the total budget to $510million – after it acquiesced to five conditions crossbench MPs from the Shooters and Fishers Party imposed as the price for securing their crucial votes of support.

"Today is the start of Newcastle's tomorrow and we can crack on with revitalisation,'' Transport Minister Andrew Constance said.

"With today's bill, we now have the certainty to forge ahead and deliver on our promise to roll out light rail, allowing Newcastle to capitalise on this opportunity for renewal and reach its potential as an economic, social and cultural centre.''

But the Greens, who opposed the legislation along with Labor, the Christian Democrats and the Animal Justice Party, labelled the outcome a ''betrayal'' of the Hunter community and accused the government of selling out to ''developer spivs''.

The government also agreed to the Shooters' demands that it enact legislation as soon as possible to ensure all the proceeds it receives from any development on the existing rail corridor will be reinvested back into efforts to revitalise the city centre.

It has undertaken to use its ''best endeavours'' to obtain expressions of interest from Hunter-based manufacturers to supply light rail rolling stock, and to ensure the trams accommodate passengers with disabilities, and people with prams, surfboards, pushbikes, and fishing rods.

And it agreed to immediately start on a business case for the extension of the planned light rail network to at least Broadmeadow, Hunter Stadium, Adamstown and Mayfield.

But neither it nor the Shooters would not back amendments proposed by the Greens to make Newcastle City Council the planning consent authority for all land in the city centre, consistent with the Premier Mike Baird's promise that the council would be given the ''final say'' over any development in the corridor.

Currently, the council determines most applications, except for development worth more than $20 million, or proposals worth more that $5million that are lodged by or on behalf of the Crown, which are determined by a Joint Regional Planning Panel.

Roads Minister Duncan Gay said ad-hoc changes to planning laws would create problems and should not be added to a stand-alone bill.

Shooters MP Robert Brown said he and colleague Robert Borsak  warned crossbenchers would start blocking other legislation if the government went back on its word.

''We've gone a long, long way to getting what I see as almost the very best, not quite the very best, outcome for the people of Newcastle on this particular subject,'' Mr Brown said.

Labor MP Penny Sharpe said the government could not be trusted and ''what we will see today is the corridor getting ready to be sold to the highest bidder, again another broken promise''.

Greens MP David Shoebridge said the government would now have the ''usual suspects'', including former lord mayor Jeff McCloy, ''circling around like blowflies'' to get their hands on the corridor.

Mr Gay described the Greens as spouting ''a tirade of venom''.

The bill puts an end to the saga over whether the government has the authority to pull out the tracks after Supreme Court action by Save Our Rail stopped it fromdoing so.

The group successfully argued an act of parliament was needed to shut the line. The government appealed the ruling, but a decision is still pending.

Save Our Rail president Joan Dawson said the group was disappointed but would continue to fight.

Hunter Business Chamber chief executive Kristen Keegan said the city had been held to ransom by a vocal minority for too long ''but today is a clear sign they have lost the argument and it's time for everyone to adopt a positive outlook for the future''.

[ozbob]

A gallant fight ...  sad day for Newcastle and NSW.

[colinw]

And the time to get to Newcastle from Sydney is now over half an hour more than it was in the 1930s when the mighty 36 class held the record.

More passengers on the Newcastle & Hunter services were sacrificed than were won back by the SWRL "line to a paddock" with its 2TPH service terminating in a 4 platform station.

And we think Queensland is a basket case.  At least we are trying to get rail back into places where it was removed.

[Arnz]

This is not a case of Queenslander, it's a case of 'STRAYA ****!!'

The Newcastle travel time situation eerily mirrors the initial Caboolture electrification of trains initially taking IIRC 42 mins into town.

Although apart from the time padding over the years, there has been factors since then such as the Doors Closing mechanisms, as well as infill stations such as Carseldine being constructed since the electrification in 1986 that really slowed down the Caboolture all-stoppers.

[red dragin]

The Nambour IMU of an afternoon is 4-6 minutes early to Petrie. The EMU's struggle to be a 1-2 minutes early.

Perhaps with the NGR replacements the timetable might get "The biggest loser" treatment 

[colinw]

This is not a case of Queenslander, it's a case of 'STRAYA ****!!'

The Newcastle travel time situation eerily mirrors the initial Caboolture electrification of trains initially taking IIRC 42 mins into town.

Although apart from the time padding over the years, there has been factors since then such as the Doors Closing mechanisms, as well as infill stations such as Carseldine being constructed since the electrification in 1986 that really slowed down the Caboolture all-stoppers.

Yes, 42 minutes in 1986 is correct.  The other lines have had similar blow-outs, to the point that Ferny Grove and Shorncliffe times are now worse than they were in the days of DEL + SX Set.

If anyone can dig up a 1989 "all lines" timetable book, it makes interesting reading compared to the current timetables.  Or better yet a 1987 or 1988 edition which includes foamy wonders like the daily rail motor to Toogoolawah!

[colinw]

My comment posted on the Newcastle Herald site.  Bet I get roundly abused for it. 

You poor deluded muppets in NSW can enjoy your urban dysfunction now. We made this same mistake here in QLD back in 1964 when we removed rail from Southport. 50 years later, its light rail replacement has only just opened at vast expense, but the final connection back to the heavy rail will not finally be open until 2018.

If you are dumb enough to close an inner city rail line, at least keep the corridor lest the futility of your mistake is finally recognized. We failed to do so, and the cost of resumptions when we changed our mind was huge. (In comparison, we also closed our line to Cleveland in the early 1960s. A forward thinking Redlands council preserved the corridor "just in case", and in 1983 through 1987 the line re-opened in stages as a modern electric line, but for modest cost).

Besides, who wants trams wobbling down a not particularly wide road when a perfectly good rail corridor is sitting there unused? Bet it gets sold off, and the city walled off from the riverfront even more effectively than before, when all you actually needed to do was elevate or sink the line.

If also am deeply amused to see the published rail patronage figures for the first quarter of 2015, which show that Hunter line patronage dropped by 20,000+, Newcastle Line patronage dropped by some thousands, but some of that loss was made up by the opening of a vastly expensive new line to a cow paddock at Lepptingon. (Jan 2015 Hunter line patronage was 34.325, lowest previous on record was 55,323 - source http://www.bts.nsw.gov.au/Graphs/Rail/Patronage )

The final observation I will make is that thanks to this dumb decision, it is now over half an hour slower from Sydney Central to Newcastle than it was in the 1930s when the mighty 36 class steam locos still ruled the rails. Love that progress!

Ah well, you blew it Newcastle. Enjoy the fruits of your labour.

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> End of the line for Newcastle rail after government wins key vote

[Old Northern Road]

This is not a case of Queenslander, it's a case of 'STRAYA ****!!'

The Newcastle travel time situation eerily mirrors the initial Caboolture electrification of trains initially taking IIRC 42 mins into town.

Although apart from the time padding over the years, there has been factors since then such as the Doors Closing mechanisms, as well as infill stations such as Carseldine being constructed since the electrification in 1986 that really slowed down the Caboolture all-stoppers.

Yes, 42 minutes in 1986 is correct.  The other lines have had similar blow-outs, to the point that Ferny Grove and Shorncliffe times are now worse than they were in the days of DEL + SX Set.

If anyone can dig up a 1989 "all lines" timetable book, it makes interesting reading compared to the current timetables.  Or better yet a 1987 or 1988 edition which includes foamy wonders like the daily rail motor to Toogoolawah!

Well they have to stop at 5 extra stations now. Skip 4 of them and you could get it down to 46 mins and then remove 2 mins of fat and you've got it down to 44 mins which is pretty close to what it was.

Shorncliffe seems to have suffered the most slowing down