In the last few days, the community has been hit with a massive and complex document promoted as a Business Plan by the Rail Trail Proponents.
I like many in our community, find this proposal to tear up our rail tracks to make very costly Rail Trails very confronting. I diligently spent about three hours trying to read and decipher the material as displayed in the Councils business paper for decision at the next meeting.
I would have thought a project of such game changing magnitude would have as a minimum been placed on public exhibition for at least a month with extensive have your say opportunities.
To me the numbers in the proposal do not stack up. Using numbers taken from the NERT / ARC documents I started to do the maths. Readers of this paper my like to consider the following: –
- 9,000 visitors annually is 24.6 visitors per day (9,000 / 365)
- $ 5.9m visitor spend is $16,164 per day ($5.9m / 24.6)
3 This means each of the 24.6 visitors would spend $637 each day.
4 Is works out at about .45 cents for each minute of a 24-hour day for each man, woman and child!!!!!!
With the cost of this folly being funded by the ratepayers.
The numbers are different on different pages of the document and when I first did the maths my results were even less plausible!
Given that the New England has about 100,000 kms of documented bike trails and major cycle events for which Council can not show costs or explain the visitor benefits our real transport energy must be to get the trains up and running again to deliver real and sizable economic benefit, connect our community to health and education opportunities and trains bring freight and trains bring tourists.
Trains will connect the New England with the Olympic Games and the booming SEQ region.
I urge people to just think, as they spend about 3 hours reading and trying to analyse the information.
I am going to spend some of my time doing Bird Counts in my back yard to help the annual audit. The facts of life certainly do not support rail trails.
Got something on your mind? Go on then, engage. Submit your opinion piece, letter to the editor, or Quick Word now.
Absolutely the numbers don’t add up, they don’t pass a calculator test. It’s changed scope and distance and delivery far too many times. It needs to go back to the community for consultation process.
I notice that the qroter of this opinion piece neglected to mention the local people (an estimated 22,300) who would be potentially using the trail, who would also contribute to increased tourism revenue. No wonder he couldn’t get his figures to make sense.
A formal community consultation process is indicated, not a campaign dressed up as consultation like last time. Local government is democracy – consultation and transparency are required and previous efforts fall well short of standards.
Most of the trails that already exist are documented on council and tourism web sites. There’s also quite a few apps for cyclists as well that have documented and graded and timed rides along with GPS.
Being a cycling fan I thought you’d know about it.
A small group of selfish, entitled, middle-aged men and women who are trying to ride rough shod over a largely unsuspecting majority of people who only have goodness in their hearts for the well-being of those less fortunate (and less wealthy) .
I would suggest that the privileged folk wishing to have their rail trail, come hell or high water, simply do not care for the underpriveleged & seem happy to isolate the Guyra, Glen Innes, Deepwater & Tenterfield communities instead.
A very costly rail trail and what price is a train, level crossing lights bells gates $2 million each there is no funding for rail
Any rail trail is such a better investment with broader community benefits than the mythical investment in reopening the rail line
The NSW State Government needs to reinstate the line north to Glen Innes, Tenterfield and Jennings. It’s a state responsibility and should not be debated by the Armidale Council.