State Government fails to honour pledge to protect the Hobart to Granton rail line

The State Government is being accused of failing to honour a pledge to protect the Hobart to Granton rail line, as the Legislative Council considers a plan to give State Ministers power to dictate alternative uses for the rail corridor.

The Hobart Northern Suburbs Rail Action Group says the Strategic Infrastructure Corridors Bill is a threat to all non-operational railway lines in Tasmania and will jeopardise future rail developments around the state.

The Rail Action Group, which is campaigning for a Light Rail service from Hobart to Bridgewater, says the proposal would avoid parliamentary scrutiny and vest too much power in the Minister of the day to convert rail corridors into recreational zones.

The Group’s President Ben Johnston says “in its current form the Bill encourages non-rail use of railways presently classified as ‘non-operational.”

Mr Johnston says “it is crucial that important rail lines like the one between Hobart and Bridgewater remain intact and in fact should be exempted from any future Ministerial control.”

Mr Johnston says “the Bill ignores the strategic importance of Hobart’s Northern Suburbs line as a future rail line for freight, passengers or tourists and doesn’t require a Minister to consult key stakeholders prior to any changes.”

Mr Johnston says the proposed changes seem to fly in the face of the Infrastructure Ministers media statement earlier this year that ‘The Hodgman Liberal Government will preserve the rail corridor from Hobart to Granton so that its potential for light rail passenger transport can be considered in the long term’.

The Hobart Northern Suburbs Rail Action Group says it wasn’t consulted over the changes and is strongly urging Legislative Councillors to closely consider the Bill in light of the future strategic importance of the rail link between Hobart and northern suburbs.

Download Letter to MLCs …

Letter_to_MLCs_from_Rail_Action_Group_6_September_April_2016.pdf
Ben Johnston President, Hobart Northern Suburbs Rail Action Group