Trains North push for New England trains instead of planned rail trail

The forum was the latest in a series of meetings that have been held by Trains North. The groups had previously held forums at Guyra and Tenterfield under their previous banner 'Northern Railway Defenders Forum'.

The focus of the forum was to discuss the future of the rail line between Armidale and Wallangarra, near Tenterfield.

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Trains North has been actively campaigning to convince the authorities and the public about the importance of restoring the Great Northern Railway Line for train services since 2020.

The panel of eight speakers included Armidale engineer and President of Trains North Matthew Tierney, who delivered a presentation on what Trains North believe can be expected of regional rail today.

He reminded the forum that 20 years ago, 3000 people from Armidale turned out at the Armidale railway station in support of passenger trains when it was proposed they be replaced with coaches, and that the trains have continued to operate on the line successfully since then.

"Passenger trains have a real value to the community that they serve and that value should be included in cost-benefit analysis along with the benefits of moving goods," he said.

"Renewing the line and taking it as a standard gauge through to Brisbane or perhaps to connect with the inland rail of Toowoomba is to be a perfectly reasonable aspiration in 2023."

Mr Tieney said the proposals presented by Trains North were "plausible and achievable and use the line for its intended purpose, to carry trains".

In recent times, the group New England Rail Trail (NERT inc), has expressed interest in revitalising the rail corridor and has developed a business case focused on attracting tourism to the area.

Trains North claim that the binary created between the rail trails versus railways was actually a 'sideshow' which is diverting attention away from the competition between rail and the trucking industry.

The 103km rail trail stretch between Armidale and Glen Innes has been supported by current Mayor Sam Coupland who called it a "game changer for the region from a tourism point of view, and would deliver a world-class amenity".

Armidale Regional Council successfully secured $5,410,000 through the Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants to commence construction of the Armidale-Ben Lomond leg of the Rail Trail, while Glen Innes Severn Council received funding of $8,700,000 for the Glen Innes to Ben Lomond section in 2021.

Armidale citizen of the year and third generation freight operator, Brian Flint, spoke to the Armidale forum about embracing the future of rail, believing that the utilisation of rail was vital in achieving energy reductions in transportation globally to arrive at net zero in 2050.

"Rail has a greater ability to move larger amounts of both freight and passengers compared to heavy vehicles, cars, buses and aeroplanes which amounts to a potential reduction to not only the number of vehicles on the road but reduces the dependence on continually building more," he said.

The meeting passed four resolutions with an overwhelming majority. Those included:

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