Herald 20221004

Grave concerns about Inland Rail
A small South East Queensland
council holds grave concerns
over the future of their
community as Inland Rail proceeds
full steam ahead with
plans to rip through the heart of
their towns.
Looking to protect the disaster
fatigued region from yet another
blow, Lockyer Valley Regional
Council is calling on State and
Commonwealth Governments
to ensure the nation’s salad bowl
doesn’t pay the price for the
project’s convenience.
Reflecting on the growing
frustration of her council and
community, Lockyer Valley Regional
Council Mayor Tanya
Milligan noted the region’s substantiated
concerns appear to be
falling on deaf ears.
“Our region has been put
through the ringer with overlapping
natural disasters and soon
we’ll have infrastructure of national
significance dividing our
towns in two and creating further
hurdles to overcome on our
journey to flood resilience,” Cr
Milligan said.
“It doesn’t matter what part
of the process you look at, the
proposed route will have serious
generational impacts on our
townships, and decision makers
designing the railway are not
taking our concerns seriously.
“We have been raising our
concerns since this project was
first announced and continue
to advocate for our community
in our ongoing objection to the
unreasonable impacts of Inland
Rail.
“Despite repeated requests,
the Australian Rail Track Corporation
has been unable or unwilling
to provide the council with
key information such as costs of
the planned infrastructure and
the alternate route, specifics of
the assessment process used by
ARTC to compare options or
even revised traffic modelling
and safety assessments.
“The decision on alignment
will affect the safety, amenity
APPEAR to be FALLING on DEAF EARS
Lockyer Valley Regional Councillors, Mayor Tanya Milligan, Rick Vela, Chris Wilson, Janice
Holstein, Deputy Mayor Jason Cook, Michael Hagan and Brett Qualischefski
and liveability of our community
for 100 years - yet Councillors
have been given platitudes rather
than facts.
“We understand this is vital
transport infrastructure and we
aren’t saying ‘not in my backyard.’
But we are saying it must be
moved outside of our townships.
Deputy Mayor, Cr Jason Cook
said the council had been demanding
explanations on behalf
of their community, but the ones
they’ve been provided aren’t
making much sense.
“We understand it might cost
a little more to move the route
outside of the Gatton township.
"But when picturing 2km
long, double-stacked freight
trains roaring through the centre
of a busy town more than 40
times a day, realigning the route
just seems like a no brainer,” Cr
Cook said.
“Surely reducing the enormous
impacts on our community
is a reasonable investment by
the government.
"The explanations and justifications
we are being provided
by Inland Rail just simply don’t
stack up.
“The current proposal is likely
to add insult to injury with
increased flooding risks, as our
community recovers from a
spate of three severe weather
events in the last 12 months.
“Beyond that, reduced connectivity
between the two sides
of the rail line is likely to create
a ‘wrong side of the tracks’
social issue as well as genuine
health concerns from noise impacts.
“In full flight the Inland Rail
project is tipped to disrupt the
ability to sleep for hundreds of
residents living within a kilometre
of the rail corridor – which is
both a health and wellbeing issue
and an unsettling truth about
the project.
Mayor Milligan called on the
Australian and Queensland Governments
to come to the region
and ground-truth the impacts of
the project for themselves.
“I am calling on all layers
of government to listen to our
concerns, and demonstrate their
respect for Australia’s rural
towns,” Cr Milligan said.
“Seeing the project on the
ground is very different to viewing
concept plans on a screen
and is a sure-fire way to ensure
all the stakeholders in the project
are fully informed on the
impacts it will have before it is
too late.
“While we are a small piece
in a large national scale puzzle,
that shouldn’t discredit our
concerns and we deserve both a
voice and a platform to be heard.
“Inland Rail offers no benefits
whatsoever to our community
and contrary to what some
members of our community are
mistakenly led to believe, it does
not include passenger rail.
“All we’re asking for is a fair
go, and for the route to be adjusted
so our liveability and ability
to respond to natural disasters
are not so severely impacted.
“This project will be devastating
for our community unless
the reference design is improved
substantially to address our concerns.
“I invite relevant State and
Commonwealth ministers to
meet with us and hear first-hand
of our concerns so that the right
decision can be made.”
Cr Milligan noted that her
statements were not made by or
on behalf of ARTC.
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HIGH COUNTRY HERALD - OCTOBER 4, 2022 - 5