The new Federal government has called for submissions to their budget process.  Here is the TOOT submission.

TOOT Budget Submission Feb 2008 (64k, PDF) 

A discussion paper from TOOT on the Brisbane-Sydney transport corridor, and how our rail corridor can help combat congestion in the short- and long-term.

Download Connecting Communities, Linking Regions (578k, PDF) 

Southern Cross University survey shows huge support for a commuter service by residents and tourists: 72%.

And a massive 91% would use the service if linked to the Gold Coast.

The NSW-Qld Cross Border Taskforce was first announced in June 2006 in a press release. 

To date the only progress has been one discussion paper that we and other organisations consider very flawed.

There has been minimal community consultation and  we question the political motivations behind the taskforce.

The NSW Dept of Planning released their Draft Regional Strategy for the Far North Coast in March 2006.

 
For more information you can visit the official website here. 

 
The final document was released in January 2007 and contained no improvements when it comes to transport.

Read our submission (106kb, PDF).  

The NSW Legislative Council (the upper House) held an inqury into the decision to stop the XPT service in June 2004. 

The report Closure of the Casino to Murwillumbah rail service (pdf, 200 pages) by the Legislative Council, General Purpose Standing Committee No. 4 was published Nov 2004.

One of the recommendations was to 'immediately introduce a new regular commuter rail service from Casion to Murwillumbah, which would connect at Casino with the XPT service between Sydney and Brisbane.'

A Future for Regional Passenger Trains in New South Wales (pdf, 20 pages)

Published by the Local Government and Shires Associations of NSW, by Assoc Prof Ian Gray, Centre for Rural Social Research, Charles Sturt University.

Prof Gray found a systematic downgrading of the NSW country rail network. He also found that after periods of poor punctuality, rail patronage dropped.

The only publicly available detailed report on the state of the Casino-Murwillumbah line.

The report find that a commuter service of up to 16 trains per day could be established. 

The appendix covers all the bridges in detail.

The report  was funded through the Federal Government's Sustainable Regions Program.

Feasibility for passenger and/or commuter services on the Murwillumbah to Casino branch line (pdf, 130 pages).

in 2003 Dr Tom Parry conducted an inquiry into transport for the NSW Government .

Access the interim and final reports at the Ministry of Transport. 

Read NRTF's Response to interim Parry report (70kb).