Northern Rivers Trains for the Future Inc. TOOT (Trains On Our Tracks) Campaign

MEDIA RELEASE: 8 July 2007

Not Much To Celebrate in Highway Opening

Northern Rivers residents do not have much to celebrate with the opening of the Brunswick Heads to Yelgun section of the Pacific Highway say organisers of the Trains On Our Tracks campaign.

NRTF president and TOOT spokesperson, Karin Kolbe said,

`The Pacific Highway will not address the transport needs of most people living in the region'

`Census figures show that a majority of people living in the region live within 5 kilometres of the existing Casino-Murwillumbah rail line or the "missing link" between Murwillumbah and Coolangatta'

`86% of the residents in the Lismore and Byron Shires live within 5 kilometres of the rail line'

`Getting trains on the Casino-Murwillumbah line will do more for people in our region'

`With the amount of freight carried through the Pacific Highway corridor expected to double in the next 10 years (Source: Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics) and similar increases in commuter and tourist passenger traffic, a social, economic and environmental disaster looms for communities in the Tweed, Byron and Ballina Shires unless a rail alternative is developed through this transport corridor'

`We can not continue to rely on the Pacific Highway to meet all the transport needs of the region'

`TOOT calls on the NSW and Federal governments to immediately begin work on refurbishing the Casino-Murwillumbah line and constructing a rail link between Murwillumbah and the Gold Coast'

Contact: Karin Kolbe, President of NRTF, 0411 594 599, (02) 6680 8516 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it www.toot.org.au