A new railway station at Sunrise would be the perfect compliment to the new sportsfields whose funding is being announced today by Federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese.  

The new Byron sportsfields will generate a lot of traffic, but with a new railway station at Sunrise, young people and the whole community could easily acccess these sportfields.  The Casino-Murwillumbah train line runs about 800m from the new site, though there are no services on the line.

Federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese said in a Media Release on Monday 9th March ‘We need to encourage more people out of their cars...’  

Placing community assets next to transport links is excellent planning.  

Karin Kolbe, President of TOOT, says,  “Minister, we have tracks without trains running beside congested roads. We have youth who cannot get to places like the new Byron Sports Fields. Transport is a vital part of community infrastructure.”  

Byron Shire Council will need to spend millions on passing lanes and roundabouts. But this expenditure will make little difference to these congested roads.   

A commuter service - up to 16 trains per day - would provide the perfect access to the site for people of all ages – a real option to ‘encourage more people out of their cars’.  

The Sportsfields site is also ear marked for a Park and Ride Serivce.  Visitors to the area could leave their cars here and travel to Byron, Bangalow or beyond by rail.  

“Over 86% of the residents in Lismore and Byron Shires live with 5km of the railway line (ABS Census 2006). So clearly the Casino-Murwillumbah line is a vital asset for both tourists and residents to access the resources of the area,” Ms Kolbe said.   

“TOOT is calling for all levels of government to work together and show leadership on building our crtical infrastructure," Ms Kolbe said.  

This line is “Shovel ready” so is a perfect candidate for the Federal government’s desire to fund infrastructure projects to boost the economy in light of the global financial crisis.  

Transport contributes roughly a third of our green house gas emissions. As the Minister knows, rail must be a part of the government's actions to combat what he rightfully calls ‘dangerous climate change’.

Contact:  Karin Kolbe 0411 594 599     02) 6680 8516      This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it