Save Our Rail NSW Inc.

The NSW government will be unable to remove railway tracks through the centre of Newcastle for the time being after a community group won a last-ditch court judgement, reports the Newcastle Herald. The victory for the Save Our Rail group followed the government’s extraordinary manoeuvre in which it attempted to bypass laws preventing the disposal ...

THE Hunter Development Corporation is poised to ‘‘compulsorily acquire’’ the Newcastle rail corridor  as part of what a judge has described as an  unfair government ‘‘device’’ intended to circumvent laws requiring an Act of Parliament before the rail line is removed, as reported in the Newcastle Herald. Under the elaborate arrangements, which came to light ...

The ability of the NSW government to start removing rail lines from central Newcastle on Boxing Day is expected to be determined in the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday morning, as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald. Justice Michael Adams said he hoped to deliver his verdict in the morning, after advocacy group Save Our ...

Greens’ MP David Shoebridge showed his colours on Tuesday morning by catching the 6:45am train from Sydney to Newcastle with his family, reports the Newcastle Herald. He was met by a group of about 30 protesters who had gathered in defence of the rail ahead of a court injunction in the NSW’s Supreme Court. ‘‘I commend Save Our Rail for being ...

Well-respected Maitland community member Chris Welbourne has called on voters to punish the state government at the March polls if it cuts the rail line on Boxing Day, reports the Maitland Mercury. Mr Welbourne, who was the district schools inspector for 12 years and principal of Maitland Grossmann High School, said Maitland MP Robyn Parker ...

The Save Our Rail group has been granted a Supreme Court hearing to apply for an injunction to stop the State Government cutting Newcastle’s heavy rail line on Boxing Day, reports ABC Newcastle Local News. The group’s been granted a short service hearing which means their claim will be heard on Tuesday. … Ms Dawson ...

Aboriginal elder Bill Smith performed a smoking ceremony at Enterprise Park on Saturday, reports the Newcastle Herald. The ceremony was part of a protest organised by the Hunter Region Concerned Citizens, a group in support of  keeping the rail in Newcastle. The rail is expected to get  truncated on December 26. Over eighty people gathered to see what Mr Smith ...

TRANSPORT minister Gladys Berejiklian says the government’s legal position is ‘‘clear’’ and it would not be in breach of the law in truncating the Newcastle rail line from Boxing Day, despite Save Our Rail’s eleventh-hour move to derail the plans with a court challenge, reports the Newcastle Herald. But the group believes it has a ...

THE state government is pushing ahead with the truncation of Newcastle’s heavy rail line on Boxing Day, despite the findings of a parliamentary inquiry that the project should not proceed as it lacks a proper business case and adequate public  consultation, reports the Newcastle Herald. In an interim report issued on Thursday, the committee inquiring ...

Pressure is mounting on the state ­government to delay the Boxing Day truncation of the Hunter rail line until it can clearly demonstrate the benefit of a Wickham interchange, reports the Maitland Mercury. The parliamentary inquiry into Hunter planning decisions tabled its interim report on Thursday. The report asked that the government take no steps ...

NEWCASTLE rail community group Save Our Rail says the NSW government needs Parliament’s authority to cut the rail line on Boxing Day, as reported in the Newcastle Star. Save Our Rail president Joan Dawson has written to Minister for Transport and Minister for the Hunter Gladys Berejiklian to draw attention to s99A of the Transport ...

It might benefit the government to meet the requests of the Nile committee, according to this Newcastle Herald editorial piece. … After an ICAC-dominated year from hell, Mr Baird should accept that any days of railroading the public – excuse the pun – are surely over.  The government must not only run the state with ...

A PARLIAMENTARY inquiry into planning decisions in Newcastle is set to issue an interim report recommending that the Boxing Day truncation of the city’s rail line be put off because of a flawed case for the project, including the lack of a cost benefit analysis, reports the Newcastle Herald. If the government does proceed, then ...

The bus layover area near Newcastle train station will be reviewed by the government as part of its planning for the revitalisation of Newcastle, reports the Newcastle Herald. THE future of the large bus layover area near Newcastle railway station is up in the air along with the rail corridor land itself, the government has ...

The Rail Rally was amazing! I boarded the 9.58 am train from Thornton to Newcastle, noticing that about a dozen ‘ralliers’ were doing the same. The train was overcrowded with people dressed in yellow and holding placards in support of rail retention and in opposition to the government’s decision to permanently deprive the people of ...