A DECISION on whether the government has the power to remove Newcastle’s heavy rail line is unlikely to be resolved by a court before July – months after  a state election being touted as a referendum on the government’s revitalisation plans for the city, reports the Newcastle Herald. Overhead wiring and level crossing boom gates ...

Can you trust the Baird government? Newcastle rail line to be privatised by acquisition of a government statutory development corporation established by the same legislation as UrbanGrowth. This can happen to you! TRICKY GOVERNMENT USED A “DEVICE” TO AVOID THE LAW Save Our Rail took NSW Government to court over their intended removal of the ...

Hunter St running light rail and the award winning Newcastle Urban Renewal Strategy are like oil and water, they simply don’t mix. Why you ask? Well, there is simply not enough room in Hunter St. You see, a central element of the NURS is a boulevard-like transformation of Hunter St to include broadened, greened footpaths ...

THE fate of Newcastle’s heavy rail line appears unlikely to be decided by a court until at least July – months after the state election is held, reports the Newcastle Herald. In a decision handed down on Christmas Eve last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the government could not proceed with the removal of the ...

AN ‘‘irreconcilable conflict’’ between the government’s roles as both developer and planner in the Newcastle city centre has undermined public confidence in the planning system and must be swiftly addressed, a parliamentary inquiry has found, as reported by the Newcastle Herald. The dual roles, in the form of the Department of Planning and government property ...

Newcastle’s heavy rail services should be immediately reinstated and all planning decisions about land in city should be handed to Newcastle City Council, a parliamentary committee has recommended, reports the Maitland Mercury. The upper house inquiry into Newcastle planning decisions released its final report on Tuesday after five months of investigations and public hearings. … It ...

Liberal Steve Thomson will be the only state election candidate for Maitland who will not attend a forum on the region’s transport ­tomorrow night, reports the Maitland Mercury. Mr Thomson, who has previously told the Mercury that he is in favour of the government’s move of cutting the heavy rail line into Newcastle, declined an ...

The NSW government rejected official advice about the best route for light rail into Newcastle in favour of a plan that may cost up to $100 million more, delivers a slower service and provides greater opportunities for property developers, reports the Newcastle Herald and the Sydney Morning Herald. Confidential cabinet documents reveal that, in December ...

This NBN News report features a quote from Minister for Planning, Pru Goward, stating “Was there ever going to be no development? No I don’t think so.” (She must have forgotten saying there were no proposals before the government to develop the corridor once the heavy rail was truncated and light rail installed along part ...

Timely facts about the Newcastle rail line the from Hunter Concerned Citizens https://www.facebook.com/HunterConcernedCitizens  (Note: a text version appears below the flyer images).   Text version: THIS IS A HOLD-UP! The Baird state government is now forcing you to change between trains and buses, so they can carry out their $460million plan to cut the Newcastle ...

Share your experiences of the replacement buses on our Facebook page. Here’s what one passenger reported today about the 12:15 from Newcastle to Broadmeadow: Took 80 minutes to get to Broadmeadow. Asked people to get off at Wickham as it was overloaded. Caused gridlock at Hamilton with cars honking their horns at the bus. A ...

THE Hunter Development Corporation is expected to take possession of Newcastle’s rail corridor in January, despite the Supreme Court rejecting the government’s argument that it does not need Parliament’s approval to truncate the rail if it transfers the land from one agency to another, reports the Newcastle Herald. … However, [Justice Michael Adams] rejected on ...

MORE young people are wandering through Newcastle’s poorly lit back streets in the early hours of the morning to get home from late night venues since truncation related works on the rail line began on Boxing Day, reports the Newcastle Herald. On December 26, Railway Street at Wickham, on which the popular live music venue ...

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 ...