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 ...

LABOR has called on the Baird government to release legal advice justifying its stance that it has the authority to truncate Newcastle’s rail line without the need for an Act of Parliament, despite legislation that suggests otherwise, reports the Newcastle Herald. Opposition leader John Robertson wrote to Premier Mike Baird on Friday calling for the ...

JUST how much of an interchange will the city’s promised new Wickham interchange be? The Newcastle Herald reports. That’s the question raised by a draft report to the government that has surfaced, which recommends ditching plans to run buses from the completed interchange to Newcastle’s east while the light rail is being built. [SOR: light ...

Maitland rail users are expected to have a loud voice at a Newcastle rally on Sunday designed to stop the Wickham truncation, reports the Maitland Mercury. Rally for the Rail will start at Pacific Park on the Newcastle Foreshore and follow a police escort to Civic Park, where ­participants will hear from guest speakers. “Maitland ...

NEWCASTLE City Council has formally changed its stance on the planned CBD rail project and will send an ‘‘urgent letter’’ to premier Mike Baird to let him know, reports the Newcastle Herald. … The council’s formal position now supports retention of the heavy rail line between Wickham and Newcastle. The move, formally posed by the ...

THE removal of the city’s heavy rail will spell big changes for rail workers as well as passengers, prompting criticism from their union about a lack of consultation as the government pushes ahead with its plans, reports the Newcastle Herald. It comes as opponents of the rail’s truncation met on Monday to devise protest tactics. ...

NEWCASTLE’S Labor councillors are leading a renewed push to have the council formally oppose state government moves to truncate the city’s rail line on Boxing Day, reports the Newcastle Herald. … The eleventh-hour move in part relies on a separate move from Greens councillors Therese Doyle and Michael Osborne, who will first seek to rescind ...

THE state’s transport minister says ‘‘at this stage’’ the government does not believe an Act of Parliament is needed to authorise its plans for Newcastle’s rail corridor, although critics argue one would be needed before any development of the land could occur, reports the Newcastle Herald. … ‘‘The final plans for the corridor have not ...

PREMIER Mike Baird has confirmed land on the Newcastle rail corridor will be up for grabs for development once the heavy rail line is truncated, as reported in the Newcastle Herald. … But the type of development that would be permissible once the heavy rail is gone remains up in the air, ahead of state-owned ...

HUNTER Development Corporation general manager Bob Hawes has never directly declared a conflict of interest about his Newcastle property holdings at an HDC board meeting, contrary to HDC evidence at the parliamentary inquiry into Newcastle planning issues, reports Joanne McCarthy in the Newcastle Herald. On November 7, HDC chairman Paul Broad answered ‘‘Absolutely’’, when asked ...

Melinda McMullin has an opinion piece in the Newcastle Herald. I LEFT Newcastle 16 years ago and this year returned to a city which was barely recognisable, not only in terms of its transforming cityscape but its political landscape as well. … In a short span of time two Liberal members of Parliament would stand ...