"The train on number one platform ..."

Getting freight off the roads and back on to the railway networks is a green dream that’s looked more and more impossible in recent years.

Despite a rising tide of public opinion against the massive double trailers thundering through the main streets of rural and suburban towns, it’s seemed that the railways are definitely condemned to the industrial past – closed down all over the state, their freight transferred to the roads, their rails, signals and stations rusting and decaying.

The line that goes through the ridge overlooking Carcoar is just one sad example. It’s overgrown with weeds (including the medicinal Californian Poppies that Adrian Mielke harvests – see ONN feature story “ST JOHN’S WORT – HARVESTING INNER HARMONY” Nov 6) and a stark reflection of a stolidly handsome, once-flourishing town that’s now by-passed by road and rail.

But if the mayor of Weddin Shire, Maurice Simpson has his way, and could see the impossible actually happen in the coming years – a trend back to rail freight transport that would put new life into the networks.

More importantly, it would take freight traffic off the roads before we see juggernauts even bigger than the ones we see now roaring into service over the Blue Mountains and into the Central West.

Mayor Simpson says a consortium of five councils is forming to support a campaign to reopen the Blayney to Demondrille rail line. He says Orange and Lithgow city councils are definitely in on the plan, with Bathurst very interested and Dubbo waiting to see what happens.

Picking poppies on the defunct line through Carcoar

A STRATEGIC LINE, BYPASSING THE BLUE MOUNTAINS

The Demondrille Line was once a flourishing element of the state’s entrepot. Running from Blayney to Demondrille, near Young, it carried freight, including wheat grain, from the Central West and West down to Young and then on to the Main South Line to the coast.

It was a strategic line, forging a cross country route that bypassed the Blue Mountains, with no less than 32 stations, sidings and a tunnel along its path.

Monteagle, Wattamondara, Holmwood, Noonbinna, Swan Ponds, School Platform, Garland, Carcoa Tunnel, Stanfield – these are just some of the stations and locations that were alive and kicking in the years after 1876 when the full line was in service.

Most of them were shut down by the state government in the mid-70s and 80s when roads and highways became the infrastructural priority instead of the state-owned rural rail network. As late as 2010, the Australian Rail Track Corporation removed three viaducts on the line at Cowra.

Maurice Simpson says the proposal to put the line back into service depends on getting enough freight signed up to make it work.

“But we’ve had two meetings with the logging industry at Oberon that’s prepared to shift 300,000 tonnes of logs a year on the line,” he says.

“It’s possible we can get contracts to freight another 300,000 tonnes of ore a year to Port Kembla. Then there’s the wheat industry – 160,000 tonnes a season. And there’s a lot more.”

A MOVE TO HEAD OFF MASSIVE FUTURE ROAD JUGGERNAUTS

But he says the scheme to revive the line is not just a commercial enterprise – it’s a trend toward reversing the switch to road haulage and the horrifying road accidents that are happening now and will almost certainly spiral in the future.

“We’ve already got double tractor trucks moving freight over the Blue Mountains. We’ll be seeing triples on the mountain roads soon, and it’s this type of road haulage which we have to try to eliminate.

“The number of giant freight trucks on our roads will increase three times over the next 10 to 15 years. We’ll see a similar increase in road accidents involving these trucks, and not only other motorists and pedestrians but the truck drivers too.

“Yes, let’s hope this is a trend back to rail freight transport.”

The next step in the campaign is to get a consultant’s audit of the amount of rail freight expected in the future, then a campaign for state government and federal government funding to make the Blayney-Demondrille resurrection happen.

Mayor Simpson is confident it can be done.

“The state transport minister has told us our case is pro forma,” he says. “It’ll get state support if we can show it’ll work.”

Perhaps then the government can reverse another of its rail disasters – restoring the wheat rail trucks that it broke up and converted for coal carrying at the start of the mining boom.

UPDATE: ”FIGHTING A TOUGH BATTLE” – MAYOR MAURICE SIMPSON

“The Lachlan Regional Transport Committee Inc started back in 1983, which was well before my time.

“It was a public committee which attracted membership from many councils in the central west and also had private membership from diverse areas such as Picton and Blue Mountains.

“It has worked to open disused rail lines and tried to generally to improve all mode of transport in NSW, the idea being that rail can handle mass loads to a central point for distribution by truck to end users.

“In January 2009 Weddin Council moved a motion at an LRTC meeting in Dubbo that five councils tied up in some way with the Blayney to Demondrille line contribute $10,000 each to hiring a consultant to examine what needed to be done to open the line.

“Samron Consulting did the job and we took the report to then Minister for Transport NSW David Cambell, who was impressed.

“Our next trip was to newly appointed NSW Transport Minister John Robinson who appointed a committee to make further studies. I was appointed Chair and Bill West, Mayor of Cowra Deputy Chair with GM of Weddin Shire, Trevor Lobb as Secretary. He also appointed a party from NSW Transport to formally meet with us in Cowra.

“The NSW transport selected Booz and Co to to do counter study of the Samron report which has now arrived and is the point of serious consideration. We are ever mindful that a report from Booz and Co closed the line some years ago.

“I am also aware that the Famous/Desperate/Determined Five Councils are fighting a tough battle.

“The five are Blayney, Cowra, Young, Harden and Weddin.

“There are now very interesting developments. Visy is now talking about the need for rail from Bathurst to Blayney to Demondrille to Coota for 300,000 tonnes of logs per year. A meeting is being held in Sydney today (November 29) to plan for 250,000 tonnes of ore from Cowra to Port Kembla per year.

“The Cold Stores at Blayney are asking for rail access to Port Kembla. Meetings have been held in Lithgow with Mayor Castle and Arthur Rooris, South Coast Labour Council, with the idea of opening up Port Kembla to become a major port in Australia. Dom Figliomena, CEO of The Port Authority attends a lot of our meetings.

“Julia Gilliard recently announced a $25.5 million engineering study on the re-opening of the Maldon/Dombarton line which is backed by Wolondilly Council (Picton) who are also members of LRTC.

“This many times considered link is essential to opening up Port Kembla in a big way.”