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NEWCASTLE INNER CITY RAIL TO BE REMOVED

The New South Wales Government has unveiled plans to spend $120-million making over Newcastle, by removing its inner city rail line.

Vilified as dividing the ailing CBD from the vibrant harbour, the line call follows decades of debate – but real action remains a way down the track.

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41 Comments

  1. Well done NSW State Government! Finally we’re going to get rid of that horrible, horrible rail line into Newcastle!

    I don’t care how long it takes, just get it done!

  2. The only people that agree with the State Government’s decision to remove the rail line are those who don’t depend on it or use it as regular transport.

  3. Novocastrians have been short changed. Sydney gets “clean” trams and Newcastle gets an increase in the number of diesel fuelled buses running up and down Hunter Street. As for “connecting” buses, ask the people from Toronto.. many no shows, and no proper shelter to wait for the bus.

  4. Well done NSW state government! As you give Sydney The Best with a Gold Plated Rail (Light Rail through the MIDDLE of the streets in the middle of Sydney) you rip the heart out of Newcastle. Thank you! We will remember who did this.

  5. What an appallingly shortsighted decision.
    The champagne corks will be popping in the big developers offices, as the real people mourn on the stations.

  6. What a terrible decision.

    I can’t see how getting rid of the line is going to change anything other than cut the rest of the hunter off from newcastle cbd.

    When they are going to keep the lines intact an just remove the trains makes no sense and doesn’t make the space any more viable, the harbor side will continue to prosper and hunter street will die.

    When the money for this project could be better spent on health, education or other infrastructure, its to be frank a complete balls up

  7. Another great decision from our government, get rid of infrastructure, sell off the land and give us nothing in return. Then they said we might get something 10+ years in the future, we all know how long it will take to make that decision.

  8. First the figs, now the rail line. What else are you going to get rid of?? Newcastle really will become a ghost town.

  9. “The only people that agree with the State Government’s decision to remove the rail line are those who don’t depend on it or use it as regular transport.” – That’s right, given that 0.4% of the Hunter rely on that 2km of railway, it means, by this logic, that 99.6% support it!

  10. This is outrageous! As a frequent user of the 6.12am Newcastle to Central…what do I do now? An extra $30-$40 a week to catch a cab to Broadmeadow. Did the Liberal government ever consider the people and the value this beautiful train network brings into our city every day? A disgrace !

  11. This decision is a long time coming for the improvement of Newcastle. The only query I have is- why the State government is building trams in Sydney while in Newcastle, buses will replace the trains. What is the reason for this? Newcastle people must know.

  12. About time the people supposedly in charge have made a rational decision. The rail should have gone as soon as the goods trains stopped running into Newcastle. We should now get a long awaited boost to our local economy.

  13. A survey poll in the Maitland Mercury 72% of Hunter readers will vote ‘No’ to the State Government if the vital connection of the Great Northern Railway between the Maitland and Newcastle is cut before the original ‘old town’ at the coast.

  14. There seems to be no logical reason to cut the rail, the access to a penisular that is predicted to become gridlocked in the near future, unless one is motivated by developer monied interests. The university professor interviewed spoke of this insanity as th eopposite as to what smart cities are trying to do world wide and the opposite to what the university would want for the site of it’s campus.

    A decision wrapped in developer interest and blackmail and costing the Newcastle city and peoples for many generations, yet another decision to regret.

    Instead, take over derelict buildings that are not developed and wasting space in our cities, have a limited time and do not let developerd dictate inner city policy, that is for smart urban designers with the population’s interests at heart for the now and future, NOT the developers ease at profits.

    Purely the stupidest and most powerfully damaging decision that we will all, who use that area of town, will come to regret.

  15. Absolutely disgusting news of the State Government getting rid of the rail line,All the people that helped with the decision must have never used our rail line as a commuter as many people do every day.Since the earth quake Newcastle has been dead,close the rail line and it will be a ghost town,the city needs improvement but at a huge cost too commuters on the trains.Shame on all the knockers of our rail line.How is the city too gain from no proper rail line,what will happen when oil and gas run out.First it was the figs now the rail line.

  16. Keep the rail line! Hazard and Owen certainly use meaningless emotive terms like “Berlin Wall” and bringing Newcastle into the “21st century”. I’d like to see detailed world class urban planning please. Honeysuckle and the Royal development have dissected the city from the harbour and view corridors.

  17. Very stupid decision. Only will benefit the developers who want luxury hotels and tourist accommodation. Will not benefit ordinary people or revitalise the city. If you want people to come to the CBD, why on earth would you remove perfectly viable infrastructure? That money could complete the art gallery refurb and restore the post office, for starters. This decision is like saying..’I’ve got bad eyesight…oh I know, I’ll cut off my left leg’ Just as logical, just as helpful.

  18. What a stupid decision, imagine being a person in a wheelchair or someone with a pram getting off a train and on a bus for 3 stops. How can they justify spending 120 million to fix something that isn’t broken while they take money from education and the ambulance service etc. While other countries are looking at ways of making transport more sustainable our Government is putting more buses on an already chocked road, not to mention the commuters who will drive now to avoid the inconvenience. Once again the Liberal Government puts money in front of people, typical.

  19. The sooner we stop thinking like a generation behind country town the sooner we can create a more vibrant, financially lucrative, appealing and rewarding city… I bought a place in honeysuckle because I wanted to be part of the city and it’s future and I am pretty sure those of us that pay our fair share of taxes deserve to see that go towards the creation of a better place to live and a prosperous future return on our investment.

  20. I think its a great move i live in hunter st and this is great news for Newcastle CBD changing the culture gettin rid of the old thinking and injecting with new vision and more people living in an urban community is the way forward..Its sad u still get the same negative people who come into town well if you love it move into the city i live it breathe and enjoy it.

  21. The people who decide to live near a railway line and then complain about is must be so devoid of rational thought process that I’m sure if breathing wasn’t involuntary the wouldn’t exist. Maybe they should go into politics. Brad Buzzard and the rest of his cohorts only care about the almighty dollar. Newcastle loses infrastructure with some vague twenty year plan of what we may get in the never never while the money pit of Sydney gets billions that was ripped out of the hunter. Apathy rules supreme and we will get the treatment we allow. I feel like doing a Peter Finch.

  22. One day the polly’s will get old.I wonder if they will appreciat what has happened when they have to change to a bus ; walk a distance; with old
    legs ; to get to a doctor to ease the pain

  23. The ideal relocation for city rail would be wood ville junction triangle already owned by the state gov and large enough for all interchange operations

  24. it does not make sense to bring all of the university students into town, and then rip up the railway.
    they should be able to tidy up Newcastle and keep the railway. They are only giving the developers what they want, without thinking of the people who rely on the trains, people will not change onto buses so there will be more cars in town with no place to park.

  25. Hitler said if you say something often enough the people will believe it .The hunter Infrastructure advisory board made up from people from the hunter development corporation have not consulted the people –not everybody is brain dead – yet ! I think before this hallucination happens there should be a referendum . No one that I have spoken to is in favour of this !

  26. It’s amazing to observe that a government minister could have so little regard for his own good name to endorse a near billioin dollar waste of taxpayers’ money which is not approved by any Hunter Valley LG Council, is not approved by the people who use it, (The 73% poll in NBN today is way under the true figure.) Makes no pretence of improving transport or concern for the elderly or young or disabled. It’s all about making a liitlle band of very greedy speculators wealthier. A decision without a conscience.

  27. After driving in to the beach today my previous excitement at this change only grew. All of the five people using Newcastle Station will probably disagree with me, but taking a drive along Hunter Street, on the left the new, shiny, bustling honeysuckle just beyond the rail line and on the right decrepit, run down, abandoned and dangerous shells of old ugly brick buildings, empty of people and commerce. A blight on our harbour city.

    The type of people who disagree with this are those same people who would rather have condemned civic park than cut down a few trees, who rather derelict, uninhabited and dangerous buildings than see them redeveloped and used.

    These are the people who blocked the approved redevelopment of the post office and lighthouse, attempted to block the redevelopment of the hospital and bowling club sites and killed off the GPT redevelopment of hunter street mall.

  28. WHAT A STUPID DECISION…..Everyone forgets the Stockton Ferry link currently to the Newcastle Railways Station.

  29. @Brian Well u can catch a ferry then a bus im sure it wont be too much of a an inconvenience for a 4km bus ride..

  30. I think, we should make Newcastle more interesting for Holliday makers.
    There’ll be a lot of people comming in to Newcastle for a short break from Sydney.
    There will be many older people and people with children who will leave their cars at home and get on the train to Newcastle or to Hunter Vale.
    Please do not be short sighted. It is not very eazy for people with disbility moving around from train to buses or taxy,
    Pls.Think 1st. before you wreck it.
    Helmut N.

  31. At Tom, I have been to Newcastle Station many times, and I see packed trains.

    Yesterday for example, a full load that required passengers to stand get off the train from Muswellbrook, and then a full load of passengers getting off just one 8 car train.

    And today, the trackwork buses, they had to put the train passengers on two different buses, and most do not agree with this decision to bow down to developers.

  32. The only city in Australia with a train line right to the beach.
    But, what did people expect.
    The Newcastle Mayor is also behind the destruction of bush land
    At Cameron Park.
    The Great Northern Hotel near Newcadtle Station will suffer loss of business.
    Especially on Thursday and Saturday nights.
    And how the heck ipeople supposed to get to the Harbour on NYE?
    A thousand buses running along Hunter Street.
    Get ready for unemployment Tim Owen

  33. I live in Kotara but drive to work in Newcastle West and at times walk or catch a bus up to the top of Hunter St for lunch, at times I may catch a train from Kotara to Wickham but have never caught a train to the end of Newcastle. I do agree that we should look at some sort of light rail which will at least stop developers from going crazy but I think Newcastle desperately needs it, more and more businesses are closing up on the Hunter St side with things really starting to ramp up at honeysuckle.

    I remember reading a news article talking about the closure of the rail line comparing the level of opposition to its closure with its actual introduction people were against it when it was built and they are now against its closure.

  34. Removing the rail line into Newcastle will cause more problems than it will solve. Few people will want to take the time to change modes of transport from train to bus especially those people with mobility issues and people carrying large items such as luggage and surf boards. How will the extra bus services between wickham the cbd affect other bus services given the limited funding Newcastle buses has. How will the buses handle major events such as Surfest and Fat as Butter concert?. The new court houses are close to civic station and it would be easier for people to travel there by train. If the University are able to move part of their campus into the cbd then there will be thousands of staff and students travelling there each week which will be managed more easily by trains than by buses and trains.

  35. I know I am rather late in the loop, I had only heard of this by word of mouth
    But I will say this
    Every time I drive through newcastle all I see is a husk of a city

    Newcastle need to be revived, removing the rail line will just kill what little life is left in the city
    Besides which, I am planning on living in Newcastle soon
    I would like access to places like maitland and that and if I can avoid it I would prefer to avoid driving

  36. I am sixteen and am studying this issue for a geography project at school. I also live in the city of Newcastle and believe this will have an enormous, but greatly positive affect on our city. I understand that this issue divides Novocastrians, and yes it won’t be easy, and yes a light rail would be fantastic; but with a creative team of town planners I can envisage this area to be a place for families to have a great time, and businesses to thrive. The old stations can be recreated into cafes and retail stores and through the centre where the railway lies, can be laid with grass and community gardens. If managed well, this area can regenerate our city and would benefit both locals and invite tourists to experience what our city is all about.

  37. I think it is disgraceful to even consider removing the rail line! It’s been there for so long and is such an integral part of Newcastle, it is definitely part of the charm, not to mention useful. Who wants stinky buses anyway! More clogging of the roads. Why do “the powers that be” always have to try and make changes to things that just work. It it aint broke, then don’t try and “fix” it. Definitely fix up Hunter Street, it looks terrible and then people will come back. So many potentially beautiful and historic buildings there. It all looks so sad in there now. The trains are just all part of the very historic appeal of the best city in the world as far as I’m concerned. I live in another city now (but I’d rather be in Newcastle) and I’ve seen some terrible mistakes made here by “someone” thinking up a “great idea” to drastically change something, against the general public’s wishes and guess what – it hasn’t worked and has been a total and utter waste of money. Don’t let it be done. That train ride stopping at Newcastle has been part of so many people’s lives for years and it should never, ever be interfered with.

  38. Another win for developers. This is a bad decision.
    Most developed cities are paying to have rail brought into the city whereas we are ripping it up.

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