Save Newcastle Rail

The Newcastle Greens have devised a Five Point Plan to improve public transport in Newcastle.

1. Integrate the ticketing between the buses, trains and ferries for everyone, so commuters can buy a single ticket for their entire journey. Currently this is available to some pensioners, so it can be done and it can be expanded to include all commuters.
2. Integrate the timetables between buses, trains and ferries, so commuters can catch the bus to the train station and know that they won’t have just missed the train. This is not rocket science but it does require good planning.
3. Establish a locally-controlled Hunter Transport Authority to look after roads, rail, buses, taxis and ferries. Too often decisions about the transport in our region are made in Sydney. We need local control. If the budgets of the Roads and Traffic Authority, State Rail and the Buses and Ferries were combined into a single authority then we could truly get integrated decision-making.
4. Integrated Transport Plan for the Future developed by local expertise, encompassing the whole of the Hunter, with the Newcastle rail line as the spine of the system. With a population of 500,000, the Hunter is a genuinely self-contained regional area. The Plan needs to include public transport to the airport from Newcastle and Port Stephens.
5. Set a public transport patronage target of 20% by 2020. The current level is about 5%. The new Hunter Transport Authority would need to develop cost-effective strategies to increase the patronage level by 2020. Especially with the climate crisis we need to make transport more efficient and that means getting more cars off the road. There’s a big benefit in having less cars on the road. It not only saves the individual in petrol, parking and other costs, but also saves the community in lives, health impacts and environmental benefits.

WRITE to Premier Rees telling him to protect and improve Newcastle Rail!

A suggested format for your letter is below, though the most ideal letter is a personalised one.

Premier Nathan Rees

Parliament of New South Wales

Macquarie Street, Sydney 2000

Dear Premier Rees,

I urge you to protect the Newcastle rail link. Please consider the following points:

* Thousands of people across the Hunter region use the rail link every day.

* A busway is an inferior option, and will deter people from using public transport.

* There is nothing to prevent a future government from selling the rail corridor to hungry developers.

* If Newcastle's city centre is to grow and thrive, it needs the best possible public transport network.

* Tearing up the railway would cost millions of dollars - money that would be better spent on improving the service.

The people of the Hunter value this service, and a decision to close it will reflect badly on your Government.

Yours sincerely,

(your name and address)