Murwillumbah railway line

Murwillumbah line
Bridge at Mooball
Technical
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Route map

 North Coast line to Sydney
 Old Casino
 Bungabbee
 Leycester
 Lismore
 Leycester Creek bridge
 North Lismore
 Woodlawn
 Bexhill
 Eltham
 Laureldale
 Booyong Junction
 Tyumba
 Teven
 Ballina
 Booyong
 Binna Burra
 Bangalow
 St Helena
 Byron Bay
 Tyagarah
 Myocum
 Mullumbimby
 Billinudgel
 Crabbes Creek
 Mooball
 Burringbar
 Stokers
 Dunbible
 Murwillumbah
 Condong

The Murwillumbah railway line is a mostly disused line in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. The line ran from Casino to Lismore, Byron Bay and Murwillumbah, and opened in 1894.[1] It is one of only two branches off the North Coast line, (the other being the Dorrigo line). Services on the line were suspended in April 2004.

Currently a solar powered rail service operates over a short three kilometre section of the track near Byron Bay.[2][3]

History

The first section opened between Lismore and Murwillumbah, connecting the Richmond and Tweed rivers. Passengers and goods were transported to Sydney by coastal shipping from Byron Bay. Nine years later, an extension from Lismore to Casino opened (and later south to Grafton - it was not until 1932 that the line was fully connected to Sydney). As early as 1889, feasibility talks took place into extending the line north from Murwillumbah into Queensland, discussions that continue to the present day. The line became a branch line when in 1930, the North Coast Line was extended from Kyogle to South Brisbane.

Services

The North Coast Mail was the premier train between Murwillumbah and Sydney after the North Coast line was completed in the 1930s.[4]

Additional local trains plied the tracks between Casino and Murwillumbah, connecting with other services such as the Brisbane Express and Brisbane Limited. The extension to Condong was for sugar mill traffic. 620/720 class railcars also worked this line (set 638/738, which was specially modified, and also hauled a small van). From 1973, the Gold Coast Motorail provided passenger and car transport between Sydney and Murwillumbah.[5] In February 1990 the Gold Coast Motorail was replaced by an unnamed CountryLink XPT service.[6]

In September 1997, FreightCorp contracted out of the operation of freight trains on the line to Northern Rivers Railroad.[7][8] These services ceased in 2002. Freight traffic primarily consisted of bananas and flyash from Wyee.[9]

In April 2004, services on the line were suspended.[10]

A solar powered 660/720 series railmotor now operates a shuttle service on the line in Byron Bay.

Ballina Branch

In 1930, a branch opened between Booyong and the town of Ballina. In 1948, flood damage and landslips saw services suspended on the line, and it was officially closed in 1953.[11][12]

Proposed extension

When Queensland's South Coast line reached Tweed Heads in 1903, there were immediate calls from local Members of the Parliament of New South Wales to extend the Murwillumbah line another 18 mi (29 km) to Tweed Heads so the two railways could meet. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works Committee examined the proposal[13] but narrowly voted against it in 1904.[14] There were three other proposals to extend the railway to Tweed Heads before the idea was dropped in 1928.[15]

A 1994 study by Kearney – Sinclair Knight for the State Rail Authority of NSW entitled ‘Review of Investment Options – Casino to Murwillumbah line’ did not favour the extension of the line to Robina. It found the mooted connecting line between Robina in the Gold Coast and Murwillumbah would merely reinforce this existing poor targeting of the service and that "...the present population density in the area is too low to provide adequate benefit to cost ratios on investments in the line. (Citation needed)

In 2011, the NSW Department of Transport commissioned a feasibility study to reopen the Murwillumbah line, including to extend rail services in northern NSW to connect with the Queensland Rail system and Coolangatta Airport. The feasibility report was released in April 2013 and concluded it would take $952 million to bring the line back to a required standard (over $7 million per km).[16][17]

Current Use of Railway

A heritage rail shuttle service began operations in Byron Bay in December 2017.[2][3] The section of track to the north of the town centre has been fully restored by private investment at a cost of about $300,000 per kilometre.[6] Track work on the section commenced on 23 May 2016 and was completed in late November 2016. A two car self-propelled diesel rail car train (661/726) has been refurbished by the Lithgow State Mine Heritage Park & Railway. This restoration was completed in 2015.[18] New platforms and a storage shed were completed in April 2017. The train arrived in Byron Bay on 3 November 2017.[19] It was officially confirmed in early January 2017 the train would run on solar-hybrid operation. The solar service is believed to be a world first.[2]

On Thursday 11 January 2018, Byron Bay Railroad Company announced they had taken over 10,000 passengers on the train, just 19 days after service began.[20]

Future Uses of Railway

The line is not included in the Northern Rivers Transport Strategy or the North Coast Regional Plan.

On 25 August 2016, The Byron Line proposal was announced by Byron Shire Mayor Simon Richardson. The Byron Line is a proposal including the refurbishment of the rail line from Bangalow to Billinudgel for light rail or rail shuttle services to be used by the local community and tourists. It was to investigate construction of a rail trail beside the tracks, where practicable. A feasibility study on this is to be completed in 2017 which would form the basis for seeking State funding, but the Terms of Reference available on the Byron Shire website at the time of tendering for the study did not include any reference to the rail trail nor to how the rail service would fit with road based public transport.

There is a proposal for the line to be converted to a rail trail from Casino to Murwillumbah, to boost tourism to the villages and towns along the line. On 19 June 2015, the Rail Trail proposal missed out on state funding.[5] A 2.6 km pilot Rail Trail section from Murwillumbah railway station to the Tweed River Art Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre is supported by Tweed Shire Council due to its existing Public Transport Strategy [21]

Part of the proposal is for a 25 kilometre Tweed Rail Trail, stretching from Murwillumbah railway station to the Shire border at Crabbes Creek. On 17 July 2017, The NSW State Government announced $6,300,000 to fund half of the proposed Rail Trail. This funding is conditional on the Federal Government matching the commitment of $6.3 million towards the Rail Trail to fully fund the $12.6 million venture. Community consultation will formally begin in August 2017, and the Rail Trails construction depends on the result of this. The NSW Government have stated they will only move forward with the project if there is "enormous support". The issue is highly controversial in some parts of the area where it has caused significant community division over the benefit to the community and the usage of rail infrastructure.[22][23] On 10 August 2017, it was confirmed the Rail Trail proposal missed out on Federal funding. The NSW Government subsequently withdrew their offer. This is the third time the Rail Trail proposal has failed to attract funding at both State and Federal levels.[24]

A small group called the Murwillumbah railway Historical society has made a proposal to re-open the line from the Condong sugar mill to ocean shores railway station and run it as a heritage railway and museum. The museum would be based at Murwillumbah railway station and would be a major tourist attraction for the local area. It will be run on a club basis and would rely on grants and donations. This would preserve the railway track and infrastructure for the future use of a passenger service. The group is awaiting government approval.

Recent Actions

  • $13 million commitment by State and Federal Governments ($6.5 M each) for Stage One of the Trail form Murwillumbah to Crabbes Creek (24 km)
  • Tweed Shire Council has done preliminary work and is developing a Design and Construct Tender document for release early 2019. Chance to resolve and investigate local issues.
  • $75K raised by local community through crowd funding (July 2018). These monies being used for technical investigations for corridor from Casino to Eltham/Bangalow. Highly qualified NRRT volunteers working with Richmond and Lismore Council staff.
  • $15K from private philanthropist being used for Heritage and Environment report for corridor
  • NRRT working on Rail Trail community TV/utube etc media to inform community 'What a rail trail is."
  • $15 K committed by both Richmond Valley and Lismore Councils to go towards the business case.

References

  1. ↑ "Legislative Council Questions and Answers No. 25" (PDF). Parliament of New South Wales. 2 August 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 Broome, Hamish. "World-first Byron rail line to create 19 jobs". Northern Star. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  3. 1 2 "The brainchild of a NSW millionaire, is this the world's first solar train?". ABC News. 2017-12-16. Retrieved 2017-12-18.
  4. ↑ Casino to Murwillumbah Transport Study Transport for NSWApril 2013
  5. 1 2 Elloise Farrow-Smith. "Northern Rivers rail trail runs out of puff - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
  6. 1 2 "Rail costings put govt study into doubt – Echonetdaily". Echo.net.au. 2014-12-16. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
  7. ↑ "Northern Rivers Railroad Beats Austrac as First Private Rail Freight Operator" Railway Digest October 1997 page 8
  8. ↑ "Northern Rivers May Target Export Traffic to Brisbane" Railway Digest November 1997 page 7
  9. ↑ "Flyash to Murwillumbah" Railway Digest April 1990 page 129
  10. ↑ Closure of the Casino to Murwillumbah rail service NSW Parliament 24 November 2004
  11. ↑ The North Coast Line "Railway Digest" August 1996 page 24
  12. ↑ "Ballina to Booyong Railway (Cessation of Operation) Act". Act No. 13 of 1953. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  13. ↑ "Public Works Committee. Murwillumbah-Tweed Heads Railway". Sydney Morning Herald. 29 May 1903.
  14. ↑ "Murwillumbah to Tweed Heads Railway. The Scheme Rejected". Sydney Morning Herald. 10 March 1904.
  15. ↑ "Proposed Railway. Unfavourable Report. Murwillumbah-Tweed Heads". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 September 1928.
  16. ↑ "Legislative Council Questions and Answers No. 25" (PDF). Parliament of New South Wales. 2 August 2011.
  17. ↑ [*Casino to Murwillumbah Transport Study Transport for NSWApril 2013
  18. ↑ "Byron Bay Train » History". byronbaytrain.com.au. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  19. ↑ "Train hits track, powered by solar – Echonetdaily". Echonetdaily. 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-12-19.
  20. ↑ Broome, Hamish. "Solar train clocks 10,000 passengers after 19 days". Northern Star. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  21. ↑ Tweed Shire Council, Transport Plan: http://www.tweed.nsw.gov.au/Download.aspx?Path=~/Documents/Community/Transportation/TSC01557_Public_Transport_Strategy_Report.pdf. Retrieved 2017-07-22
  22. ↑ Poate, Samantha. "Rail trail would be 'extremely valuable' economic boost". Northern Star. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  23. ↑ "Fight continues for railway line". Tweed Daily News. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  24. ↑ Broome, Hamish. "Rail trail cops funding setback".

Further reading

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