DEAR News Of The Area,
ONE article among many caught my attention in the July 11 NOTA (No ‘hard and fast date’ for new trains, page 9).
I have been following this since 2015 when then Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams issued a media release announcing a ‘brand new fleet of trains to replace the ageing XPT fleet’.
The Coalition government also promised to slash travel times to the Mid North Coast by an hour from Wauchope to Sydney.
Fast forward ten years, eight under the Liberals and Nationals and two under Labor, and we still do not have the new trains.
It took the Coalition three years just to get the tenders organised and five years later the new trains were still being built overseas.
And there is little chance that travel times to Sydney will be reduced because regional rail continues to be a low priority for all governments and parties.
The average XPT speed on the North Coast line is 60kph!
Yet train travel can be comfortable, fast and affordable, as Europe, Japan, China and many other countries show.
China now has a High Speed Rail network of 45,000 km with speeds up to 350 kph.
If Australia is ever to have HSR we must surely turn to China to build it under their Belt and Road Initiative.
The productivity gains will make such a project well worthwhile.
I urge Robert Dwyer, our new state MP, to put the XPT replacement trains high on his list of priorities and keep pressure on the Minns Labor government to deliver them as soon as possible.
We have waited far too long!
Regards,
Harry CREAMER,
Port Macquarie.
You can help your local paper.
Make a small once-off, or (if you can) a regular donation.
We are an independent family owned business and our newspapers are free to collect and our news stories are free online.
Help support us into the future.
