Rail Trails for NSW hosted the official launch of the proposed Tumut to Batlow on Sat 20th February 2016. RTforNSW Chairman, John Moore, opened the launch at 1.30pm at the Tumut Bowling Club. The launch was attended by approximately 70 people from various areas of NSW. The chairman of the Tumut – Batlow RT, Phil Barton, gave a power point presentation on the proposal, explaining the great benefits it would bring to the area, and showed some photographs of the wonderful mountain scenery along the railway route.
The agenda for the launch included a few short presentations from people who had proposed rail trails in the near vicinity of Batlow and Tumut. This included the Coolac – Tumblong RT proposal, the Culcairn – Corowa RT, the Bungendore – Captains Flat, the Goulburn – Crookwell RT proposal, and the Queanbeyan – Cooma Rail Trail.
The common theme, and reason for these presentations, was that they were basically all in the same geographical locality, and like Victoria, people would be able to go from one trail to the other very easily. “Local people, including those within 2 to 3 hours drive, will be the most frequent users of any trail. One of the main benefits is to attract tourists from further afield. It was stated that people will travel quite long distances if there is a long trail or there are several trails nearby, providing a variety of experiences that can take several days to complete and that make a longer journey to get there worthwhile.
Owen Fitzgerald the chairman of the Riverina Highlands Rail Trail gave the forum an update on the proposed “Pilot Trail” between Tumbarumba and Rosewood, a distance of 21km. He explained that the State Government had allocated and reserved $5 million for this project, and that there were now only three meetings left with various government departments, before this project could proceed.
Tim Coen, the deputy chair of RTforNSW, then gave a presentation on the FAQ’s document, in particular about the issues farmers and adjoining landholders often raise. Basically most issues that have ever been thought of had possible solutions explained in detail in the document referred to.
The meeting finished with Phil Barton giving a very emotional and stirring speech, which really touched everyone in the room, and gave them a firm resolve to keep going.
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Sign UpLegislation to make it easier to approve new rail trails in NSW has been passed by both houses of the NSW Parliament, wi...
NSW Minister for Infrastructure, Cities and Active Transport Rob Stokes has announced funding of $770,000 for the develo...
Improved access to drinking water and a community bike repair station are two new additions to improve the user experien...
The Knowsley Forest’s Smart Track Day Visitor Area has recently had new facilities installed for users arriving in thi...
New South Wales, a state with over 2000km of prospective rail trails but only 146km open to date, is at a crucial poin...
The Barossa Rail Trail extension between Gawler East and Kalbeeba is now open and proving very popular with cyclists and...
The Boyne Burnett Inland Rail Trail committee invites you to the opening of the Burnett River Bridges section of the Boy...
The Friends of Canadian Creek situated in Ballarat, has received a $33,000 community bank grant. The grant is to build a...
On 28 June 2022 the Queensland State Government announced $3.5M funding for the Bethania to Logan Village 10.5km section...
The ‘missing section’ of the Gippsland Plains Rail Trail has finally been completed with the official opening of the...
Rail Trails Australia welcomes the publication of the New South Wales State Government’s Framework for the develop...
The East Gippsland Rail Trail (EGRT) recently received an $82,500 grant from the East Gippsland Community Foundation’s...
The NSW Government, Regional NSW, has just released the long-awaited report of the impact of the construction of the Tum...
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