The Trains on our Tracks – TOOT – campaign continues to lobby for a light-rail service on the existing tracks of the Casino to Murwillumbah line. Small light trains running up to 16 services per day (eight each direction) would serve the needs of tourists, workers, students and youth. It would reduce congestion and parking problems.
Bangalow is the centre of the 132km line. From here it goes inland to Eltham, Lismore and Casino. Towards the coast it connects Byron Bay, Sunrise (and the new Sportsfields), Mullum, Billinudgel, Stokers Siding and Murwillumbah.
In the 1970s the train was called the ‘Surf Train’ as it ran in the morning from Casino and Lismore to the coast, with a return journey at the end of the day. Many locals tell us stories about these journeys.
Our villages have grown up along the railway which is why it’s ideally placed as the backbone of a transport system into the future. Over 85 per cent of people in the Lismore and Byron Shires live within 5kms of the line.
Transport emissions make up about a third of Australia’s greenhouse gases, so rail services are an important part of carbon reduction.
The Trains on our Tracks TOOT campaign is also lobbying to have a connection from Murwillumbah to the Gold Coast. The Qld government is building their rail line south to Coolangatta. By putting in about 26km of tracks, across the Tweed River, we’d have a coastal rail link all the way to Brisbane. Karen Kolbe
An example of lighter rolling stock that could run on our train line to provide several services per day
The Bangalow Historical Society will be opening an exhibition in July regarding the Bangalow Railway Station that was to be upgraded in 2000. In the exhibition will be the plans by the State Rail Authority of what was to be done with the Bangalow Station and the original 1891 plans. Also there will be concept pictures of what the Bangalow Railway Station would have looked like had it gone ahead. See how Bangalow missed out on a great facility. Vivienne Goric