Farmers’ frustration
THE Millmerran Rail Group is hoping the upcoming Senate Inquiry can ask the Australian Rail Track Corporation to deliver on an as-yet unfulfilled commitment from Inland Rail CEO Richard Wankmuller and ARTC chair Warren Truss.
But Mr Wankmuller said the information the group was seeking would be published “in the coming weeks”.
The rail group has longheld concerns about the data that was used to determine the Inland Rail route on its Border to Gowrie leg.
At a meeting in August last year, the group secured a commitment from Mr Wankmuller and Mr Truss that ARTC would go over those areas of concern the group had with the multi criteria analysis process used to select the route, and show them how they ran the numbers.
Maranoa MP David Littleproud was present at the meeting and said there were “no illusions” about what was promised to the group.
Millmerran Rail Group chairman Wes Judd said ARTC was yet to deliver on its commitment, and hoped the Senate inquiry could ask for the information when it convened in Millmerran on January 29.
The Millmerran Rail Group is one of many community organisations that have been calling for clarity over route alignment decisions. Mr Wankmuller said that since August last year, ARTC had been working closely with key interest groups, including the Millmerran
Rail group, “to summarise the history and decisions that informed the Inland Rail route”.
The release of that summary is said to be imminent.
“I agree that this process has taken longer than anticipated, but these are complex matters and it is important that we work with industry, community and government to effectively explain the decisions that have been made about Inland Rail,” he said.
“Two weeks ago, we met with the Millmerran Rail Group to again discuss the issues of particular importance to them. We have agreed that we will have in-depth personal discussions with their members and other impacted landowners in the Border to Gowrie section of Inland Rail to go through the route history document, and their specific concerns, once published in the coming weeks.
“We are very conscious of the local and regional impacts this project has on communities, and it’s our commitment to work respectfully, sensitively and fairly with landowners.”