Safety issues shut rail: PWS
TASMANIAN Parks and Wildlife Service has defended its choice to terminate the lease of a once-popular tourist attraction, at the heartbreak of the site’s operator.
The now former Ida Bay Railway lessee, Meg Thornton, 81, said she was kept out of the loop on PWS’s “closeddoor” decision to terminate the contract she held for the bush tramway in the state’s South.
The railway has not operated for the past 12 months after a derailment on the tramline, which led to concerns arising over its safety.
The termination of Ms Thornton’s lease has been met with sympathy by Tasmanian Liberal senator Eric Abetz, who said he “trusts the parties can resolve the issues”.
Ms Thornton said she had spent up to $800,000 on the railway since taking it over in 2004 and said despite attempts to have engineers assess the site, repair costs were beyond her reach.
“I still owe money to people who invested in the development,” she said.
“Every cent I earned from the railway I put back into it. I left myself with no savings and worked a second job to maintain it. I’ve now moved to a retirement village, which I feel very fortunate for, but I had to rely on charity help. After working all my life it’s unfortunate for that to happen.”
She said she was disappointed how her leasehold ended.
“There was no real discussion with me [about the decision to end the lease]. It was all made behind closed doors,” she said.
A PWS spokeswoman said a lease termination notice was issued “due to ongoing failure to rectify safety issues and other breaches at the site”.
“Our priority now is to ensure the site is secure and safe,” the spokeswoman said.
JAMES KITTO