Original legislation would have allowed the government to rip up any rail line and sell the corridor to developers, with the government claiming the legislation would simply allow it to turn unused rail lines into biking, hiking or horse riding trails.

Transport minister David Campbell has since announced amendments to the bill that would allow the government to lease, rather than sell, the corridors, and would mean ‘no changes to a disused line could occur until 15 years after services on the line ceased’. The Kandos to Gulgong line has only been out of operation since 2007, thus under the proposed legislation could not be changed until 2022.

Mid-Western Regional councillor and Lachlan Region Transport Committee chairman Russell Tuner said some viewed the proposed legislation as a “cash grab” by the State government, capitalising on the

real estate.

“The problem with the legislation is that a lot of the lines not used go through major town centres and are valuable with the attached real estate. This gives the government the potential to sell off portions of the land in industrial and CBD sections along

the line.

“A sell off of the land encompassed by the rail line would affectively stop the line from ever being used again,” Mr Holden said.

“The view of the Lachlan Region Transport Committee is that we invest in rail infrastructure and put more freight onto rail and reduce the number of double Bs on the road.”

There is currently a proposal for coal trains to use the line, routed through Mudgee, because of the newly approved coal unloading facility at Pipers Flat and a new proposed coal mine for the Cobbora/Laheys Creek area.

Mr Holden said if the proposed mine went ahead, it would see four trains per day using the line, each with 45 cars carrying 72 tonnes of coal.

“If the coal was moved by road freight it would see a double B through our town every three minutes, in addition to the double Bs that are already on the road,” Mr Holden said.