Dear Editor:
Congrats on the Glen Innes News. For context, I’m not a local, but often stop at Glen Innes to enjoy a coffee, whilst commuting between Armidale and Brisbane. Just some comments on the current rail renewal versus rail trail debate:
1) The revival of rail is a global phenomenon. Readers might like to know that Queensland Rail is planning for a regular electric service between Toowoomba and Brisbane, on an improved line. Once this is established, a daily rural train service to Wallangarra will become more feasible, and this in turn will mean that the argument for revitalizing the existing train line up to the border also becomes stronger.
2) As it happens, I am a keen cyclist. It helps to keep my 70+ old body working. In recent decades both the Brisbane City Council and the Moreton Bay City Council have been steadily developing bikeways – although without tearing up train tracks or without prejudicing future rail options. This could be an option for Glen Innes, that is, develop bike-ways independent of the existing rail corridor, or at least without prejudicing the future return of rail.
Jim Page, Redcliffe, Queensland.
