The Management of the Inland Rail project by the Australian Track Corporation and the Commonwealth Government. Comments with reference to: B. Route planning and selection processes C. Connections with other freight infrastructure, including ports and intermodal hubs.

b. Route planning and selection processes.

Historical. In 2007, the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) initiated a study into the proposed Southern Rail Freight Corridor (SRFC). The study area was from the interstate rail corridor (SGRC) at Kagaru south of Jimboomba, to Rosewood on the western rail line, despite the general area being identified on the 2005 SEQ Regional Plan as being north of Jimboomba. A more suitable corridor to the north was also identified however was discounted by the as it was close to the (then) proposed residential developments at Springfield and Ripley and it was deemed to be inappropriate to bring a high speed freight corridor so close to residential areas. This criterium appears to have been forgotten or discarded with the choice of the proposed alignment utilizing the existing interstate corridor from Kagaru to Acacia Ridge bisecting the residential developments at Flagstone and Greenbank proposed to accommodate 120000 residents in the near future. A draft Assessment Report was released in 2008 and despite many strong and relevant objections, the final report was released in August 2010 and the corridor gazetted by the Queensland Government. This report clearly identifies that ARTC was heavily involved in the selection of the corridor at this phase of the process despite their current claims that they must use the SRFC identified by the Queensland Government. There was only minimal interaction with the potentially affected community – only 1 or 2 community information sessions in the Peak Crossing area and none in the Kagaru area some 64km by road from where the meetings were held. There was no consultation with residents north of Kagaru and to date, no advice to residents that the local rail corridors connecting to the local Cleveland corridor and hence to the Port of Brisbane will be subject to a significant increase in heavy freight traffic. This local rail corridor is currently, the only existing rail link from Acacia Ridge to the Port of Brisbane.

Page 2 of 7

Appropriateness of the Selected Corridor

The SRFC reports are significant as this corridor had already been identified, according to the Final Assessment Report, for the alignment of Inland Rail. In these reports, a number of significant impacts for residents were identified during the construction phase and when the line was built and operational.

Amenity Impacts:  Change in character of the area: Many residents are attracted to the area for its lifestyle and amenity values. The use of the corridor for high speed rail is perceived to have high amenity impacts and significantly change the rural character of the area.

 Elevation of the Alignment The corridor between Calvert and Kagaru traverses the Bremer River flood plain as well as the valley of Teviot Brook to just west of the junction with the Logan River. The majority of the corridor is over land frequently subject to significant overland flows of water during rain and flood events. The rail alignment therefore needs to be elevated for a significant proportion of this corridor. The current alignment plans indicate there will be 15 bridges plus significant sections of raised embankments to take the alignment above predicted flood heights. The embankments will be of varying and unknown heights while the bridges vary in height up to 15.5m above ground level and from 69m to 965m in length. In addition, some of the passing loops are elevated on bridges or embankments. This means that many dwellings, currently with rural and mountain views and low background noise levels, will now be faced with an elevated and noisy rail corridor immediately in front of their homes.

 Noise and Vibration impacts: The SRFC report made specific reference to and expressed significant concerns regarding the potential impacts resulting from construction and operation with visual intrusion and noise of great concern. The SFRC, traverses a rural area with scattered population. Noise studies identified  15 residential dwellings that would exceed Queensland Rail external criteria  A further 455 residential dwellings which range up to approximately 2.5 km from the alignment, would exceed TMR internal noise criteria The impact of noise levels above normal background noise is exacerbated when the source is above the receiving environment – even more so when there is the potential for 2 trains side by side and either accelerating or braking, a situation which will exist on the passing loops. Background noise levels have been measured by ARTC as low as <21dB(A). ARTC have also advised that the noise generated by a freight train travelling at 80km/hr in the Kagaru area, was recently measured as 78.3dB.

Page 3 of 7

The impact of this significant increase in noise levels 45 times a day for at least 3 minutes each time, will have a massive impact on residents, particularly at night.

 Accessibility throughout the region: There is a high level of concern related to changes in access as a result of SRFC and subsequent Inland Rail construction and operation including road closures, route realignments and crossing constructions.

The report also indicated disadvantage was likely to result for residents of many properties who will experience longer travel times.

 Safety: There is concern in relation to safety risks associated with the operation of the corridor for people crossing the rail line by vehicle or on foot, existing crossings on private properties for livestock and vehicles and livestock wandering onto the line.

Scenic Rim Regional Council have stated that the preferred method of construction of a road/rail intersection is by – a method complied with by other developments in the Region. ARTC on the other hand, are persisting with their proposal to have a number of road/rail crossings in the Washpool, Peak Crossing and other areas, as uncontrolled level crossings. Safety and engineering experts have long recognised that the weakest link in any safety plan is the dependency on human involvement and cooperation. These proposed level crossings are a fatal accident waiting to happen.

 Property acquisition and replacement: There is a high level of concern and uncertainty regarding the acquisition of property and impact on property values in the vicinity of the proposed alignment. While most of the concern is centred around property devaluation, escalating property values in neighbouring regions may result in landowners who have property acquired, experiencing financial difficulties in re-entering the property market in a similar location.

Environment The section of the Calvert to Kagaru corridor to the east of the Peak Crossing/Washpool area traverses the Teviot Range via a primarily wooded corridor which provides significant habitat and connectivity of habitat between the area south of the Springfield residential area and the Border Ranges into NSW. It also directly connects to the Karawatha Environmental corridor which has been identified and protected by the Queensland Government from encroaching residential development. Recent recorded sightings of the critically endangered Regent Honey Eater and Swift Parrot in the Springfield area are testament to the importance of this area as habitat and wildlife corridor. Numerous community sightings and dead specimens of the federally endangered spotted tail quoll have been reported over a period of more than 30 years in the area extending from

Page 4 of 7

Greenbank/Spring Mountain/ Munruben/ North and South Maclean ( west of the proposed Inland Freight route) to Park Ridge South/Chambers Flat/ Logan Village and Tamborine Mountain and includes areas south of Camira and Johnson Road ( Forestdale). A report “Looking for Quolls in Logan” prepared by Wildlife Queensland as part of a Logan City Council Envirogrant has been provided to ARTC and outlines a record of these sightings in this region. In addition, it is understood that in preparing the EIS for this corridor, ARTC consultants identified significant potential and known koala habitats throughout the Calvert to Kagaru corridor and particularly in the Teviot Range area. Despite the use of a 1.5km rail tunnel through the range, this wild life corridor will be irretrievably damaged by both the construction activities and the effect of the high speed rail corridor bisecting the habitat. This can never be remediated.

Kagaru to Acacia Ridge From Kagaru to Acacia Ridge, the existing SGR corridor traverses an area that has been declared as a Priority Development Area (PDA) for high/medium density housing by the Queensland State Government. This housing development is advanced and it is proposed to accommodate 120 000 – 150 000 residents in coming years. Some of the occupied land as well as proposed development sites, are only metres from the current SGRC. The current use of the SGRC, on average, is only a few trains per day, travelling at approximately 80km/hr. While these trains do currently cause significant noise and vibration impact, residents have been able, to some extent, to accommodate the interference as the trains are not frequent – sometimes only one per day. However, the prospect of 45 x 2 km long trains travelling at 115 km/hr and taking at least 3 minutes to pass with all the associated noise and vibration impacts, it not something that any property owner should have to endure.

Monetary Cost to the affected Community In questions to ARTC, it was stated that unless there is direct impact by the new corridor, ie the corridor will physically encroach on private land, no compensation will be paid to property owners. Advice and associated recommendations may be made to property owners to lessen the impact however it appears the cost of remediation will be borne by the property owner. The assessment report for the SFRC recommended mitigation measures based on level of forecast exceedances. These mitigation measures included: high performance acoustic materials, special construction techniques based on specialist advice, façade/glazing upgrade, air conditioning, window sealing, mechanical ventilation. As the initial remediation and ongoing maintenance costs are to be borne by the property owner, most of the measures will be beyond the financial capacity of most land holders. Many of the housing estates in the Flagstone PDA have been designed to provide low cost, high density housing for the rapidly increasing population south of Brisbane. These estates utilise small lots so housing density is very high. They are aimed specifically at first home buyers and young families. It is extremely unlikely that these families will have the financial capacity to carry out the mitigation measures that will be required to enable them to live peacefully in their homes.

Page 5 of 7

In the latest SEQ Regional Plan, there was no Priority Funding planned for infrastructure south/south west of Brisbane. So there is no funding available to provide the necessary road infrastructure required to service this project in the long term, and the existing road network is totally unsuitable to carry the supporting truck traffic. Despite the potential for such severe impacts on not only residents of the area of the proposed corridor from Calvert (near Rosewood) to Kagaru but on several thousand residents living in proximity to the existing interstate corridor from Kagaru to Acacia Ridge, ARTC appearing to be ignoring the evidence that this corridor is totally unsuitable for the proposed high speed freight service. b. Connections with other freight infrastructure, including ports and intermodal hubs

The Final Report of the SRFC study states that this is proposed as a “freight only” railway and would form a key link providing a route from Melbourne to existing freight centres at Acacia Ridge and the Brisbane Multimodal Terminal (Port of Brisbane). The ARTC proposal to utilize the SFRC to Kagaru then the Standard Gauge corridor (SGRC) to Acacia Ridge is flawed on many accounts. a. Despite the stated proposal in the SFRC study, ARTC now categorically state that the proposal is only to take the Inland Rail to Acacia Ridge Intermodal terminal. Freight would then be unloaded and transferred by road vehicles to the destination. b. In 2008, as one factor for the declaration of 27 km2 of rural and rural residential land as the Bromelton State Development Area and another similar area at Ebenezeer, it was stated that the Acacia Ridge intermodal site was at capacity. It is therefore, difficult to believe that some 11 years later, there are now ample facilities at Acacia Ridge to cater for up to 45 x 2km long trains each day and to transfer freight efficiently. c. To access the Port of Brisbane from Acacia Ridge by rail will require the use of an existing, but totally inadequate rail link from Acacia Ridge via the local Brisbane/Cleveland electric network to the Port of Brisbane. This traverses many Brisbane residential areas so there are potentially severe impacts as identified above. Being electrified, this alignment does not cater for double decker trains as proposed so either significant works will need to be carried out or containers unloaded and transferred to other rolling stock to make the route somewhat viable. The freight off loaded at Acacia Ridge will need to be transported to and from the intermodal terminal by road to its destination. A great number of smaller vehicles will be needed to transport the goods thereby increasing significantly the traffic on an already heavily congested inadequate local Brisbane road network. d. It has been reported that the concept of a corridor linking Acacia Ridge to the Brisbane Multimodal Terminal at the Port of Brisbane via a route basically following the Gateway major arterial link, is under investigation. This route would require substantial engineering with significant underground sections as well as traversing heavily populated residential areas between Acacia Ridge and the Port of Brisbane. The cost and implications of such a project would be huge thereby relegating it in the near future, to simply a concept.

Page 6 of 7

While this submission has focused on the Calvert to Kagaru corridor, reports indicate that similar problems have been identified in all the corridors from the NSW border to Acacia Ridge. ARTC have been steadfast in their determination to utilize this corridor despite the many indicators that it is a totally inappropriate route. All the engineering studies appear to be determined to “make the project work” despite the inappropriate and poor corridor selection. As it is currently planned, the route from the NSW border is poorly conceived, appears to be a ’stop-gap’ measure and is totally inappropriate for such a heavily populated area that is SE Queensland. While it is acknowledged that the concept of the Inland Rail route is worthwhile and could potentially have economic value, particularly to southern and western NSW, it could conceivably be constructed and successfully operated without the need to bring it through these heavily populated areas of SEQ east of . Toowoomba is now serviced by a new airport capable of handling international flights and a substantial industrial estate that could be utilised as an intermodal terminal. In addition, the Warrego to Brisbane with the recently opened Toowoomba bypass, provides a much better road option for freight off loaded at a Toowoomba terminal, for delivery to diverse sites within SEQ. The is in reasonable condition and designed and maintained to carry heavy road freight traffic. Compare this to the ‘goat-track’ that passes for the Mt Lindesay Hwy servicing the Bromelton SDA, that will be linked to the Inland Rail via the existing SGRC from Kagaru, and the heavily congested, poorly maintained, inadequate local road network around Acacia Ridge. It is envisaged that coal trains from the Surat Basin as well as current coal trains from the , will utilise the Inland Rail link from Toowoomba to the Port of Brisbane via the Toowoomba/Kagaru/Acacia Ridge corridor. Currently, they use western rail line from Toowoomba via Ipswich, so there will still be access to the Port of Brisbane for this freight should the Inland Rail terminate at Toowoomba. It is therefore respectfully suggested that considering the significant problems identified by the community, Regional Councils and other organisations, the present project investigation cease and a more thorough and scientific based examination and analysis be made to identify a suitable corridor. Any proposal should terminate at Toowoomba with the option for further review at a later time if it can then be demonstrated there is a need for the extended rail link to the Port of Brisbane. It may be that in the future, demand may make it more practical to extend the Inland Rail to the Port of Gladstone thereby including the significant agricultural areas to the north and west of Brisbane and opening the potential of these areas to contribute more to the economy of the Nation.

Thank you for the opportunity to make a submission to the Senate Inquiry.

Page 7 of 7