TramTrain’s Now Invade Australia
What is good for Karlsruhe, Germany and maybe good for the Vancouver/Fraser Valley region, is now seen as good for Newcastle Australia!
For a transit mode that is yet 20 years old, the simplicityAi??Ai??andAi??Ai??cost effectiveness of TramTrain is being demonstrate not only in Europe and North America, but now also in Australia.
Communities are pressurizing their Governments, Councils and Politicians to instigate Light Rail/Tram-Train systems.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/trams-back-on-the-tracks-after-60-years-20100824-13qg8.html
http://saveourrail.org.au/index.html
http://www.newcastledeservesbetter.com/
Ai??Ai??Save Our Rail NSW Inc. & NEWCASTLE TRANSPORT for BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, have prepared & commissioned feasibility studies.
The communities west of Lonsdale have sfeuerfd greatly from train noise since the sale of BC Rail to CN. It has affected Pemberton Heights, Capilano and especially Norgate. As noise travels uphill, I have even heard complaints from Princess Park and Edgemont. In my community, a number of residents have been unwillingly forced to move elsewhere due to the impact on their lives from the Port noise (not just trains, but Fibreco and low flying seaplanes). Close to the train tracks, it has become an industrial war zone. At present, the cost of selling a house and moving is about fifty thousand dollars (real estate commission, legal fees, moving costs, property transfer tax , etc). This does not take into account the time to find another house or the loss of community which many feel. We cannot afford to and do not wish to move for no fault of our own! As CN Rail is making most of the waterfront noise, CN should be responsible for the costs, not the taxpayers. As a publicly owned company, they are making a profit and it is the cost of doing business for them. CN was fined for their spill of caustic soda into the Cheakamus River and required to clean up the resulting pollution. CN should be required to do whatever is necessary to prevent the noise pollution which it is creating in formerly quiet urban areas.The Residents Against Noisy Trains website is an excellent idea for us to share information and also to organize our frustration over the continuing disturbance of our lives. However, the process of quietening the noise is taking far too long. We are victimized twice by our government, first by them allowing this noise to continue in residential areas and secondly by spending our tax money to reduce it. As 2011 may be a year of two or possibly three elections, we should direct our anger towards the politicians who are supposed to be representing us. It may be years before we can get their attention again. If they are not part of the solution, they are part of the problem.