MORE than 40 trains will traverse the Logan and Beaudesert region daily by 2024/25, and despite recent information sessions hosted by the Australian Rail Track Corporation, residents concerned about noise and dust pollution are forming working groups around the issue.
The 52-kilometre Kagaru to Acacia Ridge/Bromelton section of the 1700km Inland Rail line from Melbourne to Brisbane is part of ARTC’s interstate freight rail network, set to carry coal.
Ann Rowe, of South Maclean, has lived at a property backing onto the railway line since 1990.
“We were fully aware that there was a railway there. That’s never been an issue until now,” she told the Times this week.
“How can I put it… it’s like if you live near a graveyard or a railway line, you usually have a lot more nature and a lot less neighbours.
“Back then, it was running more in the daytime and the only time we heard the train was around the evening news, especially on a Friday night. It was never an issue, you just turned the TV up.”
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Noise and dust
According to Mrs Rowe, in approximately 2009 the railway line’s wooden sleepers were replaced with concrete.
“We started becoming more aware of the noise of the trains, especially at night time,” she said.
“I just went along to the information sessions with some questions, after all the noise we were experiencing.
“Sometimes you can just tell the train is a lot heavier, and we’re starting to get a bit of vibration coming through, which we’ve never experienced before.
“We were asking roughly what the speed limits would be, and were told – depending on the topography of where we were – it could be anything between 80 and 100 kilometres an hour at the moment, and that would be increasing, as would the train length.
“They went on to say there would be double-height freight containers, which was a bit of a shock.”
When informed of ARTC’s plan to carry uncovered coal through the region, Mrs Rowe said: “That’s just not on”.
“It’s a health issue because everybody here is on tank water, it’s about the dust.
“There’s got to be a middle ground. They’ve got to reduce the length or the speed, and does it need to be double-heighted if it’s so long?”
Working group
Logan City Council division 7 councillor Laurie Smith and division 8 councillor Cherie Dalley made a passionate plea at last week’s ordinary meeting of councillors for LCC to make representations to the federal government on widespread concerns about noise, dust and vibrations from the trains.
Cr Smith told the Times this week that he was meeting with residents and that he expected a working group to form around the issue.
“ARTC confirmed in a meeting yesterday that the line will have on average 45 rail movements per day which takes in current rail movements plus freight and including coal,” he said.
“They have yet to begin all the necessary and various investigations.
“We have asked them to provide us with a planned calendar of stages.”
The Times will report on the formation of this working group.