Postponing 'not an easy decision', no bypass at this stage: Inland Rail

Safety is our absolutely number one priority, at any event that we hold we want to make sure that we deliver a safe environment for everyone attending, and we became concerned that may not be possible last week.

We have now re-scheduled the event for tomorrow at the Kyeamba Smith Hall at the Wagga Wagga Show Grounds from 3pm to 7pm, allowing residents to come along after work if they wish to.

We warmly encourage any Wagga residents with questions about the recently released Public Infrastructure Report (PIR) on the Albury to Illabo (A2I) section to come along.

Inland Rail has consulted widely with the Wagga Wagga community for more than five years, sometimes those conversations have been difficult, but we are always happy to engage with the community in a professional, respectful, and transparent way.

I understand some people are calling for the event on Tuesday to be changed from the one-on-one conversations between Inland Rail staff and locals into more of a Town Hall event, with a large audience asking questions of Inland Rail executives, let me address this point.

The drop-in session is a critical part of the approvals process. The aim of the session is to empower locals to make a formal submission to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) on the A2I Preferred Infrastructure Report, and have their voice heard.

Our specialist team will answer any questions locals might have on how A2I construction might impact them and to then help them understand how to submit a formal submission to the DPE that explains how A2I is going to impact them, and any changes they would like to see.

We simply would not be able to do any of that in a Town Hall format and, to be quite honest, many locals that have attended previous public events have said that they prefer to raise their questions with Inland Rail staff privately, rather than airing their individual concerns in front of a room full of people.

So, we are not changing the nature of the event, the one-on-one conversations that we will be having at the drop-in sessions are an important part of the democratic process, allowing residents to formally have their say to the state government.

As Project Director for A2I I will be at the Kyeamba Smith Hall myself and I will be more than happy to answer any questions that anybody wants to put to me when I am there, that is part of my job, and I am more than happy to do it. My team are equally happy to answer questions.

When I am at the drop-in session, I fully expect to be asked why a bypass for Wagga is not being considered.

Inland Rail has a considerable history of studies into route options. In the 2010 Inland Rail Alignment Study, the route through Wagga Wagga was identified as the preferred alignment between Melbourne and Parkes.

This route was endorsed in the 2015 Inland Rail Implementation Group Report and by Infrastructure Australia's acceptance of the 2015 Business Case that followed and in May 2018, the NSW and Australian governments entered into the Inland Rail Bilateral Agreement.

This cemented the decision to use the existing line that runs through Wagga Wagga to deliver Inland Rail in the most cost and time efficient manner possible and meet the project goal of running trains from Brisbane to Melbourne in under 24 hours.

This decision was supported by the independent Inland Rail Review released by the current Australian government in April, with the review finding that, "In towns, like Wagga Wagga and Gatton, where the route bisects the town, no immediate change should be made until there is a clear indication that train traffic is increasing.

"Once Inland Rail has been operational for some years (say 10-15 years) there should be a review of its current and expected impacts on the town. If these are significant or are expected to become significant then an alternative route avoiding the town should be planned and corridor easements preserved."

I know that some locals won't like hearing that, but this is the reality of the situation, Inland Rail is a project that we are delivering on behalf of the Australian government and the decision that has been made is that there will be no bypass at this stage.