Anger over plans to cut the heavy rail line into Newcastle have ramped up in Maitland.
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More than 200 protesters marched from Maitland train station to Maitland MP Robyn Parker’s electorate office yesterday, chanting “save our rail to Newcastle”.
There they delivered a petition despite Ms Parker being out of town on annual leave.
While Maitland Save Our Rail president Kim Cross said the group had been active for a number of years, she believed the recent state government announcement that the rail line into Newcastle would be closed from Boxing Day sparked the large rally attendance yesterday.
The Greens called for the Independent Commission Against Corruption to consider whether developers had influenced the government’s decision to truncate the line and allow development of the rail corridor this week.
Maitland councillor Robert Aitchison said there should be no action on the rail line until after the ICAC investigated how the decision was made.
Cr Aitchison said the truncation would affect Maitland people more than Newcastle residents, who would be more easily be able to find an alternative route into the city.
“The people of Maitland need the transport link,” he said.
“As soon as you’ve got developer interests at stake, the people of Maitland and the Upper Hunter are not going to benefit.”
Cr Bob Geoghegan said the call to investigate the rail decision was a conspiracy theory being used to stop the project from going forward.
“I don’t think there is any proof [of developer involvement] at all,” he said.
“I haven’t heard of any links between donations and access to the rail corridor.
“I certainly don’t think we need to put a moratorium on it. Boxing Day is still a long way away.”
Cr Geoghegan said there was merit in light rail into Newcastle, because it would potentially drop commuters closer to destinations.
“There are dozens of light rail systems around the world and all of them are successful,” he said.