Members of the select parliamentary committee investigating recent planning decisions in the Hunter have plenty of reading to do, with more than 250 public submissions lodged for consideration.
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The multi-party committee was established to investigate the motivation behind planning decisions in the greater Hunter, including the plan to cut Newcastle rail line, given corruption allegations levelled at Liberal MPs earlier this year.
Written public submissions closed on October 24.
In its submission, the NSW Teachers Federation expressed concern that cutting the rail line at Wickham would make it more difficult for people from towns in the greater Hunter to reach education facilities in the city.
The submission argued that many students from schools and TAFE used the rail service on a daily basis.
It noted that the federation had been actively concerned about truncation plans since 2005.
“The Teachers Federation is concerned about the impacts of the truncation of the rail line and highlight the benefits of improving the existing rail infrastructure for the education needs of communities both [in] the Newcastle and Hunter regions,“ the submission noted.
“The existing rail infrastructure can effectively transport students and teachers from diverse metropolitan areas of Newcastle and outlying regions into the CBD without delays of interchanging to another mode of transport.”
Cutting the rail line, the federation argued, would particularly impact students who travelled into Newcastle city from the Hunter’s regional towns.
Meanwhile, opposition spokeswoman for the Hunter Sonia Hornery used her submission to call for work on the line to be delayed until after the March election.
Ms Hornery said the rail cut would hit commuters from Maitland particularly hard.
“Maitland to Newcastle peak-hour trains are crowded daily with Maitland citizens who rely on an efficient, reliable and frequent rail service to get to work, to recreate, to attend the courthouse, to visit medical specialists and to go to the beach,” she said.