Advocates for retaining the train line between Wickham and Newcastle have had their say to the committee set up to investigate recent planning decisions in the Hunter.
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The rail cut was one of the issues discussed when Christian Democrat Fred Nile and his multi-party committee held a public hearing in Newcastle on Friday.
Save Our Rail vice-president Kim Cross was one of the witnesses who fronted the inquiry in the afternoon to give the group’s perspective on how the decision to cut the line at Wickham was biased.
Liberal members of the committee argued that due process had taken place in the lead-up to the decision.
But Ms Cross argued that a government-commissioned independent survey used to demonstrate support for the rail cut in 2009 was flawed.
The survey, conducted by Hunter Valley Research Foundation, found that 93 per cent of respondents wanted a change to the inner city rail corridor and 63 per cent were in favour of removing the train line.
Ms Cross said the sample consisted mostly of people from traditionally conservative suburbs such as Lambton, Merewether and Adamstown, where many residents experienced regular frustration with the train line at the Adamstown gates.
She also said only one of the answer options on the survey favoured retention of the line, while the remaining four indicated support for truncation.
“It was a totally flawed survey,” Ms Cross said.
The inquiry was heavily criticised at the weekend by some media commentators as political posturing.
While the Nile committee wants the government to delay closure of the rail line until after it releases its findings on March 5, it does not have the power to force the Coalition to put its tools down.
