Minister for the Hunter and Minister for Transport Glady’s Berejiklian has hit back at Labor members who are critical of plans to cut the heavy rail at Newcastle from Boxing Day.
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“After countless studies and more than a decade of inaction, Labor’s plan for the future of the Hunter is still to do nothing,” she said.
Labor candidate for Maitland Jenny Aitchison and Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp had slammed the government yesterday for failing commuters, with no timetable or indication of how the proposed bus services would cope with major events.
Ms Aitchison and Mr Crakanthorp outlined five areas where the government was failing commuters.
At the top of the list was the predicted chaos outside the Hamilton and Broadmeadow stations where there will be interim transport interchanges.
Next were questions of bus and wheelchair compatibility, whether the government had enough buses, and how families would access the beach and New Year’s Eve festivities.
These were among concerns Ms Aitchison heard from commuters on her journey from Maitland to Civic Station yesterday.
On the trip she collected nearly 100 signatures she hopes to present to the Premier Mike Baird tomorrow.
“There are signatures from one trip, it’s not like we collected them over hours and hours,” Ms Aitchison said.
“We will put these signatures to Mr Baird and we hope he will change his mind on the Wickham truncation.”
Ms Berejiklian dismissed concerns a timetable had not yet been released and did not say when commuters could expect one.
“Buses will connect with every train arriving at or departing from Hamilton Station and will run every 10 minutes in the peak until the new Wickham interchange opens in 2016,” she said.
“Between 26 December 2014 and 5 January 2015, trains will terminate at Broadmeadow while upgrades are completed at Hamilton.”
Ms Berejiklian said all buses would be wheelchair accessible, air-conditioned and that every customer could expect to get a seat, with room for luggage and surfboards.
She added that buses would be provided and operated by State Transit Authority, and would not result in reduced services to any existing routes anywhere in the Hunter.
“Customers from Maitland attending New Year’s Eve festivities in Newcastle can catch a shuttle bus to and from Broadmeadow Station to Hamilton, Wickham, Civic or Newcastle,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“As well as the normal replacement bus services there will be additional special event bus services running directly between Broadmeadow Station and the Foreshore.”
Robertson fears transport chaos
Opposition Leader John Roberston has questioned how the Hunter’s transport system will cope with major events after rail services are cut on Boxing Day.
Mr Robertson was the keynote speaker at a tourism and transport leadership summit yesterday in Sydney.
“With a new university extension, law courts and retail precinct, Newcastle is set to attract unparalleled numbers of people to its city centre,” he said.
“The city is also preparing to host four Asian Cup football games in January.
“This presents a priceless opportunity to promote the entire Hunter region to the world, including regional attractions such as Maitland’s historic jail and art gallery.
“At a time when thousands of tourists could be catching the train from the Newcastle CBD to experience Maitland and the Upper Hunter, it is astounding that the Baird government intends to greet them with shuttered trains stations and demolition works.
“The government proposes to waste $340 million destroying public transport infrastructure. Labor has said we will use this money to build infrastructure.”
