FONR

The 2003 Campaign to Keep the Train

The second major campaign for passenger trains to Armidale began on 8th September, 2003, when the news broke that a newly-released government report recommended scrapping several Countrylink trains including the Northern Tablelands Xplorer. It finished 92 days later, on 9th December, when the then NSW Transport Minister, Michael Costa, announced that all Countrylink passenger trains would continue to run, for at least a 12 month period of review.

The campaign had reached its peak on Thursday, 23rd October, when a crowd of three thousand gathered on the forecourt of Armidale Railway Station at 10 o'clock in the morning to impress upon the visiting Minister for Transport how much the community valued its passenger train service.

The items below give some glimpses of those days:

2. The campaign flyer. 10,000 were distributed.

3. Speech by Richard Torbay MP in parliament.

4. Petition to Parliament.

5. Final Report of the Parry Inquiry and submissions.

6. There are 25,000 people in Armidale. Three thousand of them rallied at Armidale Railway Station to keep the train running. See the photo:

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