Eyre Peninsula locals rally for rail, saying reopening the train line will help save small towns

Locals believe reopening the Eyre Peninsula rail line that was closed in 2019 is vital for the region, and are banding together to save the region’s small towns.

Giant trucks are now a common sight on the Eyre Peninsula because grain is no longer being transported by rail to Port Lincoln.

Reopening the rail line and taking trucks off the roads on the Eyre Peninsula is vital for the region’s economic future as well as improving road safety, according to a local group formed to draw attention to the region.

The March for Eyre group recently bought the Catholic Church at Lock, wants to buy another in Kyancutta and is trying to save the 1930s-era memorial Butler Hall. It is also trying to encourage a supermarket to open in Lock to save locals a 160km round trip to Cummins to buy supplies.

Grain farmer Brett Mickan said the reopening of the rail line, which closed in 2019, was vital because road conditions on the peninsula were deteriorating because of the increased traffic since trains stopped running.

“The roads just can’t stand up,’’ said Mr Mickan, whose farm sits between Cummins and Port Lincoln. “They are always doing roadworks, there is a lot of money being spent on maintaining the roads, purely and simply due to the trucks being there.’’

The closed rail line is disintegrating near Wudinna.

Mr Mickan said he had just returned from a 10-day holiday and had already seen “holes that weren’t there before’’ in the roads.

The rail line was closed in May 2019 by previous operator Genesee & Wyoming Australia, but it is now leased by Aurizon, which along with grain handler Viterra has put in a $220m funding request to the federal government last year to upgrade and reopen the line.

In its business case, Aurizon and Viterra estimated if the line was opened it would take 43,000 truck movements off the road and reduce freight costs for farmers by 25 per cent.

An Aurizon spokesperson said discussions were “ongoing’’ but the line would “deliver significant economic, social and road safety benefits for regional communities on the peninsula’'.

Viterra chief executive ANZ Philip Hughes said since the project was announced there had been overwhelming support from the local EP community, including growers who recognise the direct benefits it would bring them.

Mr Hughes said Viterra was developing plans to install fast-loading rail infrastructure at the Lock, Wudinna, Cummins, Kimba and Rudall sites, and fast rail inloading at the Port Lincoln terminal.

A spokesperson for Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King said “should the SA Government identify this upgrade as a priority for federal funding, we will consider any proposal based upon its merits and through the usual Budget processes’’.

Last month, state Transport Minister Tom Koutsantonis announced a “major planning study’’ to evaluate all transport options for the export grain industry on the Eyre Peninsula.

High-profile lawyer Marie Shaw KC grew up at on a farm at Warrachie, near Lock, and formed the March for Eyre group.

“I still own the family farm at Warrachie and have joined communities on EP to fight for survival,’’ Ms Shaw said. “The communities are dying and struggling for services.’’

Ms Shaw is in favour of the rail line being opened again, saying so many trucks on the roads “put lives in danger’’.

But she also said there were other issues that needed to be resolved to help communities on the Eyre Peninsula thrive.

Adelaide barrister Marie Shaw KC is a proud supporter of the Eyre Peninsula communities where she grew up.

She said locals at Lock had already fought to save its post office and were now trying to attract a supermarket to the town. She said there had been interest but lack of suitable accommodation had put a potential owner off.

Earlier this month, March for Eyre paid $50,000 to buy the Lock Catholic Church, which celebrated its last Mass three years ago and had been out up for sale.

“We had a generous donation by the descendant of one of the families that originally contributed to its build and so allowed March for Eyre to take ownership of the church for the benefit of the community,’’ she said.

Ms Shaw said the local community had donated the land and building materials in the 1960s that allowed the church to be built.

“We have been fighting ever since (the closure was announced) to save it for the community – out of respect for the families that sacrificed to build it but as an ongoing community facility.”

March for Eyre’s next target is the Kyancutta St Patrick’s Catholic Church, built in 1930, which is up for sale, with expressions of interest closing on September 25.

The memorial hall in Butler is also on the group’s list.

Marie Shaw KC as a child on her family farm on the Eyre Peninsula.

Ms Shaw’s grandfather Howard Tilly was chairman of the committee that built the hall in the 1930s to honour those that had fallen in World War I.

“When I visited the hall, I found that the original curtains and stage were still in good order but a side door was left open and pigeons had taken over,’’ she said.

To Ms Shaw’s surprise, she discovered the certificate of title said it was “owned jointly by my grandfather Howard Tilly and other members of the hall committee’’.

“We are working with the local community to unravel what that means for the Butler Hall and its importance as a war memorial to the community – especially those who did not come back,’’ she said.

“We hope to be able to continue to honour them and those who did serve in the ears so the next generations could have a better life.’’