Logan mayor slams Inland Rail cost blowout, lack of consultation

A southside council has joined forces with other councils to slam the developer of the Inland Rail for failing to consult them and residents about the route and a massive $10 billion cost blowout.

A southside council has joined forces with other councils to slam the developer of the Inland Rail for failing to consult them and residents about the route and a massive $10 billion cost blowout.

Logan Mayor Darren Power, who attended the senate inquiry into the national freight line, said it was a disgrace the project’s costs had blown out from $4.7 billion to $14.7 billion with upward projections of $20 billion.

“That’s an absolute mockery of the system when something can blow out that large,” Cr Power told Logan full council on Tuesday.

“We get critiqued on smaller issues but that is a significant massive number – imagine what you can do with that money.

“Logan City Council has taken on the responsibility to manage the city. I understand that the state and federal governments are involved in this, but we’re here to protect the residents and we don’t think they’re getting a good deal.”

Inland Rail developer ARTC was taken to task in a scathing 211-page senate inquiry document called Derailed from the Start. Picture: Supplied

Cr Power described a meeting with his council and the ARTC as “an absolute joke” and told the senate committee the ARTC’s community consultation was a pretence and a facade.

Logan joined forces with councils in Toowoomba, Lockyer Valley, Goondiwindi and across the New South Wales border as the inquiry handed down its scathing report, Derailed from the Start.

Toowoomba Regional Council said ARTC had engaged with local communities but their views were never properly considered.

Lockyer Valley Regional Council said there was limited information and generic messaging, and ARTC had ignored its offer to use its networks and local expertise to improve consultation.

Goondiwindi Regional Council said the local community felt “shunned and ignored by the ARTC” and criticised its “divide and conquer approach”.

The 211-page senate document outlined 26 recommendations for the Inland Rail line and its developer, the Australian Rail Track Corporation.

Logan Mayor Darren Power. Picture: Supplied

They included forcing the ARTC to consult local communities, which the councils have accused the body of failing to do.

The councils also said the project had alarmed residents.

The senate committee also recommended investigating extending the rail to the Port of Gladstone to diversify access to international markets and boost regional economies.

It also called for a working group to work out if existing road infrastructure between Acacia Ridge and Bromelton would be able to cope with the line terminating at Acacia Ridge.

Inland Rail Action Group convener Suz Corbett said both Acacia Ridge and Bromelton were constrained and unfit for Inland Rail.

“We support the provision that the study looks at intermodal terminals at Toowoomba and support a review of the Kagaru to Acacia Ridge and Bromelton project as a co-ordinated project with an environmental Impact Assessment.”

in Queensland.