Tacks and nails have been thrown on to a new multimillion-dollar bike and walking track in northern NSW in an act of sabotage that has left riders stranded and the local community fuming.
The Northern Rivers Rail Trail, which opened on March 1, runs along 24 kilometres of old railway line between Murwillumbah and Crabbes Creek in the Tweed Shire. It cost almost $15 million to build, using state and federal government funding.
Tacks and nails have been thrown on to the new multimillion-dollar The Northern Rivers Rail Trail in northern NSW.
The local council said the trail had drawn more than 8000 users in its first two weeks, prompting local businesses along the trail to extend their opening hours and offerings to cater for demand.
But councillor and Chamber of Commerce chairman Warren Polglase said someone was trying to spoil the party and had thrown tacks and nails on to the trail three times since it opened on March 1, puncturing tyres.
“It’s extremely disappointing ... You have got young kiddies on bikes, and other people riding.
“I’m concerned we have these people, vigilante-type people, who have never supported the rail trail, and I think that’s the problem.”
Polglase said some Tweed residents had opposed the project because they wanted to save the track for rail services. Passenger trains stopped running in 2004.
“They always thought the train would come back to the Tweed,” Polglase said. “But that’s like wishing the sun would come out at nighttime. It’s never going to happen.”
Cyclists reported more tacks on Friday afternoon, just before a weekend community celebration to mark the opening of the rail trail.
One cyclist who travelled from Brisbane to ride the track earlier this month said he had been forced to cut his ride short when he rode over a nail.
“I was warned about it, and I was going extra slow and looking, but I copped one,” the rider, Edwin, said. “Some older people caught one too.
“I’ve done the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail heaps and it’s never happened [there] ... with the rail trail being new, maybe there’s a bit of resistance, but over time it will pivot.”
Fellow Brisbane rider Sue Monteath said she came across a man with a puncture while on the trail last week. She said the sabotage was not fair on the local businesses, which were going out of their way to make the trail a success.
“The local shopkeeper was really looking after him,” Monteath said of the stricken rider. “She gave him some cake and sat him down while he waited for someone to pick him up.
Cyclists and walkers enjoy the Rail Trail at its opening on March 1.
“I can’t imagine why people would be so mean. It’s really disappointing someone could feel such a grudge against the rail trail that they would go and do this.”
Tweed Shire Council said the sabotage was dangerous and called on users to report any tacks or nails they found.
Tweed rail trail manager Tiffany Stodart said surveillance cameras were installed on the track and could help the police investigate the incidents.
“We have an awareness of the people or groups it may be,” she said. “Council is using magnetic sweepers and doing whatever we can ... trailblazers are also in force, picking [the tacks] up when they see them.
The trail makes use of the disused railway corridor.
“[The rail trail project] did divide people, but ... the state government decided trains weren’t going to run on the tracks again. It was not a council decision, and we were faced with the question of what do we do with that space?
“Now the sentiment has shifted,” she said. “It’s a very beautiful, very shaded ... comfortable experience.”
Burringbar village florist and gift shop owner Kath Sheehan said the trail had revitalised her community.
“The reason I opened up this shop was for the rail trail,” she said. “It has been so good for all the towns. I know some people are against the rail trail, but what it’s doing for the community is unbelievable. There is such a buzz.
“I know there are people throwing tacks on there, which is just a bloody joke, but I did see a whole heap of cyclists and walkers who all stopped and were on their hands and knees picking them up. It’s brought the community together.”
Police said they were aware of the incidents and would patrol the rail trail.
The trail is the first part of a larger path planned to run to Casino, via Byron Bay and Lismore. It is the second rail trail to open in NSW on disused rail tracks. A trail between Tumbarumba and Rosewood opened in 2020.
Plans for a dozen other regional rail trails are also under way after the state government introduced a new law last year to make it easier for community groups to take up thousands of kilometres of disused regional track and turn the rail corridors into walking and bike paths.
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