Toowoomba fast rail: Mayor Paul Antonio launching new campaign to push for connection
It successfully delivered the Toowoomba Bypass after decades in limbo — now Mayor Paul Antonio wants to use the same campaign to connect the Garden City via fast rail.
Council
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Toowoomba will ramp up its advocacy to secure a fast rail link to Brisbane, with the mayor proposing a similar campaign model that helped deliver the $1.6bn bypass.
Mayor Paul Antonio will introduce a motion at Thursday’s ordinary meeting to establish a formal fast rail campaign, which will include advertising and a conference in the coming months to bring together stakeholders.
It comes a month after it was revealed a strategic business case by the state government for the concept might not be actioned until 2025.
Mr Antonio, who has long been a supporter of fast rail as a way to boost connectivity and liveability in the Garden City, said now was the time to act.
“We’ll be having a conference and start an advertising campaign, in the same way as we did for the bypass, with an ad at the top of the range,” he told The Chronicle.
“That will come to council as a mayoral minute and we’re planning on a conference in the not-too-distant future, to bring all the parties together that can help us, in the same way we did a conference some years ago with the bypass.”
Fast rail has never been properly delivered in Australia before, with the highest speed recorded by Queensland’s Tilt Train in 1998 (210km/h).
But new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has renewed interest in delivering a fast train between Melbourne and Sydney, and funding was committed to a high-speed route from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast in the recent SEQ City Deal.
Mr Antonio said this opened the door for a route between Toowoomba and Brisbane, which would also run through Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley to connect all communities together.
“We’re going to begin a campaign, we’re not going to use the word “faster”, because that might mean going from 40 to 41km an hour,” he said.
Mr Antonio described fast rail as a “legacy project” that he would like to leave the region after he retired.
“I’m somebody who in the not-too-distant future will be yesterday’s man and people won’t know who the mayor of Toowoomba was with that funny Italian name,” he said.
“That’s one of the legacy projects I want to make sure I get together (before that happens).”