The Info Hub "One Stop Shop" has moved

The Info Hub information service has relocated to 92 Nicholson Street, Footscray (in the Nicholson Street Mall).

The One Stop Shop is a public information centre staffed by representatives from the Maribyrnong Council, the Department of Transport and the Department of Planning and Community Development. Visit the Info Hub to ask questions, pick up fact sheets and see existing project designs for infrastructure projects like the Regional Rail Link.

Opening hours are 9-5 Tuesday to Friday. If you are unable to visit the Hub during regular working hours, try contacting them on 1800 078 387 or ask@transport.vic.gov.au.

RRL Community Reference Group

A reminder that the Regional Rail Link has put together a Community Reference Group (CRG) to better allow residents to have a voice at the planning table. Footscray's representative is Mr Hugh Oates - please feel free to contact him via setao@connexus.net.au or on 0413 591 342 if you have any issues you would like raised at a CRG meeting.

The CRG meets monthly; the next meeting is this Wednesday, 13 July.

Here's Hugh in the Maribyrnong Weekly.

Write to the Minister for Planning!

There's still no news on the environmental effects study promised some months ago, regarding the damning 2010 EPA report on the noise and pollution effects of the Regional Rail Link. There's still no indication that the Department of Transport and the RRL project team will factor noise or pollution controls into the design of the new tracks.

Maribyrnong Council hopes to push the Federal Government for national rail standards. In the meantime, we can all help to lobby the government by writing to the Victorian Minister for Planning, Matthew Guy. (Details below).

Some Railway Place residents have written letters (see example 1 and example 2), feel free to borrow from these letters or write your own. The major themes we see as important are:

• A lack of state or national rail standards relating to noise and pollution
• An imbalance between road and rail projects - some noise/pollution standards exist for residents affected by major road construction; there is no protection for those affected by rail works
• A lack of transparency regarding design elements included in the tender documents for the construction of various rail sections - are noise control strategies included or not? If not, why not?
• A lack of protection for communities – we want a proper assessment, we want the results to be made public, we expect mitigation strategies to maintain levels of noise and pollution to national and international and national best practice.
• An unwillingness to discuss the most appropriate solutions for individual sections of the track - there won't be a "one size fits all" solution to noise mitigation.

Write to:

Matthew Guy
Minister for Planning
Level 7, 1 Spring Street
Melbourne, VIC 3000
matthew.guy@parliament.vic.gov.au

We need noise and pollution standards in Victoria

The 7:30 report ran a story on the Regional Rail Link (Friday June 24), focusing on issues of land acquisition, government transparency and the threats from noise and pollution. A story in The Age earlier in the week looked at similar issues.

The government is pressing ahead with the tender process for rail work packages but without waiting for the results of the noise assessment report recommended by the EPA. There's also no guarantee that they'll release the report publicly when it's finally ready. If the report recommends noise mitigation (currently no mitigation strategies are allowed for in the project), then they'll need to modify the current plans, or even scrap them and start over - hardly efficient. Unless, of course, they decide to ignore any such recommendations, because there is no legal requirement in Victoria to protect citizens from noise and pollution from trains.

We understand the government wants to get this project done quickly. Melbourne's public transport system is struggling. They appear to be willing to sacrifice the health, dignity & wellbeing of a few western-suburbs communities to achieve their aim. This project alone is not going to fix Melbourne's transport woes - will your suburb be next? Victoria needs standards for the control of noise and pollution for all major rail and road works. Tell your local government representative that this won't stand.

Steve Price interviews RRL CEO Corey Hannett

Steve Price from MTR recently put some hard questions to Corey Hannett, the CEO of the Regional Rail Link Authority, regarding the quality of the RRL's communication with affected residents, the extent of community consultation, and the fate of the EPA's noise assessment report.

Interestingly, Mr Hannett admitted that the number of trains expected to run through Footscray after the new tracks are completed will be at least 53 per hour. (The project allows for more). Previously, no-one from RRL has been prepared to comment on the extra capacity of the completed tracks. In consultation sessions, we've been told that sort of information wasn't part of the RRL brief.

Listen to the podcast here. (Look for the podcast titled "Regional Rail Link", 28 June 2011).

Regional Rail Link - EPA Report

The EPA has recently released its report on the effects of the Regional Rail Link, publicly. This is the report that outlines the noise and pollution effects that are expected to occur along the new tracks - including chronic sleep disturbances up to 500m from the railway and, in some areas, dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants. Despite this report, the previous Labor government saw fit to approve the RRL project without further investigation or mitigation. To view the full report, please visit our friends at Fair Go for Footscray.

Noise, pollution and the Regional Rail Link

An EPA report has found that residents of the west can expect increased levels of noise and pollution during both the construction of the new rail lines and after project completion.

We're worried about the effect this will have on Footscray, particularly as Victoria has no pollution standards to protect its citizens from such situations. The Fair Go for Footscray group have also expressed their concerns.

If you share our concerns, please consider coming to one of the following meetings. You also might see one of our flyers in your mailbox soon.


Public meeting:

• When: 7pm Wednesday 20 April
• Where: Senior Citizens Centre, 130 Buckley Street, Footscray. 
• Who: Anyone concerned about noise and air pollution from the planned train line. The EPA says people up to 500 metres from the track may be affected.
• Why: To help plan activities to persuade the government to introduce pollution standards of a sufficient scale to protect the future of Footscray.

Question the Council

• When: 7pm Tuesday 19 April
• Where: Footscray Town Hall, corner Napier and Hyde streets, Footscray
• Who: Fair-go for Footscray Rail Residents will be asking questions of the Council to see what support it will provide to protect its community.
• Why: Show your concern by coming along to listen.

Here's some more information from the media:

Residents face lost sleep over rail project (The Age, February 2011).

And please feel free to get in touch with either ourselves or Fair Go for Footscray!