Bombala Railway Line revival floated

The idea was originally floated in a discussion paper put out by the former Cooma Monaro Council.

Council’s planning manager, Mark Adams, said that a lot of factors had changed since the railway had closed and it was time to revisit the idea.

The development of the Port of Eden and the Canberra International Airport, industry growth in export and import along with tourism growth has prompted council to look ahead at the benefits of rail to regional development.

“We are also exploring the possibility of continuing the line through to the Port of Eden, so we are putting the idea out there to see what happens,” Mr Adams said.

The Bombala Line came to Bombala in 1921 with plans to connect to the Victorian network.

Council administrator Dean Lynch said the state government had decided to close the line in the 1980s.

“The government of the day obviously saw that it was running at a loss, and to cut costs, they closed the railway,” he said.

However, it is a different economic environment now and along with new efficiencies in railway operating models has led to a resurgence in regional railway services and railways are now more viable.

Mr Lynch said his council had already been approached by major investors whose plans required access to a rail network.

“It is important to be able to get people and freight in and out for a region to grow,” he said.

Secretary of the Friends of the Bombala Railway Fay Simpson said they were thrilled at the thought of having trains back in Bombala.

“We would welcome any trains back to Bombala, even though they might all be freight trains, it wouldn’t be long before tourist steam trains followed.

“In the snow season a train from Canberra to Cooma would be better than having all the cars on the road.”