CONGRATULATIONS to Peter Moore for his excellent letter (Your Say, December 6) in which he pointed out the gross anomaly in relation to the state government’s blatant bias towards Sydney in relation to new train services.
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Almost daily, the Minister for Transport, the Sydney-based member of the Liberal Party, boasts of a new rail line here and another one there - all in the Sydney area.
But not a word about the future of the XPT services, which provide the only daily passenger services to those of us who reside in regional and rural New South Wales.
The now 30-year-old XPT fleet is in urgent need of replacement.
On what is still known as “the Western Line”, which embraces Bathurst, Orange and Dubbo, we have three members of Parliament (including the Deputy Premier), who belong to the National Party, the so-called champion of rural and regional Australia.
Their silence on the future of the XPT has been deafening and concerning.
Labor and other candidates for Bathurst, Orange and Dubbo in the forthcoming state election should have a field day on the question of the future of the XPT and the replacement of the ageing fleet.
The state election will provide a real test of the mettle of our political candidates in relation to the provision of passenger rail services outside Sydney.
Rail, after all, is a safe and highly suitable mode of travel over the vast parts of our state.
Bill Walsh,
Orange
