Newsletters
President’s report for AGM 2024 This year has been a busy one with a few significant milestones achieved, but some challenges remain. Read more…
August 2024 Newsletter Well, it’s all good news. A Federal government grant has been secured by the Snowy Monaro Regional Council to make a start on the MRT. The Queanbeyan-Palerang Council confirms it wishes to work towards a grant application to fund construction. Consultant’s reports have been completed for construction planning, and biodiversity and biosecurity aspects of the MRT. Read more…
The MRT – a small beginning at Bombala.
Monaro Regional Council advises that it is working with the Federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts to finalise details of the $1M grant committed as an election promise to start construction of the Monaro Rail Trail.
Funds from the Investing in our Communities grant will allow construction of a short section, up to 5km, to start in 2025 at Bombala. You can read the full story here
In the meantime, MRT Inc will continue to work with Queanbeyan- Palerang Regional Council to seek funding to get the rail trail started at the northern end of Queanbeyan/Canberra.
Charlie Maslin, rail trail supporter and local farmer at Bombala, has given us a glimpse of the start point of the MRT at the Bombala rail corridor in the 30 sec video below.
This is exciting news and comes at the time of the ninth anniversary of the rail trail advocacy group, MRT Inc, which formed in August 2015. Let us hope that at the 10th anniversary there will be even bigger news.
Glimpse the start of the Monaro Rail Trail
May 2024 Newsletter In this newsletter we bring you some good news from the Snowy Monaro Regional Council, an update on who is who in MRT Inc, an announcement on a small start to the rail trail at Bombala, progress on the latest round of trail development plans and lastly, we look at The Northern Rivers rail trail and one of the community groups using the trail. Read more…
President’s Report 2023 This year has been one of significant progress on our journey towards establishing the Monaro Rail Trail (MRT). Most significantly the year ends with strong achievements. Read more…
| Newsletter August 2023
So, what’s the news?
In this newsletter our President gives an update on progress and looks at some of the issues
involved and how our local politicians are helping. On a lighter note, we look at one of our
new supporters, Dane Waites, and why he is a supporter and what he is doing to promote
MRT. A solid piece of news is the announcement of the consultants who will be undertaking
the work for Phase 2 of the Trail Development Plan. We also look at how the MRT can be
linked with an existing recreation trail in Queanbeyan to create an interesting 25 km circuit bound to be popular with residents of Queanbeyan and Canberra. Finally, you can read that the finishing touches to the Bombala Precinct trail are laid in concrete.
More…
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Newsletter March 2023
So, what’s the news?
In this newsletter you can read of changes to the MRT Inc committee at the last AGM. Comments from both the outgoing and incoming Presidents are for you to read. Perhaps a more exciting read though, is the news of a major grant we received from the NSW Government, this grant will finalize trail development plans for the section Queanbeyan to Cooma. MRT Inc committee members meet fortnightly with the two councils involved and new President Carlo tells us a little about that. Finally, we thank those people who donated to our crowd funding campaign in 2018.
More…
Much has been achieved through the efforts of many people including the Committee, Steering Team, Precinct Team, Consultants, Ambassadors, Friends of MRT as well as our numerous Business, Political and Community supporters. To each of you, I express gratitude for your contribution to the substantial progress.
Some of the highlights during 2022 include;
- Completion of the Trail Development Plans for three sections;
- Completion of the Bombala Precinct Trail through the Boco Rock Community Fund,
- Completion of a comprehensive Business Case based on the successful NSW Rail Trail projects but with strengthened economic data,
October 2022
So, what’s the news?
As the year rolls on the MRT committee continues to engage in community consultation,
particularly with the key stakeholders. This includes the fortnightly meetings with the
working group of MRT Inc and the two councils Snowy Monaro Regional Council and
Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Council. …
NSW Government Rail Trail Framework
The NSW Department of Regional NSW
recently released the document “NSW Rail Trails Framework June
2022”. This outlines the process for establishing a rail trail and
clarifies three criteria that must be addressed in preparing any
proposal.
How does the MRT proposal stack up against those criteria? We believe quite well…
More…
Political chit chats.
Two key politicians we are regularly in contact with are Nicole Overall in the NSW
state electorate of Monaro and Kristy McBain in the federal seat of Eden Monaro. Both have taken a
keen interest in the project…
Bombala Precinct Trail
In our last newsletter we pointed out we had received
funding from the Boco Rock Wind Farm community grant. This funding is to
build a small cycle trail within Bombala…
History Made: Monaro Rail Trail Agreement Signed
Representatives from Monaro Rail Trail Inc (MRT) and Snowy Monaro Regional Council (SMRC) met on Friday 28 January 2022 to sign the historic first formal agreement for the Monaro Rail Trail, a memorandum of understanding between SMRC, MRT and Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council (QPRC).
With the agreement signed, the two councils and MRT can now proceed to develop detailed plans for the rail trail, which is planned to run along the disused rail corridor from Queanbeyan to Bombala
It has been an honour to be President of MRT Inc. for the last 12 months and work with such a dynamic and competent team of passionate people to achieve our vision for the Monaro Rail Trail. I also wish to recognise the previous Committee and MRT Supporters and the great foundation work they took on to raise awareness and support.
To enable the broader scope and intensity of work by MRT Inc as we focus on securing construction funding for some initial sections, I anticipate that the new Committee will need to consider meeting every two months (rather than quarterly) and restructure the Sub-committees to enable greater participation from committee members.
MRT October Newsletter 2021
Rail trail development in NSW on track
The proposed Monaro Rail Trail (MRT) continues to attract high levels of local community and business support…
Some significant progress
$53,859 has been granted by the Boco Rock Community Enhancement Fund to MRT Inc to construct a precinct trail linking local cycling paths to the future rail trail head at Bombala…
More…
MRT February Newsletter 2021
The AGM and committee
At the November AGM there
were several changes in key roles. Our long serving
President Mary Walters stepped aside to be replaced
by Ken Lister whose enthusiasm and experience will
continue the early momentum of MRT…
Community participation
In December and January,
the committee were out in the streets of Cooma and
Bombala actively sharing information and gathering
letters of support…
More…
MRT November Newsletter 2020
Hello rail trail supporters.
In our April newsletter we told you that one of the sticking points
in our progress was the delayed release of the report on the return of the Monaro train
service from Queanbeyan to Bombala. In
September, the NSW Government released a
summary which pointed out that the proposal
would not be feasible. This, week John Barilaro MP, Deputy Premier for NSW and
member for the Monaro commented that it will be important to “continue to preserve the rail corridor” and
that it would be appropriate to “look at other uses for the rail line – groups using the cycle
way for tourism”.
Where next for the Monaro Rail Trail?
One key meeting was with NSW Senator Jim Molan. He approached
MRT for a meeting in September and from that meeting the
committee decided to put in a submission for federal government
funding of detailed planning studies such as the business case and a
technical development plan.
More…
MRT April Newsletter 2020
Quick Catch-up
It has been a long time since we were last in contact but a lot has happened in that time. The summer fire season was quite stressful for many on the Monaro as uncontrolled fires closed in from all directions. Thankfully it was only around Bredbo and Michelago that one of the fires (spotting from the Namadgi National Park fire) emerged onto the Monaro plains.
Where next for the Monaro Rail Trail?
Assuming the rail corridor is not reopened to rail and that SMRC endorses the consultants report on the MRT proposal, then we are hopeful of forming a working group to advance the proposal. Several people with experience and enthusiasm have come forward to help with this.
More…
MRT Newsletter December 2019
MRT Committees Response to the Feasibility Study Submission to SMRC
Our position is that the report is well researched and that there are only a few areas that need addressing. One relates to selecting the trail starting point, logic says Queanbeyan but council politics may mean Michelago some 39km south of the Queanbeyan/Canberra centre.
What can you do?
The SMRC is calling for public comment on the rail trail feasibility report and comment closes on 22 January 2020. If you represent a business with a interest in the rail trail your comments are particularly welcome. The NSW Government takes particular note of community support when assessing rail trail proposals comment and so we encourage you to comment.
More…
President’s Report 2018-2019
TRC Pre-feasibility Study Submission to SMRC
The TRC report was presented to Peter Bascomb, the SMRC general manager. We aimed to get council involvement to move forward with the next stage of the full feasibility study. They had previously committed up to $75,000 for this study and on seeing the positive results of the TRC report council took over the responsibility for obtaining tenders for a larger study.
Community Consultation Forums
MRT committee members attended the open forums held by the consultants and SMRC both of whom were keen to engage with stakeholders, in particular, the rural landholders who are bordering the rail easement…
More…
May Newsletter 2019
Feasability Report Update
In March 2019 the SMRC endorsed a recommendation to fund a full feasibility study
of the MRT proposal. The council recently appointed MHA and Transplan Pty as
consultants to undertake this work…
Rail Trails in NSW
Wednesday 17 April was the long-awaited commencement
date of work on the Highlands to Riverina rail trail. The first
section of the trail is Tumbarumba to Rosewood…
More…
President’s Report 2017-2018
Community Awareness
Our awareness program continued this year with an emphasis on engaging with small business
throughout the southern part of the Monaro…
Economic Benefits Study
A most significant move in recent months was the appointment of locally based tourism
consultants TRC Pty Ltd to evaluate the economic benefits of the business case for the rail trail…
More…
From the President
The committee has met monthly and have been setting plans and goals for the next six months and the exciting news is that in July we should be ready to launch our crowd funding effort to finance the first part of the feasibility study …
Monaro Rail Trail Commitee at Cooma Rotary Markets
These events create opportunities for the public to engage with us and discuss the proposal …
NSW Govt and rail trail tourism
Government handling of rail trail development has been less than heartening …
Regional govt and cycling tourism
Queanbeyan Palerang shire prepared a tourism strategy paper that supported rail trails …
President’s Report 2016-2017
Awareness Campaign
Much work was done this year to raise the awareness of the MRT …
Interactions in Queanbeyan and ACT govts.
Andrew Carter and Cate Spencer have been working hard to make a presence in the ACT and Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Council (QPRC) …
More…
Snowy Monaro Council Elections
Support for MRT
Committee members have met with candidates in the forthcoming election and formed a view on who best supports MRT …
More…
Phil Anderson Fund Raising Ride
This event has been cancelled due to an injury to Phil Anderson
Join Tour de France yellow jersey winner Phil Anderson on a family friendly fundraiser for MRT in Cooma on 26 August, followed by lunch in Cooma …
More…
January 2017
Rail trails in NSW
All rail trail proposals in NSW are likely to follow a development pathway set by a pilot case at Tumbarumba. …
Federal politics
In November, the MRT committee was given the opportunity to brief Dr Mike Kelly, Federal member for Eden Monaro. …
More…
September 2016
MRT Annual General Meeting
The first AGM and elections were held on 30 August at the Alpine Hotel Cooma …
The past 12 months
This has been a busy time for the committee as we inform the Monaro communities about the meaning and benefits of a recreational cycle way. …
More…
April 2016
The Monaro Rail Trail banner road show
February: Recent purchase of a pull up banner to promote our proposal has allowed the committee to visit communities along the route. …
Some significant meetings
In January we attended a meeting with the Cooma Monaro Council and as a result we have written a submission to the Council. …
More…