- Title
- Towards the Richmond Vale Rail Trail
- Creator
- Golightly, Naomi; McNab, Belinda; Hart, Roseanne; Lucas, Steven; Vizer, Callum; Marshall, Kieran; Roberts, Tim
- Publisher
- University of Newcastle, Tom Farrell Institute for the Environment
- Resource Type
- book
- Date
- 2017
- Description
- We at the University of Newcastle's Tom Farrell Institute are proud to be associated with this exciting Richmond Vale Tail Trail. The success of the Fernleigh Track joining Adamstown with Redhead-Belmont is lasting testament to the usefulness of converting disused railway corridors to public access. The RVRT will also become one of the hunter Valley's iconic trails linking Newcastle to the vineyards, and bringing access along the way to a wide variety of ecosystems, from wetlands to Red Gum forests, and an abundance of bird life. The RVRT will offer us all the chance to be healthier and live longer through active walking or cycling, since physical inactivity has been identified as the greatest public health challenge of the 21st century. Making cycling a part of everyday life can help prevent cardiovascular disease and cancers, as well as help decrease the incidence of Diabetes, Osteoporosis, Depression, Arthritis and Obesity. Train lines by their very nature are designed with only gentle slopes and so the hills and valleys are traversed by tunnels and bridges. Thus walking and riding on the RVRT will not be too physically demanding. The three tunnels, two underpasses and two bridges will offer exciting visual experiences to the traveller on the trail. It is important to understand that there is still much to be done to ensure that we see the completion of this important project for out region. At the political level, we need to lobby Local Government, State Government and Federal Government through our representatives to ensure that the great work of the Feasibility Study, the Design Study, and the Environmental Assessment Study carried out jointly by Newcastle City Council, Lake Macquarie City Council and Cessnock City Council will not remain on the shelf indefinitely, but will help the RVRT to attract the millions of dollars needed to complete. At the environmental level, we need to incorporate into the final plans and processes sufficient safeguards for the Endangered Ecological Communities that are along the Trail. These range from Endangered Species of plants such as Grevillea parviflora to the threatened species of microbats that have taken up residence in the tunnels. The RVRT is an enormously exciting and important project for our region and I urge you to assist in fulfilling the dream that many have shared since steam trains stopped pulling coal along this line in the eighties.
- Subject
- Hunter Valley, (NSW); Richmond Vale Railway; disused railway corridors; public access
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1384605
- Identifier
- uon:32111
- Identifier
- ISBN:9780648000396
- Language
- eng
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