They put the tunnell under Sydney Harbour and the English channell. Why can't they bury the rail line?.

im all for burying it. makes perfect sense to me. some say it will cost too much. garbage. it will provide heaps of employment and would be a fantastic thing for newcastle. you can keep the existing stations with stairs and lifts to the subway. build a cycleway on top and problem solved. we must think outside of the square, especially if you are injecting thousands of students into the CBD.

the planning instruments don't indicate ANY significant growth for the traditional CBD. The new CBD, according to the LEP, is towards Wickham where the building heights are higher and therefore commercially more attractive. The proposed new campus is right near Wickham. Curtailing the heavy rail line at Wickham still makes sense with the uni campus proposed for the western end of Honeysuckle. Does light rail make sense in newcastle? I'm unconvinced that we would have the density required to support such a mass transit system. Mass transit requires masses, which we don't have and aren't likely to get. I'm still unsure what benefits trams offer over buses.

Why not build over the rail line?save money from burying it and build over it. Get Westfield or someone on board and build a multi story shopping complex and apparments right on top pf the rail line. There has never been any mining under the rail line area so the foundations will be very solid. Also another way for the state government to make money by selling the air space above the rail line

Great idea Nafe, maybe we should suggest this to GPT as an alternative compromise that should make all parties happy. Maybe you could email your idea to all the stakeholders including politicians

actually nafe, the area is rife with old mine workings

Davey, the area UNDER the rail line has never been mined due to the worry that mining under the lines could buckle the lines. Under the rest of the area and harbour has been mined but there has never been any mining under the lines themselves.

it was mined long before the rail line was built there. None since, but the old workings remain.

Nafe, I did a bit of research on this and Newcastle harbour waterfront was actually a flood prone area until it was built up and I think the 08 storms proved that to us all, rocks on the water front edge in Newcastle harbour just didn't appear there. Building over the rail to me would mean the Harbour side would have a nice even rise to the heights of the current lines but what would the Scott street side look like? The current lines are not far from the fence line so what would the height access and restriction problems associated with the Scott st side entry be? Does Newcastle need a 2.1km park? My opinion is that the people of Newcastle would utilise this form of public transport within Newcastle as well as a cycle and pedestrian pathways and still have proper public transport access within the CBD in a lighter form of unfenced rail. Just imagine a lightral/tram system could be extened over the years into a City Loop to some of Newcastles finest coastal attractions as ie: Nobbys Beach, Ocean bathes, King Edward Park and let say over the hill to Bar Beach to say Parkway avenue via the green space down the middle of Parkway avenue to Hamilton & would be utilised by many I think.

R Walters, i am not a supporter of the rail line just for the sake of it. I do realise there could be better uses of the area and there could be better transport options. BUT we live in Newcastle and no government will spend the required funds here to bring our transport system up to scratch. If people think that busses will fill the void without further congestion on the roads they are deluding themselves. Once the rail has been removed its not coming back and we won't be getting any light rail, thats already been said. Also right now the line is not making any money but bringing the Uni into town, more appartments all meaning more people moving in and out of the city. Also meaning more road congestion. The rail line needs to be retained and actually expanded which will put more people onto the rail and make it a more viable option.