PETER VERMEER AND COALITION PRESENT CLEAR PLAN ON RAIL TRANSPORT

Local Liberal candidate for our seat of Heathcote and Helensburgh resident, Peter Vermeer, has launched the Coalition’s plan for rail travel in the region. Peter said it was clear rail issues had been ignored by the Government and that people in the region were suffering because of it.

“As an example, the recent Auditor General’s report, which is completely independent of politics, was highly critical of the state of rail safety” he said. Among other items, the report found serious crime was up 14%, theft has more than doubled and passengers are five times more likely to be assaulted at night than in the day.

“Add to that the fact that CityRail themselves admit stations in the area are amongst the most unmanned in the network and the Illawarra line rated second worst overall, this is a major problem for a commuting community like ours.”

But a Coalition Government has pledged to turn the situation around with its plan for rail transport. Peter said there were further announcements to come but so far a John Brogden-led Government would:

• increase the amount of funding for rail maintenance by $ 120 million
• ensure all rail security guards have “special constable” powers with orders to make the rail system a no-go zone for troublemakers
• ensure that all seats are properly cleaned every day
• ensure new carriages are delivered urgently to provide extra capacity.

“And I will fight to stop our services being downgraded because of Labor’s plan to put in a parallel billion-dollar tunnel from Thirroul to Waterfall, bypassing every station in between including our local one” he added.