Friends of New England Rail Trail Inc.

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Armidale, NSW
Friends of New England Rail Trail Inc.

"A great opportunity is available to our New England community." Armidale to Glen Innes. Total 103kms.

"A great opportunity is available to our regional communities. An unused public land corridor stretches from Armidale to the Queensland border across some of Australia's most beautiful high country known as New England or the Northern Tablelands. Decades ago railway services ran through the corridor, but they ceased operating and will not resume in the foreseeable future. The population of the Northern Tablelands is relatively low, so the local economy would not support either freight or passenger rail services. The rail infrastructure would cost $hundreds of millions to upgrade for modern, financially viable rail services. Our vision is a staged development of what will become Australia's highest and longest rail trail. This will generate significant local economic activity and provide community health benefits. We invite you to join this exciting journey of rail trail development. Stage 1 will be the 34km Black Mountain to Ben Lomond Rail Trail. Contact - newenglandrailtrail@gmail.com New England Rail Trail Inc. 1401398

31/03/2026

We are pleased to share with you the latest board meeting summary.
It has been a busy month with our team out and about having great conversations with community members at local shows and events. Thank you to all those who stopped by, the amount of support we get is quite humbling. We speak to locals and visitors from all walks of life and it shows us without any doubt just how much people want the rail trail to progress. If you've picked up a brochure and have been meaning to join the Friends group, don't wait, progress is really starting to roll on and if you want all the news on the ground there is no better way to get it than become a member.
Go get that QR code and drop over to the website and join us in this exciting journey.
And a big THANK YOU to all those who joined up last month, legends... all of you

Here is the latest

Friends of NERT – Board Update (23 March 2026)
Royal Hotel, Guyra
A productive and positive Board meeting was held this week, with strong progress across advocacy, membership, and communications.
Key Highlights
• Major Milestone: The final report by rail expert Grahame McClenaghan is now complete – a significant step forward for the New England Rail Trail campaign.
• Media & Promotion:
o A coordinated media release is being prepared for TV, radio, and print.
o Social media content is in development.
o The full report will be available via our website, with links shared across all platforms.
Website Upgrade
• Improvements underway, with training organised to allow regular updates and better communication with members and the public.
Growing Support
• New members continue to join – thank you for your support!
• Work is underway to build and maintain a supporter database, including donor recognition.
Acknowledgements
• Special thanks to Sam Piddington for his generous financial contribution. Support like this is vital to keeping momentum strong.
Governance Updates
• Steve Mepham has been appointed Interim Treasurer until the AGM.
• Planning has commenced on a forward budget to guide the next phase of activity.
Reports Adopted
All Board reports (Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Membership, Marketing) were presented and endorsed, reflecting steady progress across all areas.

What’s Next?
• Public release of the McClenaghan Report
• Expanded media and community engagement
• Continued growth in membership and advocacy
________________________________________
Thank you to all members and supporters – your involvement is helping drive this important regional project forward.
Next Meeting: 22 April 2026

28/03/2026

We are set up at Seasons of New England in Uralla. Ready to talk all things Rail Trail to the many locals and visitors who flock to this amazing event.
A big thank you to the organisers, they have done a cracking job, the day is beautiful so come on down and share in this exciting opportunity to see the best our area has to offer.

24/03/2026

Why build rail trails on existing formation? 🛤️🤔
Welcome to the fourth of our four-part series......."fact finding". 😉

With over 3,000 kms of abandoned rail lines in NSW, there is ample opportunity to put these wasted public assets to productive use.

Rail trails on the rail formation are the most economically viable rail trail option. This places them on the flat and already largely prepared formation, making use of existing bridges and culvert crossings so are less expensive to build than putting them beside the rails. The rail formation is an easy gradient which makes for family-friendly, vehicle-free easy riding - all key attributes which rail trail users are looking for. 💁‍♂️👩‍🦽‍➡️🚶‍♂️‍➡️🏃‍♀️🌿🚴‍♂️

Transport for NSW Chris Minns Tara Moriarty MLC Jenny Aitchison MP Brendan Moylan MP

17/03/2026

What is "slow tourism"? 👨‍🦼‍➡️👩‍🦯‍➡️🏃‍♂️🚴‍♂️🍂 Welcome to the third edition of "finding facts". 😉

Unlike other forms of cycling tourism (e.g. road cycling, mountain biking), much rail trail cycling involves multi-day trips from village to village. This allows a broader geographic spread of the economic benefits from cycling tourism. It is sometimes referred to as ‘slow tourism’ where participants have ample time to sample local goods, services and attractions. ✨

The Northern Rivers Rail Trail in northern NSW was opened in March 2023 and though the total length of the trail is not yet completed, it has already attracted over 315,000 users who have spent $3.7M to date. This is a 19% increase in local visitor expenditure transactions (Northernriversrailtrail.com.au. 2026). 🏆

The New Zealand government has developed a network of cycle trails including rail trails across both the north and south islands. Known as the 23 Great Rides, since 2021 the trails now attract 2.6 million trips annually with visitor expenditure of $1.28 BILLION. There has been an 18% growth in trail use over the last 4 years with the average user spending $964 during their trip (Angus & Associates 2025). 😳

Thank you David Thompson for summarising this data for us. 🙏

Transport for NSW Chris Minns Tara Moriarty MLC Jenny Aitchison MP Brendan Moylan MP

10/03/2026

Cycling tourism is big business! 🚴‍♂️ Welcome to episode two of "fact findings"..... 😏
Data from other Australian states and countries like New Zealand reveal the new local business and economic benefits that can be brought to regional areas by embracing cycling tourism. Most regional areas in Australia have traditionally relied on agriculture as their key economic driver, but as agriculture becomes more capital intensive, employment opportunities have declined significantly. If these areas are to maintain population and services, they will require new economic drivers. New tourism attractions can help in this regard. 🌟💫✨

In 2024, $862M was spent by rail trail users in Australia but 45% of this occurred in Victoria, the state which has the longest distance of trails largely in regional areas (Tourism Research Australia 2025). This is despite the NSW government recognising that visitor expenditure in regional NSW will be 48% of total expenditure by 2035 (Destination NSW 2025). 🌿

Thank you to David Thompson for summarising this data for us. 🙏

Transport for NSW Chris Minns Tara Moriarty MLC Jenny Aitchison MP Brendan Moylan MP

03/03/2026

Welcome to the first of a four-part series containing evidence-based statistics on rail trails in Australia, in easy to read format! 👨‍💼

NSW is falling behind on rail trails. 📊. Unlike NSW, other Australian states and territories have recognised the local economic benefits of repurposing abandoned public rail corridors as a significant tourist attraction through rail trail development.

These graphs, created by Rail Trails for NSW (2026), shows how NSW is slipping behind in terms of both total length of rail trails and kilometres of trails per head of population (second graph in comments section below).

More compelling data in the next edition. 😁

Transport for NSW Tara Moriarty MLC Jenny Aitchison MPChris Minns Brendan Moylan MP

Address

Armidale, NSW
2350, 2351

Website

https://twitter.com/NERTinc, https://newenglandrailtrail.org.au/

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