Landholders in the McIntyre Valley are concerned by a lack of community awareness about the proposed Inland Rail crossing through their floodplain.
Maps released by Inland Rail on July 14, 2017, show an area under investigation, which has since become the main focus for the proposed alignment.
“If you were given the job of picking the maddest possible place you could possibly cross the river where you could cause the most trouble, this would be it,” said local landholder, Robert Mackay.
Richard Doyle, Malgarai, Boggabilla, said the proposed river crossing could have potentially devastating consequences for the communities of the McIntyre floodplain.
“It's pretty much crossing over the top of the off-take of the Whalan Creek,” he said.
“The Whalan Creek is the most significant off-take out of the river in times of high flooding upstream of Boggabilla and Goondiwindi, so if they build something there that restricts the flow of water then there's great potential for water to be backing up through the Toomelah community and also cause major flooding down the river for Boggabilla and Goondiwindi and anyone else who happens to be in the way.”
Following limited consultation with Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), Mr Doyle said their concerns were no longer being heard.
“We've basically gotten to the point where we've exhausted any possibility of meaningful dialogue with ARTC,” he said.
“We've written to state and federal members on the NSW side protesting to members about how the process has gone and that we don't agree with where they've put the alignment.
“We've made the decision that the only way we are going to progress with this is to go public with it so that people in our community are aware of what the potential dangers are if they build the wrong thing.”
Mr Doyle said the major concern for landholders in the McIntyre floodplain who are aware of the proposed alignment was the potential for a major diversion of water away from the natural flow.
“Potentially water could be diverted down the Whalan system that otherwise could have flowed down the river and that has major consequences for the industry in the valley for access to water, and also erosion and just a general changing of the whole ecology of the valley itself,” he said.
Toomelah Land Council chairman Carl McGrady said his community was no stranger to flooding from the McIntyre River.
“At the moment we live with it and it disperses,” he said.
“If you put a two meter wall in front of it, it's either going to rip us off our little island here, take out Boggabilla, and then any water related industry from there down is going to be null and void because they're either not going to have the water because it's dispersing, or it’s going to be too much and it’s going to rip all the pumps out of the river anyway.”
The proposed alignment was a major blow for Andrew Mackay, Merawah, Boggabilla, who said it would cut straight through his property, effectively cutting it into four pieces.
“As far as landholders, you're just sitting here now, no one is going to buy it off you,” he said.
“You've just been devalued.
“As of today, you're worth a couple million bucks less than you were in August.
“They've taken what I think is the path of least resistance, which is me.”
While landholders believe the only way to satisfy all requirements to prevent major flooding is to construct a railway bridge of 16 kilometers across the entire floodplain, Mr Doyle said they know that will never happen.
“Without knowing anything, we are absolutely certain that's not what they budgeted on,” he said.
Instead, they would like to see the river crossing seven kilometers west of the current proposed alignment.
