By ALESHA CAPONE
ABOUT 50 people attended a community rally in Sunshine on Friday to express anger about noise, visual amenity, access, pollution and a lack of consultation on the Regional Rail Link project.
Residents and members of the Fix the Links Action Group carried signs which read, ‘Consult not railroad’ and ‘Don’t drive us up the wall, cut the rail in’.
“It’s been absolutely disgusting about the way we’ve been consulted about things which affect us,” resident Alisa Page said.
Her fellow resident, Maurice Sibelle, addressed the crowd and expressed concerns about a noise wall that the Regional Rail Link Authority (RRLA) has proposed to build along the Sunshine to Deer Park section of the rail corridor.
Mr Sibelle said the proposed wall, near his home, would be an average of three metres above the road, but the railway was 2.5 metres above the road.
“So guess what? They’re going to cover the train’s wheels with the noise walls,” he said.
“Now you tell me, is half a wheel going to stop the noise which is coming off the railway line?
“The wall we’re getting is a wrought-iron wall which will rust, it’s the ugliest thing you could ever imagine and we’re dubious whether it will have the noise-dampening qualities which will help stop the noise coming across to our houses.”
Other residents at the rally, including John Kodric, said they were worried robbers and drug dealers would use the wall as a hiding place.
“If this wall goes up, we are finished,” Mr Kodric said.
“You’re not safe to walk anymore.”
Fix the Links member Geraldine Brooks said residents wanted the RRLA to hold an open community forum.
“RRLA should have conducted a forum long ago, but haven’t because the last thing they want is for the community to challenge the lack of consultation and plans for proper mitigation,” she said.
A RRLA spokeswoman said in recent weeks, the authority has “made direct contact with all owners and occupiers of affected properties through personally addressed letters, doorknocks and meeting opportunities”.
“Prior to this, we held a series of community information sessions on noise treatments between Sunshine and Deer Park in May and June this year,” she said.
