Submission regarding Berrima Rail Project SSD7171

This submission is made by Helen Saville of 1045 Old Hume Highway Alpine NSW 2575.
I would like this submission to be read in full and not simply summarised.
I strongly object to the Berrima Rail Project SSD7171 and the associated Hume Coal Project - Mine and Associated Infrastructure SSD7172. Neither project should receive planning approval as they represent unacceptable threats to the environment, the public interest and this community.
I am a long term resident of a rural area of the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. I am familiar with many of the areas mentioned in Berrima Rail Project SSD7171. I reject the claims that this is a significant coal mining area and that the proposed mine and rail project should be developed and exploited. Neither serves the long term public interest.
Nature of the Hume Coal EIS: The EIS is a long and detailed document. Nevertheless I have read most of the major sections of the document. Its purpose appears to be to market the project rather than address major concerns of the Southern Highlands community.
The EIS is not a management plan or an operations manual. It is not necessarily a document that will be consulted on a daily basis by the operators of the mine and rail project if they should go ahead. For example, the company Hume Coal, a wholly owned subsidiary of the
South Korean conglomerate POSCO-Daewoo, claims in the Rail Project documents that all coal train trucks will be covered on trips to the loading facility at Port Kembla and on the return trip. However, unless this is a legislated requirement in New South Wales, it is entirely possible that this supposed condition will be overlooked if operational timetables or staffing matters intervene. Even if this requirement were to be legislated, or set up as a condition of approval, there is widespread evidence that mining companies infringe such conditions and prefer to pay a fine, which is then claimed as a business expense.
There is little public trust in mining companies in New South Wales, as they court the communities they seek to impose mining projects on while they are trying to gain approval and then fail to carry out environmental and safety undertakings once approval is gained and mining is under way.
I therefore, along with many other local residents, regard the claim that all coal train trucks will be covered on all journeys with a degree of scepticism.
Incorrect Assumptions in the Berrima Rail Project EIS:
The EIS seeks to minimise or understate the likely impact of increased coal train traffic on the environment and the community. The EIS acknowledges the other existing users of the Berrima Branch line, the main South Line and the Unanderra to Port Kembla line.
However, the EIS claims that the Tahmoor Colliery, which also uses these rail networks, is about to close. At the time or writing in June 2017 Glencore has announced that the mine will be kept open for approximately another six months and then put up for sale. If the mine is sold, and it is likely that they are in consultation with a prospective buyer, the Tahmoor Colliery will continue to use the line for some years and therefore Hume Coal will be adding an additional four rail journeys to the approximately four trains a day from the Tahmoor Colliery. This will have a much greater impact on the line itself and the traffic delays at the 17 level crossings between Berrima Junction and Port Kembla. It is possible or even likely that road closures at rail crossings will increase to more than one and a half hours per day.
A further incorrect assumption is that the demand for access to this rail network from businesses and activities in the Moss Vale Industrial Corridor from Moss Vale to the Hume Highway will not increase over the next 20 years. This is highly unlikely as the Wingecarribee Shire Council regards it as a priority to encourage clean, light or low impact industries to develop in this corridor. Such developments will create increased demand for use of the rail networks and the local roads and highway.
The coal mine that Hume Coal/POSCO proposes will use both the rail and road networks in this area. There would be increased traffic on both and a loss of amenity to surrounding rural residents and the residents of Berrima, Medway and New Berrima, who use the highway and local roads to access the services and employment in local towns, especially Moss Vale.
It is a considerable oversight to assume that a coal mine could be developed in this area but all other aspects of the immediate area will not change substantially over a period of 20 years. I hope that the NSW Department of Planning and/or the Planning Assessment Commission will take account of these oversights or incorrect assumptions in the EIS and also request further information about likely future development in the Moss Vale Industrial Corridor from the planning staff at Wingecarribee Shire Council.
Traffic Impacts at railway level crossings: As mentioned, there are 17 level crossings which will be impacted upon between Berrima Junction and Port Kembla. The Hume Coal/POSCO Berrima Rail Project proposes modifications at only one level crossing, the heavily used crossing at Boral Cement near New Berrima.
However, the Wingecarribee Shire council has also proposed modifications of the road after the level crossing at Boral to reduce the risk of further fatalities at the black spot on the bend after the crossing. The Council plans serve the safety interests of the community and should be regarded as higher priority than Hume Coal/POSCO's plans, yet the EIS only regards the Council's plans as an alternative, not their preferred proposal. This is entirely unacceptable as the Council has greater understanding of community safety needs than Hume Coal/POSCO.
I regularly use the crossing at Boral Cement Works, with care, but it does have reasonable visibility in both directions. I also use the Sheepwash Road level crossing quite regularly and have experienced minor delays at this crossing, but no major problems. These two level crossings and the level crossing as one drives into Robertson would be the busiest in the Southern Highlands and any increased rail traffic will cause significant delays.
Coal trains as I have experienced them in trips to the Hunter Valley are usually much longer than the freight trains that currently use these rail crossings, and many of those are already quite long. However, in the Hunter Valley delays at level crossings can be up to 4.5 minutes, which can result in a considerable backup of traffic at busy times at peak hours or on weekends when tourists visit. This figure was quoted in an interview on ABC Radio National in the last year and I can vouch for this on a trip down the New England Highway early this year, where we experienced a substantial delay at Scone when a coal train went through.
Delays at the main level crossings at New Berrima, Sheepwash Road and Robertson due to increased use by coal trains can create long lines of traffic and driver frustration, which increases accident risk.
In the case of Sheepwash Road, long delays at the crossing could mean that traffic heading towards Bowral could back up almost to the Illawarra Highway turn-off at busy times. This intersection was a fatal black spot in the past and has been improved with much better road signage and a right hand turning lane, but traffic backing up because of coal train movements could cause it to become a major road accident site again, as traffic along the Illawarra highway moves at high speeds.
The level crossing on the Illawarra Highway at Robertson could also become an increased problem area because of long coal trains. There have been various accidents at this crossing over the past decades including a fatal accident in 1998 where two railway employees were killed. The Robertson area experiences a high incidence of fogs, often quite thick fogs which reduce visibility considerably, which would further affect the speed at which long coal trains could travel and therefore also create major traffic delays.
The Berrima Rail Project EIS fails to take account of specific local weather and traffic conditions that can and do affect the two major rail crossings at Sheepwash Road and Roberston. This is unacceptable.
The Berrima Rail Project EIS also fails to consider the impacts of increased coal train traffic on other rail crossings around Robertson, such as the crossings at Fountaindale Road and Mount Murray Road. The Fountaindale Road crossing has barriers and the crossing has significant usage by local residents and visitors to the Highlands. Again there is the possibility of traffic backing up towards the highway that runs through Robertson, as it is quite close to this intersection.
The Mount Murray Road level crossing has no barriers. Trains simply whistle as they are coming around the bends near this crossing. Mount Murray Road is an attractive unsealed road through bushland which is well-known to local residents and used frequently, especially on weekends by walkers, horse riders and bicycle riders. Increased rail traffic on a crossing such as this with no barriers represents a greatly increased risk to recreational users. While local users of Mount Murray Road have some knowledge of the likely movement of trains, the increasing number of visitors to the Southern Highlands will not have this knowledge.
Impact on emergencies: Maintaining road access for ambulances, rescue vehicles and rural fire service vehicles should be of far greater concern than providing access for coal trains to Port Kembla for export coal. Significant delays to ambulances and fire brigades can lead to deaths, because of blocked roads where there are no detours available. Yet the Berrima Rail Project EIS does not acknowledge or even mention the need to maintain access for emergency vehicles and seems to assume that long coal trains should have unimpeded access.
The likely delays to emergency vehicles are an unacceptable impact of this project.
Furthermore, the Berrima Rail Project EIS does not appear to have an Emergency Plan for the additional coal trains it proposes to introduce. Surely this should be a requirement, as otherwise they are relying on state, local and volunteer networks for assistance in the case of train crashes or derailment. This seems to be a major oversight in the EIS as such accidents do happen.
Environmental Impacts: Under the Berrima Rail Project, if approved, there will be a significant increase in diesel particulates along the rail network, on top of those already released into the environment by the trains which now use these rail lines. It is now clearly established that diesel particulates represent very significant health hazards for communities near rail networks. Combined with coal dust from coal train trucks, these are a toxic mix.
Even if the coal trucks are covered, there will still be some release of coal dust into the environment, as it would be extremely difficult to seal the coal trucks completely. This combined mix, especially in the windy conditions experienced in the Southern Highlands in winter and spring, will spread some distance over the areas on either side of the rail lines and could affect the health of humans and animals and coat grasses and bushland alongside the tracks. Deposits of coal dust and diesel particulates would accumulate over time and add to the bushfire risk in the areas that the trains pass through. So, despite the claims made by Hume Coal/POSCO that this project has very little environmental impact, people living in the towns, such as Moss Vale and Robertson, that the railway passes through, will experience increased airborne pollution and the significant bushland and farmland that the trains also pass through will have an increased bushfire risk.
Broader climate risks: At a time when Australia's greenhouse gas emissions are rising, when they need instead to fall, there is no justification for a new coal mine in such an environmentally sensitive and significant area as the Southern Highlands. A new coal mine which will produce thermal as well as coking coal will produce increased greenhouse gas emissions in our local area and will contribute to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions in countries such as South Korea, which would be the recipient of the coal mined here.
In the supposed 20 year life of this mine, if it were approved, there will be an accelerating move away from the use of coal and countries such as South Korea are likely to impose taxes on polluting industries and imported coal. This is already being discussed by the recently elected government of South Korea.
At this point in our history, there is only a justification for mining enough coking coal to keep Australia's steel industry in operation, until alternative sources of energy for steel making are developed. Therefore Australia needs to move towards greatly reducing exports of both thermal and coking coal before other countries begin to restrict coal imports to a point which forces the closure of many more mines in this country. A planned move away from coal is a far more sensible response to changing times and markets than a sudden collapse in coal demand because other countries are moving quickly to renewable energy and away from coal.
In this context, this mine and all new coal mines in New South Wales should be rejected. The claims by Hume Coal in its EIS that this is an "ecologically sustainable development" are totally absurd. The further claim that mining coal over 20 years, in a rural community which is seeking to establish itself as a clean, green, food producing community for the long term, somehow contributes to intergenerational equity by creating a small number of jobs and a relatively small amount of royalties for the New South Wales Government, is equally illogical.
The long term public interest and intergenerational equity are best served by the preservation of farmland and bushland to provide clean food and clean air for all who will live here in the rest of the 21st century and beyond.

The development of the Berrima Branch Line will provide two benefits:
1. Improving this Branch Line for Coal trains or any other Freight Trains is a bonus for the Illawarra Economy. Currently any other freight that is brought down to the Illawarra for Export shipment or any incoming freight that is leaving the Illawarra is significantly hampered as freight trains must share the South Coast Line with Passenger trains. More freight passing through our Port will provide more work for the area.

2. Improving the ability for freight to be moved by trains will ease an already congested road system into the Illawarra. Currently, South 32 move all their coal from their Appin Mine via road trucks to Port Kembla. We would not want to see any more coal trucks on the road that could come from Hume Coal. If Hume Coal are able to move their coal via the Berrima Branch Line this opens the possibility for South 32 to do the same and help to remove the coal trucks from Mt Ousley and Illawarra roads. Less trucks on the roads makes the roads safer for the general public.

I object to the taking of more land for a rail extension to the proposed Hume Coal Mine.

I further object to the disruption of the existing rail services on the main line from Sydney to Melbourne. Passenger trains, already slow and frequently late, will be adversely affected by long coal trains crossing it to go down to the coast. Goods trains will also be slower in delivering their freight.

Level crossing where roads cross the rail line will lead to delays in the traffic of the highlands.

Coal trains are inherently dusty, and anyone with respiratory problems will suffer from the particulates and other matter that will spread from the train as it moves.

The loads are to be covered, which is a concession to those affected. However, I am not confident that this will always occur. In particular as the project winds down at the end of its life, profits will be down and the company may not be willing or able to afford the expense of covering. The company has not always fulfilled its obligations apparently .

To whom it may concern,

I write to express my support for the proposed Hume Coal and Berrima Rail Projects (the Projects). As a qualified and experienced mining engineer, with a passion for sustainable development, I believe the proposed Projects provide a great opportunity for the State of New South Wales (NSW) to lead the way in best practice, sustainable mining operations - not only in Australia, but globally.

Hume Coal's consideration and mitigation of environmental impacts, including, but certainly not limited to; the use of a minimal impact mining method, eco-friendly construction and design practices, and `Make Good' arrangements for groundwater, demonstrate strong commitment to a truly sustainable operation. In particular, the chosen mining method is world class in the minimal impact it will have on the groundwater, subsidence and surrounding environment.

Additionally, the Projects will provide economic benefits through local employment, local spending, royalties and taxes. Working at Port Kembla, I can attest to the benefits the Projects will bring in supporting the Port Kembla Coal terminal and the people who work there, who have gone through uncertain times over the past few years.

By approving well-planned, environmentally sustainable projects, such as the Hume Coal and Berrima Rail Projects, NSW has the opportunity to make a significant global difference. The Projects will enable the supply of excellent quality coal, mined with minimal impact, rather than allowing potentially inferior coal to be supplied from less sustainable operations elsewhere in the world. With these Projects, NSW has the opportunity to demonstrate a sustainable mining future - something that is vital for our ongoing prosperity.

The Projects demonstrate the high standard of sustainable development that the people of NSW expect, and they are in line with the Premier's Priorities to grow the economy and create jobs.

For the above reasons I strongly support both the Hume Coal and Berrima Rail Projects. Thank you for your consideration.

I am against the proposed rail project.

Having 1km long trains crossing the Southern Highlands at all times of the day and night will impact everyone. From traffic congesting which will be created by the 17 level crossings to the reduction of tourism as the Southern Highlands will no longer be the quiet and peaceful place it is well known for (especially in towns such as Robertson).

These trains could create unacceptable delays on emergency vehicles such as fire brigades, ambulances and police vehicles.

The coal dust which will be coming off these trains will be another issue to public health. Our hospitals are already struggling to provide the amount of care needed for our growing population of retirees in our area, adding the respiratory impacts of coal dust to the mix is not going to make things easier on anyone. Although they have an easy solution and could cover the loads to reduce the amount of dust that comes off the trains, mining companies often don't.

To whom it may concern,
As a long time resident of Berrima i strongly object to the Berrima Branch Line.
I did not move to the country to be subjected to the droning noise of a train. Nor do i want to breathe coal dust or have it on my clean clothes as they hang on the line or in my home.
Has anyone considered the inconvenience this rail line is going to cause shire wide? Probably not. The shire's infrastructure is poor at best. I can only imagine how this will affect traffic flow, both with vehicles and commuter trains.
Perhaps we need to consider the long term effects of this project.
Why not preserve and conserve what we already have.

Thank you,

Page Coulson
Berrima, NSW

I oppose this project.

I oppose it because it will have a net negative impact on Government revenues by generating little State income and creating costs for Government and reducing other potential areas of economic growth and Government revenue.

It will have an averse impact on existing infrastructure - crossing the main north south line at Moss Vale. The traffic integrity of the north south line is of more value than the mine which will use this project. Sydney Melbourne and Sydney Canberra freight and passenger traffic should not be compromised. The potential for regionalisation and commuter transit in and out of the over-priced Sydney Basin will be inhibited.

The rail project will have a noise and dust impact on development and health in the growing towns of Moss Vale and Robertson. It will inhibit growth of Council rates, State capital gains tax and stamp duties while increasing community health needs.

The project will facilitate a massive mine site which will lie across the area's best potential fast train corridor west of Berrima. It will be the small action which determines the fate of all future rail use in the Southern Highlands, to Canberra and on the south-eastern seaboard of Australia.

This project should not be allowed.

I am a medical practitioner in Wingecarribee Shire. The incidence of asthma, COPD and other respiratory diseases is already high, and I am concerned about the adverse effects of 8 trains each day laden with coal travelling from Berrima across the shire. There is no certainty in the EIS about standards of particulate matter in PPM and given the Shire's propensity for periods of heavy winds I believe air pollution will be considerable even if the wagons are covered. There is a primary school at Berrima, only a few kilometers from the proposed mine.

The disruption at level crossings will be an added burden for the growing population.

This area is a tourist mecca with boutique accommodation, wedding venues, organic farming and wineries. These are all at risk from this venture with its inherent risk of breaching the aquifer and lowering the water table. The rail line is part of this proposed mine development and poses a threat to our health and way of life in the Southern Highlands. I object strongly to it.

We have just built our dream home in berrima very close to the rail siding maintenance yards and the proposed railway. We had bought this land before Hume coal announced its intention of building the mine.

We have two businesses operating from our home

The first being my massage business which I fear will be impacted by the noise of the train line and the rail siding maintenance yards.

The second is two holiday accommodations. This business I fear will be impacted by the noise generated by the above, especially at night. The peace and tranquility of the highlands is one of the major draw cards of tourists to the southern highlands.

I also object to the increased closures at level crossings across the southern highlands which will negatively impact on businesses and the quality of life of local residents.

Railway level crossings can pose a threat to users of the road and with the increase of rail traffic this threat will be increased. It is unacceptable to put lives of pedestrians and motorists at risk.

while Hume coal claims that the carriages will be covered, past experience in the hunter valley proves that mining companies don't always do what they promise, especially when considerable expense is involved. The coal dust lost during the transport of the coal will put the health of many residents at risk including children at Robertson public school.

I urge the government to reject this project

Penny piccione

My objections are based on the detrimental economic and social impact that the rail project will have on the Southern Highlands, which relies on a clean, quiet and peaceful environment for its tourism and wedding industries due to declining tourist numbers.
It will also negatively impact industries such as Retail, Education, Construction and Agriculture, all of which provide local employment at rates higher than the NSW average. This is clearly stated in the BA Economics impact assessment of the project.
On a personal level , my wife and I run an accommodation service in Berrima which will be impacted by the projects noise levels, light spillage and declining air quality. These aspects receive minimal attention in the EIS.
Also potential coal dust blow off during the rail journey and diesel emissions will have a detrimental impact to air quality throughout the Southern Highlands. This impact alone will affect tourism and wedding business and reduce our business opportunities.
The delays at rail crossings throughout the region will disrupt both local and tourist traffic, with a total of 8 rail journeys per day over 17 level crossings will amount to 93 minutes of closures per day.
This represents an unacceptable impact on emergency vehicles, local and tourist traffic. Also the crossings represent a potential increase in road and rail accidents resulting in injury or death to road users.
Also the mental health, anxiety and depression associated with changes to the social fabric and loss of employment suffered by local residents as a result will be devastating.
I urge the government to reject this project.