Rail trail vision shared with business chamber

Mr Ryan shared his vision for the rail trail with the Boorowa Business Chamber at its meeting in February.

The rail trail would link Boorowa to Galong, a distance of 29kms.

"The proposal is to establish the old 29km Boorowa to Galong rail corridor, it was shut down in, I think, 1976," Mr Ryan said.

"There is absolutely nothing hauled along there, even the grain silo at Boorowa is only ever used as an overflow if they run out of storage at Harden and Gunningbar.

"There are about 2000km of rail trails in Victoria, South Australia, WA and Tasmania but very few in NSW," he said.

Mr Ryan hopes a Boorowa rail trail proves as popular as the Tumbarumba to Rosewood Rail Trail which was opened last year.

"In the first 12 months it had about 20,000 users and that pace has continued." he said.

"It has also been reported that 13 new businesses have opened in Tumbarumba since the rail trail opened."

Mr Ryan believes Boorowa and Galong's proximity to Canberra would make the rail trail a popular destination.

An incorporated body, the Boorowa to Galong Rail Trail Incorporated was formed in July last year to get the project up and running.

"The Galong Progress Association has agreed to allocate $20,000 of the payments they receive from the limestone mine towards a feasibility study which is the next step," he said.

"We have a quote for it of $45,000 and I'm hoping that there'll be a motion go up to Hilltop Council allocating $25,000 to the project.

"They've got $65,000 budgeted for cycle infrastructure investigations and we've written to their tourism section asking for them to allocate $25,000 of that towards the feasibility study.

"We'll get this rolling, its just a case of whether we can get it going now," Mr Ryan said.

While it is proving popular the Tumbarumba project wasn't an easy sell and Mr Ryan is under no illusions that the Boorowa to Galong committee has a difficult task ahead of it.

"This one won't be easy, if we can get it done in less than five years I'll be amazed," Mr Ryan said.

To bring the disused rail line up to standard all of the old rail and sleepers will have to be removed, followed by fencing on both sides at a distance of seven metres, a cost Mr Ryan said would be borne by the developers not the landholders.

A bridge over the Boorowa River may also need work but Mr Ryan said it's pylons "look to be in reasonable shape".

Following a feasibility study Mr Ryan said the next stage would be to carry out a project delivery plan which would provide more detail on what needs to occur to get the rail trail up and running.

"It would need surfacing, Tumbarumba Rosewood is sealed all the way through. Bike riders apparently prefer gravel but we'd probably seal about five kilometres at each end. At Galong that would take it out as far as the monastery. At Boorowa that would take it out to the Boorowa River where there is a big parking area," Mr Ryan said.

"People with gophers or walking, five kilometres isn't a bad distance.

"And the remaining distance in between we'd put down as gravel."

No discussions have been held with landholders along the route but Mr Ryan said they have been written to advising them of the proposal.

"We don't have the experience to advise them of how to deal with certain situations, it is better to wait until there are consultants there to advise them of what has happened previously, and what doesn't work.

"I've spoken to one landholder who is supportive but we can expect opposition," Mr Ryan admitted.

Mr Ryan and former district agronomist Paul Parker attempted to get funding for the project in 2019 but as Boorowa and Galong were in different electorates "that fell through".

A visit to a forum at Tumbarumba saw Mr Ryan unable to get accommodation giving him extra incentive to say "let's get this moving".

"We'd have loved to stay overnight but we couldn't get accommodation in Batlow, Tumbarumba or Tumut which is apparently not uncommon," Mr Ryan said.

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