Now is not the right time if there could ever be one to be downgrading Canberra's rail transport connection for the sake of a large lump of real-estate money (''End of the line for Kingston'', August 26, p1).
In shifting Canberra's only railway station to Fyshwick, the ACT Government will ensure that passenger numbers decrease even further, simply because the station will be more distant and less convenient for most Canberrans; Fyshwick does not exactly seeth with taxis and buses! All Australian governments should be encouraging people and freight on to trains, not discouraging them, if they are serious about tackling global warming.
Trains are far more efficient than cars and trucks in their energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions. They are also far safer.
If a new railway station is, like the new ASIO building, a fait accompli, then I have a suggestion and a plea: Please let the ACT and NSW governments co-operate for a change and combine the Queanbeyan and Canberra stations into one properly designed and constructed modern station.
The present five-minute train journey from Kingston to Queanbeyan is absurd enough. A train from Fyshwick would barely get rolling before reaching Queanbeyan, only two or three minutes away!
Dr Douglas E. Mackenzie, Queanbeyan, NSW
And here was I thinking the proverbial light bulb would have switched on over the heads of Tim Overall and Jon Stanhope that a rail link between Canberra and Queanbeyan could be effectively introduced to alleviate the traffic snarl, morning and evening, between the two cities! Apparently no such luck, as The Canberra Times reports this week (''End of the line for Kingston'', August 26, p1).
With adequate parking at both stations and a reliable bus service connecting departures and arrivals of trains to Civic and Woden at the Canberra end, it could have been in operation within a week!
No infrastructure required, just a few extra carriages I'm sure NSW would have a few spares for this purpose and a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The service could even be extended to Bungendore.
I just despair at the lack of vision being displayed by all politicians!
H. Merritt, Watson
Lease breached
L. Alcott (Letters, August 19) is right in questioning the position of the ACT Government in the neglect of Cuppacumbalong and the current application to change the purpose of the lease.
Disappointed tourists and annoyed locals often call into our property to find out what happened to Cuppacumbalong. The sign in the entry removed, electric fences all around the heritage precinct.
To local artists who purposely develop their studios and size-restricted galleries because of the Arts and Craft Centre, the closure of Cuppacumbalong is more than an annoyance, it is a loss of income and energy dedicated, for 20 years, to what was a well-known arts and crafts precinct.
Cuppacumbalong was a destination. The gardens, the homestead, the restaurant, the picnic area, open to the public, a walk to the Murrumbidgee.
The art and craft gallery and shop that Kare OKleary developed into a well-known art space attracting the best craft people in Australia.
That is the purpose of the lease of Cuppacumbalong, resumed by the Commonwealth in 1970s and transferred to the ACT Government with the purpose of promoting Australian art and craft.
Cuppacumbalong's current owner is in breach of the conditions of the lease for many years. At one stage he managed to convince ACTPLA that making jam as a hobby was promoting the Australian arts and crafts.
Year after year he has tried to change the lease with the most peculiar ideas, like a chicken farm with hundreds of chickens in the river corridor or parachuting prefabricated second-hand cottages as artists' studios by the road.
All options secluding the public from the heritage homestead and gardens.
Cuppacumbalong has all that is needed for a good business development, without vandalising the beautiful heritage place.
The closure of the bridge is not an excuse for continuing the breach of the lease and the electric fences.
Bungendore Woodworks is an example of a well-run and promoted craft space and is further than Tharwa, even driving through Point Hut.
Marily Cintra, Tharwa
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