Private rail proposal

“I am attempting to lease the track, and run my own passenger car,” Mr Weyrich told the Pastoral Times.

“There would be mobile stations, and I would lease the train and hire a driver.

“In the research I’ve done so far, I believe it would not cost that much to lease the track.

“I am willing to do this out of my own pocket, but it would also be great to have other investors come on board.”

Mr Weyrich said with the number of locomotives carrying agricultural products to and from Deniliquin, he believes the line is “more than capable” of supporting a passenger service.

“I’d like to see it stop in Mathoura along the way, and it would then also link passengers with other services to Bendigo or Melbourne for retail, recreation or even medical reasons.

“I think it has legs, and I am determined to pursue it.

“There will be a bit of a headwind, I know, but I’m willing to push through it.

“People laughed when an Echuca to Melbourne train to the football was proposed, and now look at how successful it is.

“This could be a success to, if people are willing to listen to me.”

Mr Weyrich said as well as creating a better connection to larger centres for Deniliquin and district and Mathoura residents, a passenger rail would also help address his other major local concern - the risk of road trauma due to kangaroos.

The ‘kangaroo situation’ has been on his agenda for decades.

When he was a councillor with Murray River Council, and Murray Shire Council before that, Mr Weyrich tried on multiple occasions for the NSW Government to work with the communities on a suitable solution.

Saying the road risks associated with kangaroos has increased since the Murray Valley National Park was gazetted, he has requested culls.

A motion along these lines was supported by majority at the Local Government NSW conference in 2017.

All motions passed at these conferences are then referred to the NSW Government to enact, but Mr Weyrich said it was either ignored or shelved.

The Pastoral Times has reported on a number of serious crashes involving kangaroos before and since, a few of them involving Mr Weyrich.

He says he does not want to see a death before the matter is taken seriously.

“Each route in and out of Deniliquin has kangaroo problems, but the route to Mathoura and then Moama is particularly bad.

“In some sections of the route, you have the Murray Valley National Park on one side of the highway and crops on the other - of course they’re going to want to get to the other side.

“We are virtually prisoners in our own towns after dark for fear of hitting a roo.

“There’s at least one new dead kangaroo on the road each day. Surely, a humane cull would be better than what they go through who they are hit on the road.

“And we’ve hardly got a shortage of kangaroos in this country.

“Should road safety, the safety of humans, be coming second to kangaroos?”

Mr Weyrich urged visiting and local motorists to take extreme caution on local roads until a solution to the problem can be found.

He said motorists should also watch for emus, which he said are increasing in number but are of “lesser” risk than the kangaroos.