It may sound like a similar plot to the Australian classic film The Castle, but in a suburb south of Brisbane, dozens of people are living Darryl Kerrigan’s worst nightmare and face a far less heart-warming fate.
A proposed rail project between the Gold Coast, Logan and Brisbane, is set to make train travel more efficient in time for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games.
But it’s costing dozens of Logan residents their homes.
The Queensland government is consulting with 331 property owners who will be impacted by the project.
Some will have part of their land resumed while others will lose their entire home.
One young family could face years of uncertainty with their newly-built home among those to be resumed.
‘I started crying … I was so depressed’
Mian Waqr, 62, had hoped to enjoy the serenity of his new home with his young family for the rest of his life.
Instead, he could face months and even years of uncertainty.
“All the hardship that I’d done to build this home and now they’re going to take it away,” Mr Waqr said.
The father of two bought his property at Woodridge in Logan four years ago and just finished building his brand new home last month.
Two weeks before moving in, he received a letter in the mail from the Department of Transport and Main Roads that said his property was set to be resumed to make way for a new rail line.
“Honestly I started crying … I was so depressed and so stressed,” he said.
“It’s a new house and we’re going to enjoy it for six to eight months, a year, maybe two years, but it’s not the same. I don’t want to leave this place.
Mr Waqr said he can’t understand how his new home was approved for construction given the plans to demolish it.
“No-one told me …. no-one told me until I got the letter.
“I’m very disappointed.”
Residents ‘gutted’
Cheryl Love lives on the street behind Mr Waqr.
She has owned her home for 38 years. It’s where she raised her children and nursed her late husband until he died.
“It’s just hard to leave it. He wanted to make sure we had somewhere to live after he passed away and they just want to take it all away.
“Most of us are pensioners and we don’t want to have to start over again.”
Barry McLellan lives across the road from Ms Love and he also doesn’t want to leave his home.
“What do you do? Do you sit and protest until the last second or do you give in and go?
“I feel gutted,” he said.
Around the corner from Mr McLellan is Gabie Cocoran. Her home of 32 years is also set for resumption.
She’s started a petition in the hope the government will change the rail plans.
“I’m devastated. I can’t believe what’s happened to us, not only to me, but the whole community.
“We want a different plan so people can stay in their homes,” she said.
$356 million project
The proposed Gold Coast Logan Faster Rail is a $356.2 million project, jointly funded by the state and federal governments.
It will see 20 kilometres of new track and rail systems built between Kuraby and Beenleigh stations, increasing the corridor from two to four tracks, with modernised rail systems, station upgrades, and level crossing removals.
“This is really important in terms of the booming population, along the rail line between Brisbane and the Gold Coast,” Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said.
“To increase the level of service and to reduce the travel times for people using the line between Kuruby to Beenleigh,” he said.
It’s a section of rail at Logan’s Trinder Park where the homes of Mr Waqr and his neighbours are set to be resumed.
There the train track curves, but new plans will see it straightened.
“We’ve got a very old windy part of the rail network, it does need upgrading so that travel times reduce.
“When we do that, we see rail a lot quicker and more competitive and that means less people driving their cars and causing gridlock on the M1 and other parts of our road network,” Mr Bailey said.
Plans not set in stone ‘local feedback’ important
Impacted residents have argued faster trains are not worth the loss of their homes.
They want the Queensland Government to reconsider the plans, so every last option is exhausted before they have to give up their land.
Mr Bailey said plans were not set in stone, with the consultation process ongoing.
“We always make adjustments to a project like this, to ensure that those local factors, that local feedback is taken into account, and that we make appropriate adjustments.
“I absolutely do feel for them … It is very stressful, no doubt about it.
“But what I say as the Minister to my department is, ‘do everything you possibly can do for every single person’. Every single person matters in this process.”
A business case is set to be completed by the end of 2021.
A Logan City Council spokesperson said in a statement the “responsibility for the Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail rests entirely with the State Government”.
“Logan City Council is obliged to approve all developments provided they comply with the Planning Scheme,” the statement read.
“No future rail corridor in Woodridge has been gazetted by the state government.”
