Lismore to Bentley Section of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail On Track for Opening in Late 2024

The iconic Northern Rivers Rail Trail keeps rolling on!

On the occasion of the opening of the Casino to Bentley stage of the NRRT, Rail Trails Australia took the opportunity to meet with the project managers currently building the section between Bentley and Lismore. We spoke to John Vincent, Project Manager for Hazell Bros contractors and Matt Arnett (Lismore Council Senior Project Manager – Infrastructure).

The project is well underway, on track for completion as early as October 2024 (weather permitting). The gravel portion of the trail  (roughly 12 km) is complete. This surface is composed of grey DGB20 road base, which can be sealed at a later date and is cheaper than the yellow material used elsewhere, due to haulage distances. Concrete sections of the path at the Lismore train station and in town are also complete, and bridge designs are at 90%. Construction of these will begin shortly.

The designed running width of the trail will be 3m, with 2.5m over bridges, which is consistent with the Casino – Bentley portion. There are no tunnels on this section of the NRRT. but 20 bridges will either be rebuilt or bypassed, some up to 77 metres long. Note that the steel bridge over Back Creek connecting the Lismore section to the recently completed Richmond Valley stage is expected to be re-decked by that council in time for the October opening.

Hazell Bros built the Tweed section of the NRRT, and many of the same crew are working on the Lismore project, including Mr. Vincent. He is an enthusiastic supporter (and user) of rail trails, and has been proactively working with council to retrieve an old railway shed that had been removed from the line and relocated into a neighbouring farmer’s paddock, in order to restore it as an important heritage item.

Mr Arnett also discussed the upcoming Lismore to Eltham stage of the project. This section has been split into two at Bexhill, because of the much greater variety of terrain to be encountered, and the lower cost Bexhill to Eltham portion may receive funding for design and construct as early as this year. Funding for the Lismore to Bexhill section design will also be sought this year. This stage has the most spectacular terrain on the trail with several major bridges, including over Leycester Creek in Lismore which is famously the first steel bridge ever constructed in Australia!  There are also several large timber bridges in town that impede flood debris and create traffic hazards and these will be removed.

The completed 16.3 km Lismore to Bentley project will form a 30km connection between Casino and Lismore, and will enable a sharp increase in cycle commuting and tourism in the region. Another 15.5 km will take the trail to Eltham, while Byron Shire is in Planning and Approvals stage for Mullumbimby to Crabbes Creek and Byron Bay to Booyong. The dream of a continuous 132 km trail from Murwillumbah to Casino is rapidly becoming a reality!