BY IAN CROUCH
Newcastle Council will write to the Chief Executive of the High Speed Rail Authority to outline its preferred location for a Newcastle stop.
At Tuesday's meeting, Councillors supported a Lord Mayoral minute urging Tim Parker to make Broadmeadow the Newcastle stop for the High Speed Rail route, saying it's the only viable location in the Greater Newcastle area due to its strategic location and planned redevelopment.
However, this is at odds with a study done for the federal government in 2013 which recommended Cameron Park to the south of the M1 Pacific Motorway as the preferred option, due to it's proximity to the Hunter Expressway and Newcastle Link Road.
The study found it would be too expensive to put the rail line into Newcastle saying it would require long lengths of tunnels or the acquisition of many homes and businesses, which would come at such a great expense as to outweigh the benefits of a closer stop.
A station at Hexham was also considered, but the study said Cameron Park would better serve the population to the south-west of Newcastle's center and the Lower Hunter, once the Expressway opened.
