A group of residents on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast say they have been blindsided by a state government decision to redirect a major rail corridor through their properties.
About 10 property owners living in Mountain Creek recently received letters from the Transport and Main Roads (TMR) department informing them their homes and land would be needed for the Direct Sunshine Coast Rail Line.
TMR said the rail corridor had been revised to support a “modern dual-track alignment”, rather than a single track as previously planned.
The letters came despite the fact there has been no funding or timeline allocated for that section of the line.
The Labor government has only committed to building the Beerwah to Caloundra section, further south, by 2032.
‘No leg to stand on’
Steven Cruckshank and his family just purchased their Causeway Court home in June, in the popular Brightwater estate.
He said they had scoured the coast for the perfect property and to receive the TMR letter informing them they were now in the direct path of the rail line was “heart-wrenching”.
“We love the area — it’s peaceful, it’s quiet, it’s quite new, it’s all developed, everything is in easy reach,” Mr Cruckshank said.
“We don’t have much of a choice, there’s no leg to stand on is what they’ve told us.”
He said it made future plans difficult.
“I was planning to do more; a shed, an entertainment area out the back … now I’m in limbo, I really can’t see the value in doing anything to the property knowing we might lose it.”
Neighbour Shaun Taylor and his family built in the quiet cul-de-sac eight years ago.
“We built it specifically so we could have kids in it … but also [so it was] small enough to maintain once it’s just the two of us again,” he said.
“It actually feels quite horrible … you used to come home and feel this is your place of solitude, come home and relax.
“Now often I’m sitting down thinking they could turn around to me tomorrow and say, ‘We just are going to take it.'”
He said he was grateful his children were too young to know exactly what was going on.
“The eldest one did hear us talking about it the other day and then she did say, ‘Daddy, don’t let them take the house please, I love our house,'” Mr Taylor said.
‘Kids won’t be able to play outside’
Matthew Brennan lives across the street from some of the homes that could be resumed.
Unlike those who will have their properties purchased by the state government, surrounding residents will not be compensated.
“I’ve got three young kids and we’ve got to live here,” Mr Brennan said.
“This was supposed to be our forever home, we’ve just put a pool in.
“It’s also going to ruin the road so the kids won’t be able to play outside with all these trucks and infrastructure.”
Mr Brennan said when they purchased 10 years ago, they was aware of the existing CAMCOS corridor reserved for a rail line, which has been in place since the early 2000s.
“It was 200 metres from our property with the sound barrier and we were perfectly fine with that,” he said.
“Now it’s going to be 50m from our house — double train lines and a six lane highway.”
Neighbour Russell Williams also feared it would destroy property values.
“This is just going to change the whole dynamic of the neighbourhood — who’s going to want to live here?” Mr Williams said.
A technical necessity
In a letter to residents, TMR said property owners would not be asked to vacate until future funding was secured and project construction time frames were confirmed.
“The new alignment is necessary to support the operational and maintenance requirements for Queensland Rail to safely operate the corridor,” the TMR letter read.
“The realignment also reduces curves to enable operational efficiencies, increase rail speeds, decrease travel time and minimise environmental and cultural heritage impacts across the river.”
TMR also said in a statement that completing the corridor protection activities now “allows property owners the opportunity to apply for an early acquisition at a time that suits … rather than waiting for the property to be compulsorily acquired”.
“We understand this process can be difficult but transparency is key to ensuring property owners are fully informed of the process and their rights,” a spokesperson said.
The LNP Member for Buderim Brent Mickelberg said the state government needed to explain why the resumptions were necessary.
“The community has had this dumped on them … there is no funding allocated to construct heavy passenger rail to Maroochydore and the last thing that we need is a repeat of what happened with the Mooloolah River Interchange,” he said.
Eighty-four properties were demolished in 2023 to make way for stage one of the interchange project, which was later shelved after the federal government pulled funding.
Lyn Martin owned one of the properties that were demolished and said she felt for the Mountain Creek residents.
“I just feel really sad for them and I’ve been through it and it’s a lot of stress … I was seeing psychologists,” Ms Martin said.
“It’s so wrong.”
