Despite more than 100 residents from Palm Lake Resort Bethania and Palm Lake Resort Waterford in Logan, meeting with QLD Transport Minister Mark Bailey and QLD Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman, a 1km strip of rail corridor land between the two resorts will be used as a tourism trail.
The QLD Govt Ministers were told by residents the tourist track could make it unsafe for them to walk between medical services on one side of the disused track and social services offices on the other side. Similar rail trails are commonly used by walkers, bikes and horse riders.
2km of the disused track is under lease to Palm Lakes Resort to 2049 at a cost of about $10,000 a year. Residents are using it to park caravans and vehicles inside the gated village.
The disused rail corridor from Bethania to Beaudesert was built in 1885. Queensland Government railways operated the line until mid-1996.
A 2021 feasibility study by consultant Burchill’s Engineering Solutions stated the rail trail would cost about $8 million to build. It would attract more than 55,000 people a year bringing in an economic benefit to the region of over $870,000 a year.
Palm Lakes Resort CEO Scott Elliott declined to comment.
