Mr WETTENHALL (Wednesday 14 April 2010) (9.55 pm): On Friday, 26 March 2010, a landslide on the Kuranda Range caused the Kuranda Scenic Railway service to derail at a location about 16 kilometres from Cairns which was thought to have experienced particularly heavy localised rainfall at that time. Two hundred and twenty-four passengers were on board and six Queensland Rail crew, including two drivers, were also on board. Six passengers received minor injuries and there was some minor track and rolling stock damage.

The response from the Kuranda Scenic Railway staff was outstanding. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff for handling a difficult situation calmly and professionally.

I also want to thank all the emergency services workers who swung into action, applying the training and knowledge gained through Exercise White Tail in February 2009.

The Kuranda Scenic Railway route travels through extremely steep and rugged terrain. In addition to an annual track maintenance budget of $3.9 million, an extensive and continuing program of geotechnical stabilisation works is being carried out at a cost of $8.5 million between 1999 and 2013.

The Kuranda Scenic Railway is a truly iconic tourist attraction for the region and carries about 400,000 passengers per year. Notwithstanding its popularity, the service is not cheap to run. Operating costs exceed revenues by a significant amount and these losses are absorbed by Queensland Rail.

Therefore, I would not accept any suggestion that the state government, through QR, is not providing adequate support to the scenic rail business or the track on which it runs.

Quite the contrary is obviously the case. Even though, in effect, the Kuranda Scenic Railway is a subsidised tourist business, it is nevertheless so much a part of the experience of visiting the tropical north that it is almost inconceivable that it would not continue.

It is true that the majority of businesses in Kuranda depend upon day visitors carried by train, the Skyrail cableway, bus and private transport for their livelihood. Any rail stoppage can be expected to have an impact, although I note that some business owners have reported their best Easter ever.

Much of the credit for results like that can go to the efforts of Tourism Kuranda led by chairperson Melanie Wicks and executive officer Marc Sleeman, who have worked tirelessly and effectively to promote Kuranda.

The line is to be closed at least until 16 May to enable safety inspections to be completed. Although I want the service up and running as soon as possible, I understand that that cannot occur until we are completely satisfied that the service is safe to operate.

I hope that the Kuranda Scenic Railway will continue to delight passengers for many years to come.