Rural doctors are asking the federal government to reconsider cuts to Broken Hill’s Indian Pacific train service, saying they could have bad consequences for health.
The train’s operator, Great Southern Rail, is axing its economy class from July next year, meaning concession tickets for Broken Hill pensioners travelling to Adelaide will jump by $500.
GSR has said that the federal government’s decision to end concession subsidies has forced it to make the changes.
It’s sparked concerns that Broken Hill people needing specialist medical attention in Adelaide will struggle to afford travel costs, and Doctor Christopher Gittoes from the state’s Rural Doctors’ Association said the problem needs attention.
“The federal governments and the state governments are making a concerted effort to improve rural and regional health care and I applaud them for that,” he said.
“I just suspect that this decision is poorly thought-out, and I would be very interested to see what, if any, analysis they did as to the flow-on effects of this decision.”
Local medical workers have told the ABC that a number of residents make the trip to their nearest capital each year and many are troubled by the lack of affordable transport options.
Doctor Gittoes said the potential flow-on health consequences must be carefully considered.
“If they don’t have that and those diseases are therefore not as well managed as they might otherwise be those conditions can escalate,” he said.
“[That can] cost the public purse a lot because these people end up very sick and they end up in hospital and that’s a very expensive way to manage anything.”
The far west’s federal member Sussan Ley said she would meet with the company to discuss the issue.
“GSR is under new ownership and obviously making business decisions which will benefit its overall operations,” she said.
“Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to include any incentive at all for local concession card holders to travel with the IP.
“I am meeting with company management next week to discuss if there is room for negotiation on their ticketing specific to Broken Hill passengers.”