The issue of railways was a big one over the last week of Parliament. model-putrid and 12MaxWild engaged in a war of words over high-speed rail during question time, with the Commonwealth Party leader saying her 200 km/h high-speed rail plan from Melbourne to Adelaide would be "a whole 50% slower than the Commonwealth Party's High Speed Rai (sic) plan", demanding the government "pick up the slack", to which model-putrid responded "I don't give a fuck. Shut your stupid pig mouth."

But what attracted particular curiosity was a response to government minister and Denison MP Inadorable. The CLP MP from Tasmania claimed in a statement that "that work has started on planning two new railway lines in Tasmania, connecting Hobart to its suburbs and the towns of Snuq and Kingston and the existing narrow gauge railway network and bringing a new railway service into operation running along Tasmania's Northern coast from Wynyard to Launceston".

12MaxWild then responded, chiding the MP and claiming "the Commonwealth Party actually had and has a fully complete plan for rail to be rolled out in Hobart AND the rest of Tasmania", and implying any plan the government would release would be "a complete ripoff of the Comprehensive Rail Plan". 12MaxWild later tweeted that "adiaus and the CPA announced a rail plan for Tasmania at the March elections BEFORE you!", in reference to the CLP, citing a screenshot (which Pitchfork News could find no record of) of the candidate calling for "better roads and passenger rail" on 17 March.

When reached for comment by Pitchfork News, 12MaxWild explained that "the Commonwealth Party has a Comprehensive Rail Plan for Tasmania, with two main parts: A non-intrusive suburban rail network for Hobart, and a rail line from Hobart to Launceston and the Tasmanian north coast. The intercity coast-to-coast rail link would contain trains reaching a maximum speed of 350 km/h." 12MaxWild confirmed the exact route is yet to be finalised, and that the "non-intrusive" network would involve minimal demolition.

So, what are the facts on this issue? None of the CPA's three election manifestos mention any form of Tasmanian passenger rail. At the December 2021 election, the CPA's Denison candidate GHagrid promised "a Midlands Freight Rail corridor, modeled on the Inland Rail on the mainland", but made no other rail-related promises on the campaign trail. Then party-leader buttsforpm made a passing reference to "upgrad[ing] our rail system here in Tassie" during a February by-election.

But the real crux of 12MaxWild's claim concerns the March 2022 election. Did the CPA announce a rail plan in that campaign, before the CLP did? Well, no. On 24 March 2022, Inadorable -- then running for re-election -- made a speech about passenger rail, in which she promised to build a passenger rail network in the state. In her own words, it would consist of "the Tasmanian main line, running from Wynyard in the northwest through Burnie and Devonport down to [...] Launceston, then to Hobart and south to Kingston and Snug. The second line will be the one running down from George Town to Launceston, and aims to connect the towns north of here."

While this is before adiaus' supposed statement on high-speed rail, it is, to our knowledge, the first detailed rail plan released by any candidate at the March 2022 election.

Later that day, CPA candidate for Denison adiaus also spoke about passenger rail, promising also to build a passenger rail network in the state, promising "lines will connect from Hobart up to Launceston and then west through Devonport and the North Coast towns ending at Wynyard." One may notice this is deeply similar to the plan announced by Inadorable -- and indeed, adiaus would agree, for he immediately added "this is basically the same alignment that Inadorable and the Country Labour (sic) Party promised. They did not invent the idea and neither have we, it has been a desire of many of you for some time."

Not only did the CPA not announce their rail plan first, but the CPA's own candidate acknowledged that their plan was almost identical to the plan of the CLP. Most damningly, there appears to be no public mention of 12MaxWild's claimed "Comprehensive Rail Plan".

When reached for comment, model-putrid, Minister for Infrastructure, Regional Development, and Cities, called the CPA's claims "complete rubbish". She claimed that "during the previous government, I was presented with no detailed Tasmanian rail plan, instead simply tasked to create regional rail for Tasmania. I developed a planned route for rail from Wynyard to Launceston -- consultation with the CPA was of course involved, given the nature of the government, but the development was led by me and it is totally dishonest to suggest it was solely a CPA plan."

model-putrid added "while the CPA now claims to support a 350 km/h rail line in Tasmania, when we were in government 12MaxWild insisted that these speeds would be limited to the mainland, with Tasmanian lines going no faster than 200 km/h. I've always said that 350 km/h high-speed rail in this country is a complete pipe-dream, because of the excessive land acquisition and costs associated with it. Tasmania is barely 350 km long -- if the CPA thinks it's a good idea to send train lines and tunnels plowing through national parks for a multi-billion dollar line between Hobart and Launceston they're dreaming."

- Alison Brooks, Pitchfork News