A WEBSITE entrepreneur wants Shields St in the heart of Cairns to have a tourist railway running between the Esplanade and Cairns Central shopping centre.

Nick Bradt, the developer of online shopping site and an Ergon Energy supply chain manager, is proposing the cane train as Cairns Regional Council consults the public on the redevelopment of City Place.
The council and the State Government are keen on opening up City Place to traffic, while others want the mall retained with a water feature as its centrepiece.
Mr Bradt said debate on the issue was an opportunity to create something special for Cairns.
He said City Place should be retained, while Shields St closed from Cairns Central (McLeod St) to the Esplanade.
"Turn Shields St into a shopping mall and make it possible to walk dry footed from Cairns Central to the Esplanade and call it Cairns Citynade," he said.
Mr Bradt said McLeod, Sheridan, Grafton and Abbott streets could remain open to trafficand three free sugar cane trains could run between the shopping centre and the Esplanade.
"With the sugar trains driving people up and down Shields St, Cairns would make a great connection to its history and present economy as sugar cane country," he said.

 

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