7 Jun 2008: Brisbane - Call for Inner South West Rail Loop service

[ozbob]

Media Release 7 June 2008

Brisbane: Call for Inner South West Rail Loop service

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport users has called for the introduction of an innovative regular inner south west loop rail service to run all stations from Central, Southbank, Yeerongpilly, Tennyson, Sherwood, Milton, Exhibition, Brunswick St, Central.  This service could run in both directions at 20 minute intervals. It would allow passengers to make connections between presently isolated main lines and would allow the Exhibition and Tennyson stations to be brought into regular service.  A railway station at Normanby could also be re-established and integrated with the Normanby bus station.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

?Presently there is no regular rail service connecting the main southern and western rail lines. Exhibition and Tennyson stations do not have regular rail services.?

?Running a regular loop service stopping all stations from Central to Yeerongpilly, Sherwood, Milton, Exhibition and back to Central in both directions would give passengers options other than transiting through the CBD when travelling ?cross suburbs?.

?Providing a regular commuter service to the Exhibition station would facilitate access to the major medical precinct at Herston and businesses in the general area. The former railway station at Normanby should be re-instated and linked into the Normanby bus station. This would give further transit options for commuters.?

?This loop service would be a smart addition to the QR urban network.  It would help relieve some of the inner city congestion on buses and rail. It would encourage further public transport uptake and overall benefits for the community.?

?What are we waiting for??

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org

[ozbob]

This is an obvious way of increasing capacity in the inner city ring on the western and southern lines. It provides good rail access to Exhibition and Tennyson. 

It can be linked into the Busway at Normanby. And uses existing infrastructure in a smart way. The loop service could be introduced now whilst a station was built at Normanby.  No point in waiting.

This suggestion has been developed as a solution to address a  number of apparently unrelated issues raised by members and others.

* The need to provide a rail service to Exhibition and Tennyson stations.

* The problem with inner suburban region congestion and train overloading.

* Increasing bus congestion and the associated traffic gridlock and unreliability.

* The disconnect between the main western and southern lines.

* The need to provide more capacity on the western line particularly during the Hale St Link construction and chaos.

[ozbob]

Sent as follow up to media release above:

Greetings,

Further to the media release.  There is a failure to maximise our present public transport asset.  A loop service as described in the media release is one way of using our present resources in a more  efficient and effective manner.  Time the 'mind set shackles' were broken folks.  Another complete failure to utilise  public transport effectively is the railway line to the airport, but that is another story.

Back to the Inner South West Rail Loop service call.

From http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=990.msg4302#msg4302

This is an obvious way of increasing capacity in the inner city ring on the western and southern lines. It provides good rail access to Exhibition and Tennyson.

It can be linked into the Busway at Normanby. And uses existing infrastructure in a smart way. The loop service could be introduced now whilst a station was built at Normanby.  No point in waiting.

This suggestion has been developed as a solution to address a  number of apparently unrelated issues raised by members and others.

* The need to provide a rail service to Exhibition and Tennyson stations.

* The problem with inner suburban region congestion and train overloading.

* Increasing bus congestion and the associated traffic gridlock and unreliability.

* The disconnect between the main western and southern lines.

* The need to provide more capacity on the western line particularly during the Hale St Link construction and chaos.

Regards
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
RAIL Back On Track

[ozbob]

From Brisbanetimes click here!

Call for inner-city rail loop

Call for inner-city rail loop
Tony Moore | June 10, 2008 - 1:34PM

Queensland Transport must test an inner-city rail loop linking the Ipswich and Beenleigh lines in a bid to take the pressure off overcrowded bus services, a rail lobby group urged today.

Rail: Back On Track has called for the reactivation of a largely under-utilised line to form an inner-city loop from Central station to Yeerongpilly, Tennyson across to Sherwood, Normanby and back to Exhibition (RNA Showgrounds) and Brunswick rail stations.

Spokesman Robert Dow said the new Queensland Tennis Centre at Tennyson (which includes a unit development), the new busway at Normanby, the expansion of the Royal Brisbane Hospital and the re-development of the Royal National Association's Exhibition Grounds should be the catalyst for a re-think of the inner city rail loop.

"If this was done on a regular basis, it would provide an inner-city rail loop which could combine all of these elements and free-up capacity on the southern (Beenleigh) and western (Ipswich) rail lines," Mr Dow said.

"We really think it is an opportunity that is an innovation from the usual 'point-destination' type services they have now," he said.

Mr Dow said he anticipated the service could run in both directions and start with three passenger carriages to test if the inner-city rail link would be popular.

"If it was done on a regular basis, it would provide an inner-city loop service which would take some of the congestion off the inner city buses."

Mr Dow said he was surprised Queensland Rail had so few services connecting the Beenleigh line and the Ipswich line, particularly given the expansion of the Ipswich rail line from Sherwood to Darra.

"Presently there is no regular rail services connecting the main southern and western rail lines," he said.

"Exhibition and Tennyson stations do not have regular rail services.''

"Running a regular loop service stopping all stations from Central to Yeerongpilly, Sherwood, Milton, Exhibition and back to Central in both directions would give passengers options other than going through the CBD when travelling `cross suburbs'."

He said improving rail links to the Exhibition station - now used just for special events like last weekend's Caravan and Camping Expo and the RNA Exhibition in August - simply made sense.

"Providing a regular commuter service to the Exhibition station would facilitate access to the major medical precinct at Herston and businesses in the general area," he said.

"The former railway station at Normanby should be re-instated and linked into the Normanby bus station. This would give further transit options for commuters."

Queensland Rail has commented generally that it planned to improve the Exhibition rail service, but has not described how it could be linked to other services.

Earlier this year when the redevelopment of the RNA site was discussed, the State Government suggested the Exhibition rail station could have a new "mixed" bus and rail station, similar to what is now at South Bank.

A committee including Queensland Rail and Queensland Transport will report next year on a possible underground rail link between Woolloongabba, the city and Spring Hill.

That possible rail line could have a link to the showgrounds.

The Rail: Back on Track suggests using existing stations.

Public transport researcher Jago Dodson, from Griffith University's Urban Research Program, welcomed the innovative thinking on public transport, but doubted the inner-city rail loop could generate enough extra commuter traffic to be viable.

"I would rather they increase the frequency of rail services across the entire network, so that everyone gets the benefit," Mr Dodson said.

He said South Bank was already well served by busways and the Royal Brisbane Hospital would also be better served by the Northern Busway, when it was finished.

"The Exhibition rail station is still a fair way from the hospital, so I am not sure that would provide real benefits," he said.

Mr Dodson said he also doubted the frequency of events at the State Tennis Centre at Tennyson warranted more frequent rail services than already existed.

"But I do welcome new and innovative thinking on this type of thing."

Thanks Brisbanetimes for your interest in this story.

[ozbob]

Radio 4BC John Miller Show followed up with a short interview.

Thanks for the support John and 4BC

Mp3 of interview here!

Apologise about the quality but I only had a pocket radio.

[QRIG]

Definitely not a bad idea ...

The only operational constraint I can think of is the hole-in-the-wall (trains entering from Exhibition have to block two sets of tracks to head back to the city). However considering the frequency of trains in both off-peak and peak periods it shouldn't cause any issues.

[ozbob]

Save our Kenmore have posted our release above on their blog site.

-->  http://www.saveourkenmore.com/blog/

[kw]

I was having a play around with Photoshop and is this the QR Network map we all want to see?

http://members.optuszoo.com.au/gjwagner/qr_network.JPG

- kent

[ozbob]

 

Great job Kent!

[ozbob]

Further follow up article at Brisbanetimes, see this thread -->  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=1013.0

[ozbob]

Another follow up article!

--->  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=1022.0

Well done Brisbanetimes!!

[ozbob]

Yet another follow on article --> http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=1027.0

Well done!