RAIL - Back On Track Forum

Quote from: AJ Transport on March 24, 2024, 23:43:20 PM

Quote from: ozbob on March 24, 2024, 12:32:27 PMIt's a poll!  Certainly a preference for VP amongst CM readers.

I don't think we will end up with that option.  LNP have vacated the 'political space ', so it will be Suncorp, and QSAC.  Minor improvements to the Gabba.

Absolutely correct Bob, if the LNP aren't making it a campaign level issue the plan won't change.

Yo.

https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/99913

. Miles Government accepts 27 of 30 recommendations from the independent Sport Venue Review for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

. Go ahead for new Brisbane Arena in a different location at Roma St precinct.

. Upgrades planned for the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre (QSAC) and Suncorp Stadium, subject to due diligence and consultation with games partners.

. Exploring legacy transport opportunities to link QSAC, QEII hospital, and Griffith University with connected precincts in the city.

. Proposed new stadium for Victoria Park ruled out.

. Gabba rebuild will not proceed.

Couriermail --> Opinion: Criticism of QSAC reveals difficulty of new Olympic approach $

QuoteRather than immediate condemnation of a proposed upgrade of the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre, a number of real benefits for Queensland residents need to be explored, writes Carolyn Evans.

The hostility to the announcement of QSAC as one of the venues for the 2032 Games shows how hard it is for the new Olympic approach to be embraced. This approach that values long-term community benefit over expensive new venues.

Reasonable minds can differ on what the best outcome for the Olympics might be but there are real benefits for what is proposed at QSAC that deserve to be explored.

The first is that we can be confident this will be a highly used facility into the future.

QSAC is already one of the most used stadiums in Queensland, with over 780,000 visits in 2022-23 (by comparison the Gabba had 200,000 fewer).

QSAC is a critical piece of community infrastructure with around half a million of these visits being from community groups, including schools and local sporting clubs.  ...

Couriermail --> Olympic planner was right and now the government is finding out the hard way $

QuoteIf the state government listened to this advice they may have avoided an Olympics diaster.

I was howled down last year when I warned that Labor's takeover of the planning committee for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic would end in disaster.

The then premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her deputy Steven Miles commissioned secret reports that still have not been made public. And put their arms around the coordinating committee in what I described as a power grab.

Fearing the worst, I contacted the Queenslander knighted for his work as chief executive of the 2012 London Olympics delivery authority.

"It's not going to work, is it," Sir David Higgins told me quite forcefully from his home in London.

Higgins said planning had to be done at arm's length from the government with bipartisan political support. ...

^ There appears to be a cultural tradition in QLD that activities are done through co-ordination of existing bodies/stakeholders rather than single point execution.

The article mentions a co-ordination office. It's right there in the name.

The committee had 20 people on it, with 5x each from Fed/State/Local. The optimal number of people on a board in Australia is 7-8 and max about 12. Adding more people is correlated with performance decline.

You also see 'co-ordination' approach also with the dual transit agency setup in Brisbane.

Quote from: ozbob on March 25, 2024, 13:40:37 PMCouriermail --> Opinion: Criticism of QSAC reveals difficulty of new Olympic approach $

QuoteRather than immediate condemnation of a proposed upgrade of the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre, a number of real benefits for Queensland residents need to be explored, writes Carolyn Evans.

The hostility to the announcement of QSAC as one of the venues for the 2032 Games shows how hard it is for the new Olympic approach to be embraced. This approach that values long-term community benefit over expensive new venues.

Reasonable minds can differ on what the best outcome for the Olympics might be but there are real benefits for what is proposed at QSAC that deserve to be explored.

The first is that we can be confident this will be a highly used facility into the future.

QSAC is already one of the most used stadiums in Queensland, with over 780,000 visits in 2022-23 (by comparison the Gabba had 200,000 fewer).

QSAC is a critical piece of community infrastructure with around half a million of these visits being from community groups, including schools and local sporting clubs.  ...

I go back to the quote about Paris being in easy reach of entertainment and restaurant precincts vs the Westfield Food Court! It's a bad after-venue activity location

Quote from: ozbob on March 25, 2024, 13:40:37 PMCouriermail --> Opinion: Criticism of QSAC reveals difficulty of new Olympic approach $

QuoteRather than immediate condemnation of a proposed upgrade of the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre, a number of real benefits for Queensland residents need to be explored, writes Carolyn Evans.

The hostility to the announcement of QSAC as one of the venues for the 2032 Games shows how hard it is for the new Olympic approach to be embraced. This approach that values long-term community benefit over expensive new venues.

Reasonable minds can differ on what the best outcome for the Olympics might be but there are real benefits for what is proposed at QSAC that deserve to be explored.

The first is that we can be confident this will be a highly used facility into the future.

QSAC is already one of the most used stadiums in Queensland, with over 780,000 visits in 2022-23 (by comparison the Gabba had 200,000 fewer).

QSAC is a critical piece of community infrastructure with around half a million of these visits being from community groups, including schools and local sporting clubs.  ...

All of this is true, but it doesn't change the fact that we're building QSAC with 40,000+ seats only to pull two thirds of them out again. Or just leave them empty as we do now.

The reality is that:

• QSAC needs some TLC and to become part of a real education and sports precinct (with good transport).
• The Gabba's end of life and needs to be rebuilt.
• Suncorp Stadium is due for a freshen up.

Arguably, there's no point arguing about what the Olympic stadium will be, because this work needs to be done, Olympics or no Olympics. And if it were done, we wouldn't have to talk about stadiums again for 30 years. Pretending some of it doesn't have to be done, and then doing it in 2033, is just accounting trickery.

Couriermail --> Steven Miles reveals new details about phone call to Olympics boss days before stadium rejection $

QuoteSteven Miles has dismissed mounting concerns Queensland will be left without a major Olympic Games legacy and revealed new details about his phone call to John Coates days before rejecting a new stadium at Victoria Park.

The Premier on Monday defended the growing questions over his decision to ignore Graham Quirk's infrastructure review and instead spend $1.6bn upgrading the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre next to a significant koala hotspot.

He insisted the transformational legacy benefits promised to Queenslanders when the state won the Games in 2021 would happen, but be "different".

"It's wrong to say that this outcome doesn't deliver legacy – it does," Mr Miles said of the QSAC proposal.

"It's just a different kind of legacy. ...

Brisbanetimes --> How (and why) Labor dumped the key call of its own 2032 venue review $

QuoteSome 100 days ago, not-yet-premier Steven Miles made resetting 2032 Games planning central to his pitch for the top job. Thirty-three days later, he launched a review of venue plans so far.

But upon receiving the draft report, three days before the final document was handed to his government, Miles held a phone call with the Olympics powerbroker whose idea had laid out a different path.

We now have a clearer picture of the timeline behind his move to reject the centrepiece call from the review – a new $3.4 billion stadium at Victoria Park. ...

Wow, has the Premier given up?

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/how-and-why-labor-dumped-the-key-call-of-its-own-2032-venue-review-20240325-p5fezf.html

" Crisafulli has pledged a fresh 100-day review should he become premier after the election in 215 days.

And Miles has said he'd consider delaying tenders for QSAC work until the poll, if asked.

A final picture of where things might yet land could still be some time away. "

====

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1772392530589384748?s=20

"If asked"?
Asked by whom!?

Anyone? 

InQueensland --> With the Brisbane Games still eight years away, why are we taking such a short-term view?

QuoteThe solution to Brisbane's stadiums dilemma is to think imaginatively, tap the private sector for investment and not so hastily reject a bold initiative because a headline figure is hard to justify.

Here's how it could work: Steven Miles or premier-in-waiting David Crisafulli should bite the bullet and reconsider the $3.5 billion Victoria Park proposal so comprehensively and hastily dumped last week. ...

https://x.com/CameronAtfield/status/1772504116117524612?s=20

Brisbanetimes --> Other stadiums 'well ahead' of Gabba: Cricket Australia $

QuoteOther capital cities have stadiums "well ahead" of Brisbane, Cricket Australia boss Nick Hockley says, as the future of the Gabba remains in limbo.

Hockley's attack on the Queensland government over its failure to secure a long-term future for the ground, came as a Brisbane architecture firm released its new vision for the Gabba.

Kangaroo Point-based firm Hayes Anderson Lynch Architects' proposal for a "Gabba Olympic Park" proposes the planned 17,000-seat Brisbane Arena be built across Main Street from a 55,000-seat Gabba.

The venues, and the Cross River Rail station, would be connected via a footbridge.

"Woolloongabba is perfectly located, sized, and serviced to feature Brisbane on the world stage," architect Elizabeth Anderson said. ...

We have politicians taking on the job of town planners and architects - and failing. Why was there not a competition to design the Olympic Games venue, as was the case with New Parliament House, Canberra, and the Sydney Opera House? All of these architectural concepts are coming out of the woodwork anyway.

Couriermail --> Brisbane Olympics: Titmus's rally cry for 2032 Games organisers $

QuotePool queen Ariarne Titmus has delivered a rallying call for Brisbane Olympic organisers after being shocked to be going back to the future for this year's Paris Games.

Titmus said the fact this year's Olympic swimming trials would be held in the Chandler Pool built for the 1982 Commonwealth Games spotlighted the fact urgent attention was needed to update legacy structure in the countdown to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

The Olympic 200m and 400m freestyle champion said she was shocked the 42 year-old Chandler pool remained the sport's premier training facility in Brisbane and she hopes, despite current plans suggesting otherwise, Brisbane 2032 will deliver a new world class training pool for Australia's gold medal winning swim team.

"I cannot believe our Olympic trials are being held in a training facility that was built (in the 80s),'' said Titmus. ...

Absolutely!  A proper Olympic Standard swimming venue should be one of the highest priorities IMHO.
And I don't mean a ' drop in pool ' at the so called Arena.

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/brisbane-news-live-size-of-pay-rise-needed-to-buy-a-bigger-house-brisbane-s-best-value-restaurant-20240327-p5ffp3.html?post=p55sza#p55sza

QuoteIOC says no need to panic over Brisbane 2032 progress

ByAAP

A controversial Brisbane 2032 venue plan may not be finalised for another 12 months but Olympic powerbrokers insist there is "no reason to start panicking".

Almost three years after Brisbane was named 2032 Olympic host, the Queensland government has released a divisive infrastructure plan.

International Olympic Committee's Kirsty Coventry said it may take a "few months to a year" for it to be refined, with a potential change in government set to further delay progress.

If elected in October, the Queensland opposition will appoint an independent infrastructure authority that will report back on February 2025 – just seven years before the Games are due to start. ...

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1773101976911303048?s=20

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1773103067669360902?s=20

Four fuking years wasted by incompetent fools!

No heroes in Big Willy!

Couriermail --> Editor's view: Queensland government's bizarre politics costing us an Olympic stadium $

QuoteQueenslanders were told this week that the cost of a 16km-long freeway that will run alongside a small part of the M1 between the Gold Coast and Brisbane will now cost $3bn – having blown out by another $864m in recent months.

But who's counting! Transport Minister Bart Mellish says it's all because of the "rising cost of labour and materials" – including the 30 per cent increase in salaries to workers the government has agreed to fund, with a similar drop in productivity.

That total cost of the first stage of the so-called Coomera Connector is now as much as a brand new world-class stadium would cost to replace the ageing Gabba – a venue that was recommended as the best approach by a review ordered (at a cost of half a million dollars) by the Premier, but then totally ignored. ...

Couriermail --> IOC Commission chair Kirsty Coventry pours water on chaos engulfing the government over the 2032 Games $

QuoteThe chair of the International Olympic Committee says it will not intervene on venue masterplanning for the Brisbane Games despite shambolic uncertainty surrounding its centrepiece stadium.

The International Olympic Committee says it won't step in to dictate how Brisbane should plan its 2032 Games and says there's "no reason to start panicking" about uncertainty over venues.

The International Olympic Committee held its second annual meeting of the Coordination Commission for Brisbane 2032 overnight, one week after reports the Queensland Government discussed cancelling the Games.

IOC Commission chair Kirsty Coventry poured water on the chaos engulfing the government over the 2032 Games and its shifting venues, declaring the IOC remained "very positive" about Brisbane. ...

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1773173811870908843?s=20

It is unrelenting.  Despite the spin and bluster the ' Brisbane Games ' fiasco rolls on, deeper into the dark  despairing land of shambolic political failures. 

There is no hope for the Miles Government now in October IMHO.  The more serious problem is that around another year will be lost. It will not be to February 2025 that the LNP review will finalise the venues.  Enough time for new venues?  Probably not.  The LNP plan will be a dressed up version of the ' Miles amended Quirk Plan ' probably.

What needs to happen is that a bi-partisan position is reached now and then start work on it.
Delay is even more costs.

InQueensland --> Don't panic: Another year wasted, but IOC 'not concerned' about 2032 venue progress

QuoteA controversial Brisbane 2032 venue plan may not be finalised for another 12 months but Olympic powerbrokers insist there is "no reason to start panicking".

Almost three years after Brisbane was named 2032 Olympic host, the Queensland government has released a divisive infrastructure plan.

International Olympic Committee's Kirsty Coventry said it may take a "few months to a year" for it to be refined with a potential change in government set to further delay progress. ...

https://x.com/JonathanPBryant/status/1773193664010895682?s=20

Brisbanetimes --> 'The next election belongs to the future': LNP Olympic review looms over IOC $

QuoteThe prospect of an incoming LNP state government starting Games venues planning from scratch has loomed over the International Olympic Committee co-ordination commission's second meeting for Brisbane 2032, hosted online from Switzerland overnight.

Last week, Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said, if elected in October, he would launch a new, 100-day review into Games venues, despite a similar review by former LNP lord mayor Graham Quirk already having made 30 venue recommendations – 27 of which Premier Steven Miles accepted.

But Miles controversially rejected Quirk's recommendation to build an oval stadium at Victoria Park to host athletics during the Games and AFL and cricket afterwards.

Instead, the government would pursue a temporary 40,000-seat stadium at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre at Nathan, which the Quirk review found would cost $1.6 billion and be downsized to 14,000 seats after the Games. ...

====

https://x.com/CameronAtfield/status/1773192916070023315?s=20

Remember how the state government kept adding extra station upgrades and other works to the Cross River Rail Project while insisting it would not affect the overall price? Then BOOM, it suddenly jumped to a $6.3 billion price tag.

Does anyone believe that the 2032 Olympic Games for SEQ will be $7 billion and stay at that figure for the next eight years? It would have to be $10 billion at an educated guess.

Value for money (even value for a higher figure) should be the name of the game. Queensland will spend $1.6 billion on an athletics stadium that, after the Games, will have its temporary seating ripped out and reduced to 14,000 seats and will have an insert swimming pool installed in an arena that also will be ripped out.

Where is the 'legacy benefit' the people of Queensland were promised?

Whatever figure the Queensland Government comes up with, double it and that's the probable end cost.

Quote from: Stillwater on March 28, 2024, 16:00:07 PMRemember how the state government kept adding extra station upgrades and other works to the Cross River Rail Project while insisting it would not affect the overall price? Then BOOM, it suddenly jumped to a $6.3 billion price tag.

Does anyone believe that the 2032 Olympic Games for SEQ will be $7 billion and stay at that figure for the next eight years? It would have to be $10 billion at an educated guess.

Value for money (even value for a higher figure) should be the name of the game. Queensland will spend $1.6 billion on an athletics stadium that, after the Games, will have its temporary seating ripped out and reduced to 14,000 seats and will have an insert swimming pool installed in an arena that also will be ripped out.

Where is the 'legacy benefit' the people of Queensland were promised?

Spot on Mr Stillwater.  The notion of not leaving Athletics and Swimming, our two core Olympic sports properly set up for the future as a legacy of the Games is just appalling as it is grossly incompetent.

Costs will be a lot more than the present cost estimate for sure.

I really doubt if the present outfits are capable of getting this all together.

We know what the transport plan will be hey?  Shuttle buses and heritage EMUs!!

 



And the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games!

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/qld-politics/ioc-commission-chair-kirsty-coventry-pours-water-on-chaos-engulfing-the-government-over-the-2032-games/news-story/7b71d1a514c05c9c39f5c2b12586a760

QuotePremier Steven Miles has revealed the Brisbane Arena is the project he wants to "get cracking on" now a location has been secured. ...  

 ... "The arena is the one that we need to get cracking on. Now that we have a site there will need to be some work done to identify what changes need to be done to the plan.

"As well as how we can connect the new site to Roma St station. Once that work is done I know the Australian government is eager for us to get those tenders out as quickly as we can."

"Obviously there's more work now to be done on QSAC and how we can make that the Olympic athletics stadium, as well as to determine what upgrades are necessary at Suncorp Stadium to make it the venue for the opening ceremony, but clearly they are much smaller projects so there is less time pressure associated with them. ...

Quote from: ozbob on March 29, 2024, 02:02:23 AMAnd the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games!

Isn't that 01 in the pic? Don't think it will be working the Olympics, although if there's a severe rollingstock shortage, who knows? Maybe they'll call Bety back into service, too!

^ EMU01 will be coming out of retirement for the Games, no doubt at all 

Couriermail --> Push for Olympic truce as shovels stay away from QSAC $

QuoteThe controversial QSAC site is unlikely to see any construction work before November, as it threatens to hurt the Queensland election campaigns of the major parties. Here's what it means for the planning of the 2032 Olympics.

Construction on the controversial Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre is unlikely to start before the state election as Premier Steven Miles and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli push for an end to political bickering over the 2032 Olympic Games.

Development of a business case followed by detailed planning work has prompted the state government to acknowledge shovels are unlikely to be in the ground at the QSAC Nathan site before October 26.

The revelation comes as both sides of politics call for a truce over the 2032 Olympic Games, with both Labor and the LNP seeking desperately to minimise the Games as an election issue that could lose them votes. ...

Couriermail --> Political truce offers hope for a rethink on QSAC, provided eventual Premier puts Qld first $

QuoteThe Premier and Opposition leader are still launching political attacks over the Games while toying with offering an Olympic olive branch, writes Hayden Johnson, but who will consider what's best for Queensland and put their weapon down first?

Steven Miles and David Crisafulli are dipping their toes in the bipartisanship puddle while holding a political knife behind their backs ready to attack.

Every single decision these two men make in the next 210 days will be done with one eye on the ballot box.

This skewed decision-making has already put at risk one of the most significant choices a Queensland premier has arguably ever had to make – how to best use the Olympic Games to transform Queensland. ...

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1773796584792400258?s=20

Gold Coast Bulletin --> Gold Coast's Olympics 2032 bid: Why pitch to host athletics at Carrara was rejected $

QuoteThe Gold Coast's Carrara Stadium was ruled out as the athletics venue for the 2032 Olympics because competitors would have to travel too far to get there, the Premier says.

In a lengthy submission to former Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk's Games venues review, council suggested using existing Gold Coast venues including Carrara could save about $5bn on new infrastructure.

The submission was rejected, with the review recommending a new $3.4 billion stadium be built at Brisbane's Victoria Park.

The ageing QSAC stadium in Mt Gravatt was ultimately chosen by the state government as the venue for athletics, with $1.6 billion to be spent on its upgrade. ...

Brisbanetimes --> First $500 million of Olympic venue spending to go to tender within weeks $

QuoteThe first tender requests for Olympic venues will go out soon, Infrastructure Minister Grace Grace said on Friday as she continued the Miles government's defence of its controversial decision to rebuild the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre as the Games' main track and field stadium.

Speaking at Newstead on Good Friday, Grace said about $500 million worth of tenders would go out next week for three Sunshine Coast venues and improvements at the Sleeman Sports Complex at Chandler, built for the 1982 Commonwealth Games.

But, later in the day, the Premier's office clarified that Grace misspoke at the media conference and the tenders would go out within a month. ...

https://x.com/9NewsQueensland/status/1773820833892356458?s=20

 

https://x.com/7NewsBrisbane/status/1773989957117620348?s=20

https://x.com/9NewsQueensland/status/1773985804240449938?s=20

Mayor Tom Tate GCCC is still at it.  Page 25 of the Sunday Mail 31st March 2024 ... 

Sent to all outlets:

Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) trains to provide a heritage rail experience for the 2032 Brisbane Games

1st April 2024

It has been announced that EMU 01 and 12 other EMU trains will be operating heritage rail experiences for the Brisbane 2032 Games public transport services.

A number of EMU trains are undergoing overhauls at Mayne.

These EMUs were built at Maryborough by Walkers, between 1979 and 1986 (1).  A total of 88 three car EMU trains were built.

EMUs were used in conjunction with diesel locomotive hauled passenger services for the 1982 Commonwealth Games.  Banoon and Sunnybank railway stations were key interchanges for shuttle buses to access to the QEII Stadium (now QSAC) (2).

Robert Dow spokesperson for RAIL Back On Track, said " It is truly a testament to the quality of Queensland manufactured trains that the EMUs will be transporting passengers during the 2032 Brisbane Games, fifty years after the 1982 Commonwealth Games. I expect it does fill Queenslanders with great pride ".

"Games attendees and rail enthusiasts from around the world will no doubt enjoy the EMU rail heritage experience!"

References:

1. Electric multiple unit (Queensland Rail)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_multiple_unit_(Queensland_Rail)

2. Queensland Parliament Hansard https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/events/han/1982/1982_10_12.pdf
page 1208

3. Queensland Rail Video of EMU 01
https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?msg=282238

4. Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games
https://www.qld.gov.au/about/brisbane2032

Photographs:

EMU 01 at Ipswich August 2019 R. Dow



image: https://backontrack.org/docs/olympics2032/EMU01.jpg



image:  https://backontrack.org/docs/olympics2032/EMU01b.jpg

EMU 01 at Corinda November 2009 R Dow



image: https://backontrack.org/images/wires09/e5.jpg

Robert Dow
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