RAIL - Back On Track Forum

Queensland Parliament Hansard -Adjournment

https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/events/han/2024/2024_05_23_DAILY.pdf

Taringa Railway Station, Accessibility Upgrades

Mr BERKMAN (Maiwar—Grn) (6.50 pm): Much has changed since the 1950s: we have had 16
different prime ministers—17 if you want to include Kevin Rudd's second go at it; the contraceptive pill
was approved; Medicare was introduced; Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon; and
First Nations people won the right to vote. However, one thing has almost stayed exactly the same. I
am sure everyone here knows just what I am talking about. Any guesses?

A government member: The LNP!

Mr BERKMAN: I am looking at you, transport minister. Drum roll—Taringa station in my
electorate! It was originally built in 1875. When the lines were quadruplicated in the late 1950s it was
rebuilt with two platforms, an overpass and a whole bunch of stairs. So it is today, still completely
inaccessible except by stairs. Let us put this into perspective. When Taringa station was last upgraded
TV was in black and white, phones had rotary dials, Australians bought their groceries with the pound
and Robert Menzies was prime minister. Those stairs have been shutting people out of the station for
far longer than we have had computers or the internet. Yes, they do shut people out. Anyone who uses
a wheelchair, a pram, a bike or has any mobility issue just cannot use Taringa station, which is pretty
ludicrous given that it is right next to a private hospital, a supermarket, a church, allied health services and some really nice parkland.

The government says they use patronage numbers to prioritise upgrades, so I will remind them
one more time—the transport minister in particular—that around 50,000 people use Taringa station
each month, but the irony is that this figure excludes everyone who cannot use it because it is
inaccessible. Taringa is an important and growing community hub and it deserves an accessible train
station.

There is something else that has happened since Taringa station was last upgraded: the federal
Anti-Discrimination Act was amended to include disability standards for public transport. Taringa station
is about as far from meeting those standards as you could possibly get. More than 2,000 people signed
my petition asking the transport minister to commit funding for an accessibility upgrade at Taringa
station. With just a short few weeks left until the budget is delivered, I really hope I will be able to give them some good news at budget time.

I do not want to hear anyone tell them, like the former transport minister did, that they cannot
access Taringa station but if they want to they should get a taxi to Indooroopilly and catch the train
there instead. It is really just not good enough. We have waited long enough. Public transport
accessibility is an essential investment, not a nice-to-have. Take the Taringa station out of the too-hard
basket and include it for funding upgrades in next month's budget.

^

Facebook ...

^^I doubt an upgrade or a station relocation is imminent here. It's more of an election pledge from the Greens MP Michael Berkman.

Is this station on the election agenda?

I would rather see a residential TOD included in any station relocation or revamp.

I am hoping the next round of DDA rail station upgrades will include Taringa.

Now that Auchenflower has been done, they might have the courage to tackle this one. 

Queensland Rail are supportive, the final decision rests with TMR. 

Taringa had a minor upgrade in 2011, and we pointed out then that a full upgrade was required.

Quote from: ozbob on May 29, 2011, 09:24:44 AMFrom the Westside News click here!

Disabled left out of rail upgrade

QuoteDisabled left out of rail upgrade

    Transport & Traffic

26 May 11 @ 06:36am by Vanessa Croll

A TRANSPORT lobby group says not enough is being done to improve disabled access to Taringa railway station despite the State Government's commitment to a $1.3 million upgrade.

Spokesman for commuter advocacy group Rail Back on Track, Robert Dow, welcomed the upgrade announcement earlier this month but said a major upgrade was needed.

"The minor upgrade is useful and all a good thing but the basic issue is that the station can't be accessed by disabled people," he said.

"Taringa has on the census one of the highest public transport usage rates outside the CBD in southeast Queensland," Mr Dow said.

Indooroopilly MP Scott Emerson said he had spent two years pushing the State Government to commit to the minor upgrade.

"It is still unacceptable that (this) upgrade (doesn't) include a lift to improve access for those with a disability or others including parents with prams," he said.

There was a half-hearted attempt to incorporate a new station in a commercial development. That went no-where, so since then there has been a lot of new construction adjacent to the station, including the hospital and substantial residential complexes on both sides of the line.

The fact that Taringa is still not accessible is not satisfactory.

For interest the history of the Taringa, possible TOD? that fell over. Year was 2008 onwards.

> https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=1806.0

Sent to all outlets:

RAIL Back On Track supports calls to upgrade Taringa station

26th May 2024

RAIL Back On Track supports Michael Berkman, Greens MP for Maiwar, call to fund an upgrade of Taringa station in the upcoming state budget (1).

Currently Taringa is the busiest station in the QR Citytrain network without lift access! It receives 325k passengers per year (325k/y) (2).

In fact, the level of usage at Taringa is on par or exceeds the usage other recently upgraded stations on the Ipswich line such as Auchenflower (326k/y) East Ipswich (72k/y) and Bundamba (50k/y).

The suburb is surrounded by medium and high density residential, a private hospital and a number of different allied health practices, and a growing retail strip. This is the exact sort of location that needs to be prioritised for upgrades.

Previous petitions for upgrades have attracted thousands of signatures.

Currently access to the station concourse is via steep roads and steps, with narrow stairs to the platforms. Subway access to the platforms is also via stairs. There are no lifts, the platforms are curved, narrow as 4m wide in parts, and are not level with the carriage floors. The station building is one of the most dated in the system.

A potential solution could involve moving the station 200m further east, closer to or over Beatrice Street, where there is more space to build a modern accessible station. Lift access from Beatrice Street would allow for accessible access to the platforms.

The Government needs to pick up the pace of station upgrades. RAIL Back On Track has been highlighting the problems with Taringa station since 2009!

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track https://backontrack.org

References:

1. Queensland Parliament Hansard -Adjournment
https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/events/han/2024/2024_05_23_DAILY.pdf

2. List of stations on the Ipswich line without lift access, ranked by patronage level.

Taringa 325k/y
Sherwood 176k/y
Booval 123k/y (Step free access is available via a ramp)
Chelmer 105k/y
Wacol 107k/y (Step free access is available via level crossing)
Gailes 38k/y
Riverview 28k/y
Ebbw Vale 28k/y

QR Citytrain line patronage FY 12/13 to 22/23
https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?board=109.0

QR Your station
https://www.queenslandrail.com.au/forcustomers/stations-and-maps/stationfinder

Photographs: R Dow

Taringa: Access to platforms from concourse via narrow risky stairs.

https://backontrack.org/images/taringa/16jun22/t2s.jpg


Taringa: Looking in the DOWN direction (towards the City).  Plenty of corridor room.

https://backontrack.org/images/taringa/30jun22/t1.jpg

Taringa: Looking in the UP direction (towards Indooroopilly). Low level curved platforms.

https://backontrack.org/images/taringa/16jun22/t18s.jpg

Taringa: Aerial view showing possible locations for a new Taringa station.

https://backontrack.org/images/taringa/taringa_mapba.jpg

https://x.com/railbotforum/status/1794418370257043520