RAIL - Back On Track Forum

Sent to all outlets:

The Centenary Highway Tunnel - An Alternative Vision for the West

9th September 2024

Transport Minister Bart Mellish MP has announced the intention of the Government to investigate a toll tunnel to bypass the traffic jams of the current Centenary Highway.

Well, here's a possible alternative vision for the West, safe, quick, frequent, underground driverless rail, connecting multiple transport modes and multiple destinations to rail for the first time ever.

It could be a game changer for the future of Brisbane.






SEQ is stuck in a loop of having to build second duplicate motorways, first it was the second gateway, next it was the "2nd M1" (Coomera Connector) on the Gold Coast. A 2nd Bruce Highway alternative is also on the cards, and now we are looking at a 2nd Centenary Highway. All these projects have forced countless promised Public Transport projects onto the back burner.

Who in cabinet is pushing this toll tunnel strategy as our transport policy?

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

Reference: https://www.facebook.com/RAILBackOnTrack/posts/931203779046478

Quote from: ozbob on September 09, 2024, 00:22:20 AMSent to all outlets:

More congestion inducing failure looming for SEQ

9th September 2024

Good Morning,

The latest congestion inducing plan, released with the usual 'congestion busting' beat ups yesterday
" Miles Doing What Matters: Future vision for Centenary Motorway " https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/101292

will just further entrench SEQ in even more terminal transport failure.

There is a four track railway between Darra and Brisbane CBD, no need for more expensive road toll tunnels, just utilise our existing transport assets properly.

Too many rushed outer suburban developments without proper transport planning for bus and rail.  Implementing high frequency feeder bus services, with proper priority is a much better sustainable option for western Brisbane. Rail Springfield Central to Ripley North needs to be prioritised.

*

QuoteMr Mellish said he expected the tunnel feasibility study to take a year and if the option stacks up, the government - should it be re-elected for a fourth term after the October state election - would back it financially.

Whether or not the road should be a toll road will be part of the $10m planning exercise.

*https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/qld-politics/qld-government-considers-new-tunnel-to-tackle-brisbane-traffic/news-story/38a5d55cff48cc606c1fb241481be42e

We suspect this latest push for more transport failure is just a cynical attempt at more vote buying.

Let's start using what we have properly.  The money bag is out of coins!

Depressing is it not?

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

I contacted my local member separately about this one. Key suggestions were:

• BRT or equivalent for the Centenary suburbs (which are major users of the Western Freeway)
• Build the Springfield to Ipswich line via Ripley and Yamanto to bring those growing areas into the PT network
• Improved frequency, speed and reliability of the existing PT services

I also mentioned the Coomera Connector, Park Ridge Connector and Gympie Road Bypass Tunnel as examples of high cost motorway proliferation being planned or built in lieu of public transport.

^ thanks Andrewr 

https://x.com/railbotforum/status/1832893862534340874

It's always tempting to default to heavy infrastructure as an immediate solution. We need to rethink doing that because the new reality is that Priority A corridors (road or rail) have become prohibitively expensive.

The Gympie Road tunnel has a BCR of just 0.2, which indicates it is not commercially interesting without public co-investment.

There is a possibility this bypass tunnel might be the same.

Something like the metro concept at that length might be in the ballpark of $20 billion at Sydney Metro unit costs ($1 billion/km).

The first order of business should be to boost train service frequency on the Ipswich and Springfield lines to 15-min all day Perth standards.

Try and get an all day express pattern going on Ipswich line and introduce frequent weekend services.

And an interchange at Indooroopilly with consideration for moving the train station slightly to achieve DDA etc.

Its frustating with Indro that they already had one bite of making it DDA in 2008 and we got the worlds ugliest station.

I saw a proposal to move the station to straight track near Belgrave Rd/ Allwood St, and build an extension leg of the shopping center that linked to it:

Personally i would still do that. Purchase the McDonalds and turn it into a bus interchange. McDonalds could then be integrated into the station like at South Bank.

Is also tempting to try to "match" the spend of a road project, but a better way could be to undercut it on factors such as cost, lead delivery time and capacity.

That opens up points of difference and a competitive edge for PT options.

A BUZ to centenary, and rail timetable boosts can be done in one term (e.g. now) and at a fraction of the cost.

e.g. Gympie Road tunnel, construct one tunnel not two, use buses in it to get 4x capacity in peak for potentially 1/2 the build cost.

It is common to focus on very long term, which is needed, but the medium and short terms all need to be addressed as well for completeness.

What can be done now?

The "road industrial complex" is incredibly powerful in Australia. Transurban and others require new projects to keep their business going.

They donate large sums to the major parties and give the major parties some nice ribbons to cut. The projects will be sold as toll funded but as soon as the toll operator lacks a new project the road will be at financial risk and they will need to lobby for a new motorway.

We can talk about QLD being terrible at this but motorway  building is constant in Australia. Sydney has almost finished their Westconnex project for $45 billion. North east link in Melbourne for $26 billion. Torrens to Darlington in Adelaide for $15 billion. We waste far too much money on it and road spending far eclipses PT.

I wish we could stop it and we should criticise it for being awful because it is awful.

However most of the time we should stay focused on ensuring PT projects and improvements are always happening and the network is always becoming larger and more effective.

Quote from: #Metro on September 09, 2024, 10:14:49 AMIt's always tempting to default to heavy infrastructure as an immediate solution. We need to rethink doing that because the new reality is that Priority A corridors (road or rail) have become prohibitively expensive.

The Gympie Road tunnel has a BCR of just 0.2, which indicates it is not commercially interesting without public co-investment.

There is a possibility this bypass tunnel might be the same.

Something like the metro concept at that length might be in the ballpark of $20 billion at Sydney Metro unit costs ($1 billion/km).

The first order of business should be to boost train service frequency on the Ipswich and Springfield lines to 15-min all day Perth standards.

Try and get an all day express pattern going on Ipswich line and introduce frequent weekend services.

And an interchange at Indooroopilly with consideration for moving the train station slightly to achieve DDA etc.

But these tunnels will get built with 0.2 BCR because it will "bust-congestion and get people home quicker and safer" Which is utter bullsh%t.  These tunnels should have a negative BCR as they make the problem worse. a project can only have a + BCR if it fixes the problem and improves the economy of which the tunnels do neither.  The BCR is the problem because its all made up fake accounting.

Time saved on a journey is time saved, regardless of mode.

Counterintuitive observation, most journeys (say 80%) are taken in the off peak. I suspect this is where much of the time saving is coming from, because that is the largest time gap between PT and roads is.

This is why service frequency needs to be boosted on both Ipswich and Springfield lines in the off-peak.

If you want to get high patronage, off-peak is where it is at. The river also creates a constricted point where PT can be given an advantage with its own lane in peak.

Quote from: #Metro on September 09, 2024, 17:01:58 PMTime saved on a journey is time saved, regardless of mode.

Counterintuitive observation, most journeys (say 80%) are taken in the off peak. I suspect this is where much of the time saving is coming from, because that is the largest time gap between PT and roads is.

This is why service frequency needs to be boosted on both Ipswich and Springfield lines in the off-peak.

If you want to get high patronage, off-peak is where it is at. The river also creates a constricted point where PT can be given an advantage with its own lane in peak.

What time saved? It congests again and actually gets worse? If we want service frequency to be boosted on both Ipswich and Springfield lines in the off-peak we need to stop billions being wasted on projects that make the transport problems worse and steal the funding to ...checks notes....boost service frequency on both Ipswich and Springfield lines in the off-peak

Couriermail --> RACQ says Darra to Toowong tunnel needs to connect to Brisbane northside $

QuoteThe RACQ says a State Government proposal to build a tunnel to fix traffic woes on the choked Centenary Mwy in Brisbane's southwest will not solve the problem unless it connects to the northside, bypassing the city.

The motoring group said unless that happened bottlenecks would simply be shifted further north to the Inner City Bypass. ...

 

Quote from: ozbob on September 10, 2024, 01:08:57 AMCouriermail --> RACQ says Darra to Toowong tunnel needs to connect to Brisbane northside $

QuoteThe RACQ says a State Government proposal to build a tunnel to fix traffic woes on the choked Centenary Mwy in Brisbane's southwest will not solve the problem unless it connects to the northside, bypassing the city.

The motoring group said unless that happened bottlenecks would simply be shifted further north to the Inner City Bypass. ...

 

Tell me your Car Lobbyists organisation is out of touch without saying our Car Lobbyists organisation.

This is why I don't trust RACQ to campaign for public transport. It is only after all the funds are spent on tunnels and freeways will they then entertain public transport projects and most certainly not if traffic lanes are removed.

QuoteThe latest move to bypass the Centenary Mwy will be investigated by the same QIC architects looking into the $7b Gympie Rd tunnel.

Whether or not the road should be a toll road would be part of the $10m planning exercise.

Gympie Rd tunnel is costed at $14 billion. not $7 billion, do better research BrisbaneTimes!

Another $14 billion project with zero returns. 

We are up to $28 billion now?   

Unless you are going to fund this yourselves... just give up RACQ.

Quote"However, any study needs to look at what's happening at the northern end of the route because there's no point feeding traffic into (the CBD) or the Inner City Bypass.

"This would effectively mean spending billions of taxpayer dollars to shift the problem from one location to another and no one wants that outcome.

That's exactly what you are doing with this proposal.

You want to bypass and duplicate the Centenary Motorway with a tollway tunnel... Are you nuts!

Does the Legacy Way not work as intended? Does it not connect to the Airport Link tunnel? Does it not spit you out to Gympie Road and the Gateway Motorway?

Therefore the Airport Link created this mess. Perhaps if it wasn't for it having all of those damn exits at Kedron and dumping people onto Gympie Road, then maybe that road wouldn't be as bad as it is now.

Quote"This study needs to look at an orbital solution.

"We need to have an alternative route around the city, not through the city.

"That's why the RACQ has been calling for a northwest bypass corridor that could possibly link up with the Gympie Rd Bypass once completed.

Isn't that the concept of motorways and their function? I'd say they are functioning as intended.

The Centenary Highway - Logan Motorway -  Gateway Motorway are the orbital solution. A full circle isn't possible due to the geography of Brisbane's westside being mountainous.

Quote"We also need to look at these solutions as a network and a system of infrastructure that includes better public transport solutions for the western suburbs."

A tollway tunnel built for cars doesn't address public transport.

Go rail or go home. 

Quote"Brisbane's congestion problem is due to the fact 75-80 per cent of all trips people take are by car.

Yes, there's nothing like another good ole' tolled motorway to keep people trapped in their cars.

Quote"If you ask people stuck in traffic on the Centenary Mwy if they support a tunnel they will say yes,'' he said.

"But when they realise they might have to pay $5 or $6 a day they start to think about other options (such as working from home).''

Because people actually say: "Yes I want to spend 4 litres worth of petrol money to use a tunnel, just to get stuck at traffic at the other end."

It will costs motorist much more that that. If you factor construction cost, and revenue lost from having a tollway operators monopoly, you will end up with is Sydney.
 

Quote from: GonzoFonzie on September 10, 2024, 13:50:07 PMBecause people actually say: "Yes I want to spend 4 litres worth of petrol money to use a tunnel, just to get stuck at traffic at the other end."
It will costs motorist much more that that. If you factor construction cost, and revenue lost from having a tollway operators monopoly, you will end up with is Sydney.

I have the same dilemma going to work. Our household have two cars due to two working adults. The public transport as it is, is in such a way that I'm forced to. It would take me an hour to drop off my kid at daycare down the road vs 24 minute return journey driving.

Nevermind the fuel and the toll price. If I only had one car, I'd be saving on registration, insurance, servicing, other maintenance such as tyres, depreciation, etc. as well. RACQ must love my extra car!

How will all of these mega projects be built plus the olympics at the same time?

It is going to put massive pressure on the construction industry and push costs right up across the board in SEQ IMO.

For a fraction of the $28b price tag and much less wait time, we can get BUZ, more frequent trains etc right now!!

Stop building mega freeways and tunnels and there is billions available

https://x.com/brenttoderian/status/892845054380969985?s=46&t=EDszjTErsxTIqAna7yuP-w

Brisbanetimes --> Public transport advocates rail against road tunnel proposal $

QuoteThe state government has been urged to abandon a Centenary Motorway tunnel bypass proposal in favour of old plans for a high-frequency rail line under Brisbane's western suburbs through to the airport.

Public transport advocate Robert Dow, from Rail Back on Track, said the proposed Centenary tunnel – along with other road projects such as the "second M1" Coomera Connector – came at the expense of public transport projects.

Central among those was the seemingly abandoned Brisbane Subway, which would have linked western suburbs to the airport, via West End, the CBD, Newstead, Bulimba and Hamilton.

The subway formed part of the Bligh government's Connecting SEQ 2031 plan in 2011, but has not featured in public-facing communications since.

Dow, who described the subway as a "game changer", said a road tunnel would not have the bang-for-buck a heavy rail metro tunnel would deliver westside residents.

"If you spend $20 billion on metro systems, you'll have a gold asset – it's going to last forever and it'd be able to move 50 times the people and that's what you're going to need in Brisbane," he said.

Rail Back on Track's vision for the Brisbane Subway would extend as far west as Moggill and Darra.



...

https://x.com/ozbob13/status/1833528902624714857

4BC Breakfast RBoT has been invited on for an interview this morning at ~ 7:10am. Gazza will be our representative for this. 🙏

Quote from: ozbob on September 11, 2024, 01:32:42 AMhttps://x.com/ozbob13/status/1833528902624714857

Problem I have looking at this article from an outside perspective thst you guys may have missed:
Public transport advocates rail against road tunnel proposal

Reads: People who don't like cars are against road tunnel

Words matter. I think it's important to point out that this group advocates for effective or efficient transport instead. Not that this group is biased to only public transport.

It's like reading a bicycle user group wants a cycleway.

The Paris model appears again, when we probably should be using the Perth model instead.

Metros are $1 billion/km based on the Sydney experience. NSW sold their electricity network to fund it.

The risk with this sort of project is that it becomes so expensive that you can't extend it out into the suburbs where it is needed in any reasonable time.

Current Qld Gov planned projects are also not running on time or cost either. The next stage of GC LRT and Sunshine Coast line are examples. Generally, Queensland Government projects are 1.8x the advertised cost.

Why would this time around be any different?

For these reasons, we should look at a cluster of midi projects rather than one big mega project.

Leverage existing rail assets, new BUZ, bus priority, and increasing off-peak and weekend frequency, and potentially a bridge at Moggill will be faster and cheaper to realise than either this road tunnel or a metro IMO.

Hey SilverChased, we don't have editorial control.  Never had and never will.

It is hard work doing media.

Metro it's not about the best bang for the buck. It's about stopping these tunnels in the first place.

I am not anti-car but I am pro-people.

https://x.com/liorsteinberg/status/1686028729158443008?s=46&t=EDszjTErsxTIqAna7yuP-w

Quote from: ozbob on September 11, 2024, 07:07:25 AMHey SilverChased, we don't have editorial control.  Never had and never will.

It is hard work doing media.

I understand that. It's just disappointing that people may skip over the genuine complaints voiced there because of the headline.

Quote from: SilverChased on September 11, 2024, 07:16:02 AM

Quote from: ozbob on September 11, 2024, 07:07:25 AMHey SilverChased, we don't have editorial control.  Never had and never will.

It is hard work doing media.

I understand that. It's just disappointing that people may skip over the genuine complaints voiced there because of the headline.

Most people I talk to wish we had a Sydney Metro

Quote from: JonnoI am not anti-car but I am pro-people.

On the contrary...

Bring up any recent post of yours Jonno and it is very clear that the narrative is vehicle-specific and mode specific.

Little consideration is given to situational, context or site specific factors, and this can be seen in topics such as where Park & Ride > TOD, bus lanes and Perth PT.

A pro-people position looks at numbers of people and time saved, not what type of vehicle they are in (e.g. a BCC metro BRT bus).

Time and again i'm seeing high cost, long lead time heavy infrastructure mega projects proposed trying to outshine/outspend the competing road project when our focus could be undercutting the road project on cost, time to delivery, and better utility/value.

Perth has excellent PT because they have the basics - good governance, strong control over project selection, and rail is cheap to extend for them (~ 100 million/km vs $1 billion/km).

This is partly because they put rail in the freeway median (a contentious point) have longer station spacing, and because they have a strong focus on service frequency.

They have 15 min trains to 70+ stations on a Sunday, much better than what Brisbane offers on a *weekday*, and they do it with no busways and no metro.

What things can be done now?

Quote from: #Metro on September 11, 2024, 06:50:35 AMThe Paris model appears again, when we probably should be using the Perth model instead.

Metros are $1 billion/km based on the Sydney experience. NSW sold their electricity network to fund it.

The risk with this sort of project is that it becomes so expensive that you can't extend it out into the suburbs where it is needed in any reasonable time.

Current Qld Gov planned projects are also not running on time or cost either. The next stage of GC LRT and Sunshine Coast line are examples. Generally, Queensland Government projects are 1.8x the advertised cost.

Why would this time around be any different?

For these reasons, we should look at a cluster of midi projects rather than one big mega project.

Leverage existing rail assets, new BUZ, bus priority, and increasing off-peak and weekend frequency, and potentially a bridge at Moggill will be faster and cheaper to realise than either this road tunnel or a metro IMO.

I see where you are coming from but "carefully thought through suite of projects in lieu of rail" doesn't get you in the papers, or radio interviews (as we got this morning)

The hook is that building a road tunnel has an opportunity cost.
And a metro line is currently in the public consciousness due to Sydney so its a clear way to cut through and say "this is what we miss out on"

Now, it may well be that a metro is too expensive, and the government says "okay okay okay, we will do x y z instead and we'll cancel the tunnel, will you leave us alone!"


Great! At least we get something.
Because in 3 terms Labor have delivered zero HF routes in Brisbane and 3km of buslanes, so yeah if we could get a bit more cheap effective stuff happening, great.

But that shouldn't take grovelling.


To an extent this is what Sydney did. They did The Metrobus branded HF network and T-Way busways (Including to NW) during the Carr/Rees/Keneally era, and yeah good to get at least some improvement but all it did was highlight that a metro was still what was ultimately needed.

#Metro You keep harping on about how Perth is the be all and end all, but it just isn't.
Perth public transport is decent for what it is, but it is PT trying to be crammed in to a car-centric city that doesn't want to be any less car-centric.
It's not purely about just the transport side of things. The city/town/urban planning needs to be done in conjunction with transport, and for the most part that isn't happening apart from 'Urban sprawl + roads = yes. We might throw some PT at it later once we have too many congestion complaints'.
It's a whole mindset change that needs to happen.

As I said in the other thread - Good urban planning + good public and active transport = no need for ridiculously huge P&Rs. If we have to build an 800 space P&R at a station, we have failed.
Nobody is saying P&R should never be built (which is what you keep implying is being said). P&R can be a useful part of the transport plan, but it shouldn't be the only part of the transport plan for getting people to stations, which for the most part, it currently is.
Good feeder services running first to last train, meeting most/all trains (15min frequencies, not really feasible to meet every train at Northgate in peak, for example), should negate the need for major P&R development. There will always be a need for some P&R, but it should be minimal.

You know those sayings:

- The ends don't necessarily justify the means.

- Two wrongs don't make a right.

- No cash equals no project (especially at $1 billion/km x 20 km)

That is the reality. I agree the mindset needs to change - but in the direction of infrastructure light options.

Quote from: #MetroTime and again i'm seeing high cost, long lead time heavy infrastructure mega projects proposed trying to outshine/outspend the competing road project when our focus could be undercutting the road project on cost, time to delivery, and better utility/value.

^ The government is struggling to deliver its existing plans from 2011, let alone big new ones and the Olympics.

Correct, so if the politicians aren't delivering what is needed, or blowing out costs, you change the politicians.

Happened in Sydney, there was a clear promise to have TBMs in the ground before the next election on the NW Metro, the vision continued to expand

To an extent, Ted Baillieu was swept to power on the promise of fixing Vic PT since Bracks/Brumby utterly failed and only changed course very late, but they failed to deliver and lasted one term.
Young Andrews came back in, actually DID carry through an ambitous agenda, and was rewarded with re-election despite an absolutely feral media environment.

I would agree with JimmyP. Perth have done a good job at getting PT to work in a low density environment, and expanding PT in line with the urban fringe (Despite the delays, even Ellenbrook is getting rail before say Maroochydore!) But they aren't the be all and end all.

Perth beats SEQ in terms of trips per capita, but they don't beat Sydney or Melbourne in terms of trips per capita.

So in the same way you are advocating for a Perth model because its more successful than SEQ, its equally valid to advocate for a Sydney or Melbourne model, because both those places are more successful than Perth.

Quote from: GazzaCorrect, so if the politicians aren't delivering what is needed, or blowing out costs, you change the politicians.

This view doesn't consider that a change would be from Red Team to Blue Team, who are even less inclined to spend big, or that sale of the NSW electricity network was necessary to raise the enormous funds needed (a measure ruled out in Qld) and the Suburban Rail Loop in Melbourne is highly unlikely to complete due to escalating costs.

If the government has not made good on its past promises, what precisely is different now? The expense is prohibitive.

Where did I say it has to be Labor to LNP?

It could well be other candidates holding the balance of power, forcing other parties to come to the table.

Quote from: GazzaIt could well be other candidates holding the balance of power, forcing other parties to come to the table.

Well, who precisely? Katter?

It really just demonstrates how tenuous and difficult it is to go down that path. Plus the high cost means you'll have to align with Federal Funding as well (50:50 now not 80:20 as before).

Infra minister Katherine King had to remove a whole heap of projects from the list...

Even Green Team have changed their policies to realise more BUZ routes etc.

We need to move away from high profile, big ticket cost, long wait infrastructure that cannot now credibly be delivered.

QuoteEven Green Team have changed their policies to realise more BUZ routes etc and move away from high profile, big ticket cost, long wait infrastructure that cannot credibly be delivered

They can be credibly delivered.
Perth built 73km of rail in the past 7 years.
Sydney built Metro.

Other candidates, be they independents, greens, whoever, can oppose the road tunnel. Getting the tunnel stopped means more money for other improvements.

I actually agree, some cheap bus improvements is a better use of funds than a road tunnel.

https://www.4bc.com.au/podcast/full-show-4bc-breakfast-with-sofie-gary-mark-wednesday-september-11th/

Start listening from 35 minutes. Note that the podcast version has a random ad that cuts in, but listen through to get my closing comments.
Paitience metro, i got some good comments in the radio interview that align with everything you say.

A couple of key ones I said were

"If you think about the tunnel proposal for more than 5 minutes, you can see the inner city road network cannot take the amount of cars coming off the freeway as it is, so clearly doubling that with a tunnel wont work"

When asked if we could do both our idea and a road tunnel

"we keep getting told there are bottlenecks in the infrastructure industry, not enough materials, not enough workers, so we probably cant be squandering resources on a road tunnel"
(Probably should have said about money, but i was on the fly)

"If your traffic volumes are so bad you need a tunnel, it probably means your PT options aren't good enough, be it too slow, not frequent enough, or just not penetrating enough" (Black holes)
Yes you need some freeways for freight and commercial, but you don't need two freeways on top of each other"

Quote from: ozbob on September 11, 2024, 05:49:29 AM4BC Breakfast RBoT has been invited on for an interview this morning at ~ 7:10am. Gazza will be our representative for this. 🙏

Thanks Gazza for stepping up the plate and doing the interview.  Well done!

Interview 4BC Breakfast 11th September 2024 with hosts Sofie, Gary and Mark and Gazza RBoT

--> https:///backontrack.org/docs/4bc/4bc_gs_11sep24.mp3 MP3 2.6MB

Thanks Gazza, some good points put well on air today.

This forum has big picture / vision oriented members and also detail / practicality oriented members.

A good proposal passes though both.

We do need to work together so that we both have a captivating vision but also one practical enough to deliver on.

Sometimes i feel you have to fight fire with fire.

Road tunnels are low bcr, and cheaper traffic improvements dont get votes/headlines, even though numerous studies have said these are a better option than mega projects.

But since that is what the government is talking big tunnel megaprojects, about i feel as though our hand is forced sometimes just to get a voice in the conversation and to make the case about PT versus roads more generally.

@silverchased they changed the headline again:

Drop Centenary Mwy tunnel and bring back Brisbane Subway, govt told

This sounds better imo.

Agree we need both short term, low cost transport capacity ad accessibility solutions (typically bus based) but also a longer term vision to support a region of over 6 million people by 2046. The vision needs to be clear ie. what are we trying to solve, what opportunities are we trying to leverage off. Form needs to follow function. So here's a few ideas as to how to articulate what function we're trying to achieve:
1. A more attractive public transport network that is more competitive (read faster) than car (even with transfers), encouraging mode shift
2. Create new PT capacity to serve existing underserved and potentially new growth areas, connecting major trip generators to catchments and the wider network, and
3. Unclogging the legacy rail network, reducing complexity of operations caused by multiple lines converging on the inner city, allowing more train paths for longer urban and inter urban services where massive growth is forecast (esp Moreton Bay)

This then leads to form.. what could this look like? Overall the current Skygate to Darra/ Moggill rail line concept is excellent. My only thoughts would be to consider...(from south to north)
1. dropping the Moggill spur (relatively little existing or potential future demand here - let bus take this one, with a river bridge connection to Mt Ommaney/ Darra)
2. reviewing alignment through Kenmore and where the majority of growth could go (as increased density will need to support a rapid transit station here... so potentially Kenmore east rather than Kenmore village?)
3. consider feasibility of St Lucia suburban station (due to flooding) and also relatively close proximity to I'pilly
4. reviewing alignment and number of stations through City-Newstead section. I have proposed an alignment via Ann St to support extensive growth in this corridor, provide interchange with and augmenting capacity at the existing FV station and provide a straighter alignment with fewer stations. It does not serve KP or NF admittedly but active and bus transit options here might better suit?
5. consolidating Doomben and Hamilton North shore stations through a short ext of Doomben line (at grade/ elevated) to interchange with an underground Hamilton NS station
6. After Skygate continuing north approx 3km to connect to Northgate providing a really useful connection for passenger from north coast rail corridor to Trade Coast north precinct. Connecting to Northgate (in Stage 1) also opens up several opportunities for a depot in the Northgate/ Bindha area
7. Allowing the opportunity for a future extension north to Shorncliffe via a rail to metro conversion of the existing line, taking a whole line out of the network, freeing up train paths for other rail growth corridors (esp Redcliffe/ Caboolture)

Also it's key to think about staging and what we need when. Stage 1 must include a depot and maintenance facility, hence Northgate to South Brisbane is the minimum initial operable segment, I beleive .

This is getting some good traction.  Just completed an interview with 7 News Brisbane.