NEW Eastern Suburbs Railway for Brisbane

[#Metro]

Proposal
Construct a new passenger railway line between Buranda and Carindale (Stage 1, 6 km), Carindale to Capalaba (Stage 2, 9 km), and Capalaba to Victoria Point (future stages, 13 km). Terminate the currently proposed Eastern busway at Coorparoo. Construction would be a mix of tunneling or cut-and-cover (mainly under Old Cleveland Road) and elevated sections (after Carindale).


Click image directly to enlarge

Why Rail?
Commuter rail is the optimal mode for transporting passengers in this corridor for several reasons.
Running buses the distance from the Redlands into the Brisbane CBD is slow and inefficient. It makes far more sense to terminate buses at major hubs such as Capalaba and Carindale and have passengers connect with trains to the journey into the Brisbane CBD.

The case for rail as the preferred mode rather than bus and busways:

- Similar costs to busways when compared 'like-for-like' in an exclusive alignment
- Similar capacity to busways (realistic capacity of 12 000+ pphd on the line after branching from the existing Cleveland line)
- More suited to mid and longer length journeys than buses
- Replaces lost train service frequency between Buranda and Roma Street once CRR opens and Beenleigh/Gold Coast trains are diverted into CRR
- Shapes urban development more strongly than busways. This is important for the future development of the Gumdale area and Redlands. Busways have stimulated virtually no TOD development (with exception of student accomodation at Buranda and South Bank, which were stimulated by BCC waiving development fees/charges on).
- Significantly higher speeds than buses (130 - 160 km/hr) when station spacing is optimised
- A better mode of transport to feed buses into given the capacity of rail
- Avoids issues around running BCC subsidised 'metro' buses operating into non-BCC council areas or taking on large volumes of non-BCC passengers
- Avoids having large volumes of buses flowing into the Brisbane CBD where kerb space for buses is limited

Rail Stations (indicative)
Stage 1 Buranda to Carindale (~ $900 million)
Coorparoo (connects to Busway)
Camp Hill
Carina (further investigation required)
Carindale Shopping Centre

Stage 2 Carindale to Capalaba ($1.35 billion)
Gateway (Cross Street, Gumdale)
Brisbane Aquatic Centre (Sleeman Centre)
Capalaba Interchange

Stage 3 Capalaba to Victoria Point ($1.9 billion)
Alexandra Hills (Vienna Road)
Victoria Point

Funding Sources
Funding is favourable through multiple means and could include:
- Government borrowing, given the unprecedentedly low RBA cash rate of just 0.1% and high unemployment.
- Funding grants from the Australian Government
- Money generated from land value increases (particularly the case for Gumdale area). Value is captured through rezoning, land tax and stamp duties on development.
- Asset sales or long term leases over Queensland Government assets and corporations such as CS Energy, Stanwell Corporation, CleanCo Queensland, various ports, etc.

Costs given are approximate only.

Line length and time estimates:
New Line - 28 km
Existing Line to Central - 7  km (approx)
Total distance to Central - 35 km

Estimated Time (depends on station spacing etc)
Average speed 80 km/hr: 35 km x (60 min/80 km) = 27 minutes
Average speed 70 km/hr: 35 km x (60 min/70 km) = 30 minutes
Average speed 60 km/hr: 35 km x (60 min/60 km) = 35 minutes
Average speed 50 km/hr" 35 km x (60 min/50 km) = 42 minutes

The journey to Victoria point would take about 30 - 40 minutes, depending on the track design and station spacing. This is highly competitive compared against the car, which takes 35 minutes in uncongested traffic, and up to 1 hour in congested traffic.

The suggested service standard is a base frequency of a train every 15 minutes, with trains every 10 minutes during peak hours. Trains would stop all stations.

Your thoughts? 

[SteelPan]

And what are we going to do with the almost quarter of a million public servants in Qld then?  Who needs pointy-end infrastructure when you can have whole offices full of non-front line staff falling over one another!

Seriously - Great Idea, let's DO IT! Chances under the current mob in William St....snowball's chance in Hell in the middle of Summer! Have said so since the moment Anna Mk II was elected!   

[#Metro]

Thanks for the feedback.

Rail would work well when compared like for like versus busway.

Bus can only be cheaper in this corridor by sacrificing quality (e.g. Class B or C ROW rather than Class A) and is not suitable for extension beyond Sleeman centre.

If you want Class A busway, you will have to bring in the tunnel boring machines you would use for rail anyway.

[SteelPan]

I'm a TRAIN man, but the excellent writings of Jarrett Walker convinced me there IS real value in BRT's.....mainly because, a successful BRT usually leads to rail, except in Qld, where it's still the mid-1970's to govt and transport boffins.

Eastern Brisbane is crying out for the Heavy Rail line you have proposed, it has been for years.....given from this point it'd be at least TEN YEARS more before it became a reality - it's a crime we are the ones discussing this and not the Transport Minister....but then, look at the last handful of "Transport Ministers" we've had and a lot of the current sad position makes dark sense! 

It's snnoooooozzzzze time in Qld until some fresh political wind blows!   

[Stillwater]

Political wind in Queensland tends to be a fart.

[Cazza]

The more I think about it the more it does make sense. Given the large amount of greenfield development occurring down in the Vic Point/Redland Bay area, buses simply won't cut the mustard. Plus, the density of Coorparoo Central and the sheer current volume of patronage from OCR just goes to show how much demand there truly is from this corridor.

The Cleveland line is slow, and although duplication would do wonders in terms of a capacity sense, trip times will still stagnate around the 1 hour mark to Central. This is certainly no where near any competitive enough to the car. Without track amplifications and straightening (which has been mentioned to be somewhat unfeasible in other threads), we won't really see many express services added to the timetable. As well as this, travelling to Vic Point adds another 15 odd mins to the train journey, plus whatever shambolic wait times there are between these poor bus services. Catching the 280 towards Garden City is definitely more direct, but it has an extremely poor hourly frequencies and very short operating hours for a route that should be pretty close to a BUZ standard (in terms of the potential of this route being the key connection between Redland Bay/Victoria Point and so many onward destinations around and including Garden City).

The Redlands truely is a public transport black hole. Yes, it may be far away from everything. But this means that the cheaper land will draw developers and new home buyers alike. The large distances of nothing between some areas may seem like a deterrent. However, it means that a rail corridor will be so much easier to acquire with development to occur around it. The reality is, we won't see local governments put a firm foot on stopping these suburban developments. As much as medium density needs to be looked at more around key transport and commercial nodes, we will still see large sprawling growth out in these areas that we need to cater for.

Also Metro, when you say there hasn't been any TOD development from busways, I'd disagree. Lutwyche and Kedron Brook Stations have both had massive increases in both residential and commercial development. BCC has encouraged this by the High Density Resi and Centre/Mixed use zoning located along the Lutwyche Rd corridor here, with plenty of vacant land and future infill development to come. I would also argue that zoning in Chermside, Coorparoo and Windsor is also to do with future busway corridors.

Yes, there may not be as much mixed used development along the SEB (it really isn't realistic to ask for apartments surrounding Greenslopes or HPW Stations) but there is A LOT of potential at 8MP Station. Once the busway extension down to Springwood (and further on in the coming years), the PnR at 8MP will become somewhat redundant (or not needed to an extend like it is today). These car parks are prime and easily developable land in such a good location close to both Garden City and Springwood by bus. I'm optimistic we will be seeing some sizable apartment growth here in the not too distant future, should BCC open their eyes to the opportunity.

There is even the opportunity to extend the rail line from Vic Point, down around past Redland Bay and to Hyperdome and/or Beenleigh. But I shall cut the dreaming there.

[#Metro]

Thanks for your views Cazza.

Also Metro, when you say there hasn't been any TOD development from busways, I'd disagree. Lutwyche and Kedron Brook Stations have both had massive increases in both residential and commercial development. BCC has encouraged this by the High Density Resi and Centre/Mixed use zoning located along the Lutwyche Rd corridor here, with plenty of vacant land and future infill development to come. I would also argue that zoning in Chermside, Coorparoo and Windsor is also to do with future busway corridors.

This is more to do with zoning relaxations rather than anything else.

Brisbane airport has seen a lot of non residential TOD. No busways there. The same goes for Hamilton north shore.

[Cazza]

Whichever way you look at it, it's still development orientated around transit.

[Gazza]

Thanks for your views Cazza.

Also Metro, when you say there hasn't been any TOD development from busways, I'd disagree. Lutwyche and Kedron Brook Stations have both had massive increases in both residential and commercial development. BCC has encouraged this by the High Density Resi and Centre/Mixed use zoning located along the Lutwyche Rd corridor here, with plenty of vacant land and future infill development to come. I would also argue that zoning in Chermside, Coorparoo and Windsor is also to do with future busway corridors.

This is more to do with zoning relaxations rather than anything else.

Brisbane airport has seen a lot of non residential TOD. No busways there. The same goes for Hamilton north shore.

Yes but the zoning relaxations came about as a result of the busway.

[achiruel]

Yes, a decent rail line has the potential to be quite competitive in this area. It's not exactly "peak" hour at 1:45 on a Saturday afternoon, but currently Google Maps suggests 43 minutes Victoria Point-CBD.

Not sure how much extra time it would add or extra cost involved, but would there be any way it could approach Victoria Point from a bit further south and then turn north to connect with the Cleveland line via Thornlands (yeah, I realise this particular part would be expensive as it would have to be 100% tunnel).

It just seems like a wasted opportunity to have two lines terminate so close together without connecting them, and I realise people from Vic Point wouldn't use it to travel to the city, but it would be good to travel from there to places like Wellington Point, Birkdale or Manly. Or do we think bus is sufficient connection? Maybe it's just my imagination, but when I've been there, Cleveland-Redland Bay Rd often seems congested.

[#Metro]

Yes but the zoning relaxations came about as a result of the busway.

Perhaps, but zoning can be relaxed without building a busway. The two are independent things.

achiurel, the line is competitive off peak but even more so when travel times for cars increase to one hour due to road congestion on Old Cleveland Road.

[Gazza]

As far as I know, the zoning relaxations around SEQ have generally been tied to proximity to transport but happy to be corrected.

https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/Chapter4_LutwycheRoad_NP.pdf


For example the Lutwyche Rd Neighbourhood Plan actually states:

Development must be consistent with the following
principles:
2.1    Intensive mixed use and residential development
will be focused on and take advantage of high
quality public transport facilities that serve the
Corridor, with a concentration of employment
opportunities and medium to high density
residential density within easy walking distance of
public transport nodes.

Lutwyche Centre Precinct
Refer to Map B—Lutwyche Centre Precinct
Lutwyche Centre will be revitalised and expanded
to allow additional office/commercial activity, shops,
restaurants and multi–unit dwellings functioning as an
integrated centre.
The centre will include a district community space and
is to be integrated with the adjoining busway station
and Kedron Brook parklands. Development adjoining
the busway station is to incorporate active ground floor
frontages. A signature mixed use building that reflects
contemporary architectural and sustainability best
practice is supported in this location to create a visual
and functional landmark


3.4 Albion and Wooloowin Railway Station
Precincts
State land that is not required for transport purposes
is considered suitable for medium density residential
development due to its proximity to the railway stations.
Where adjoining established low density residential
areas, new development will complement the bulk and
scale of those areas.