Gold Coast Heavy Rail - Branch Line (Metricon Stadium/Broadbeach South LR)

[Rail Rookie]

Is it worth having a HR branch line coming from Helensvale or Nerang Station that branches off towards Metricon Stadium, Carrara Markets and somehow connecting to Broadbeach South LR Station? The reasoning is the time it takes for a bus or LR transfer to get to the Coastal strip of GC. From Nerang Station it takes about 30min to get to Broadbeach area by bus. This would be after you take a train from brissy which until fast rail is implemented will be generally slow. You may need a second transfer from the bus/LR to get to your destination. All of this takes time and compared to driving its not enticing at all (why would I want to go on day trip to GC beach and travel buy PT when it could take me over 2-hrs at best). My thought is the branch line connects to Metricon stadium which will help to give the stadium PT now and for olympics. Having direct link to LR line at Broadbeach South (excluding current helensvale connection) would help with reducing time it takes to coastal area and possibly number of transfers. I don't know if this general line would cost a fortune and/or not stack up with ROI, just wanting thoughts? This branch line doesn't have to follow my proposed route, I just thought this would tick a few boxes.

[SurfRail]

Branching is bad. 

Historical note - they did originally look at putting the terminus somewhere around the Surfers Paradise Golf Club rather than going to Robina.  I think they made the right choice.

The time issue would largely go away with better bus priority east of Garden Grove, especially around Pac Fair and the access into BBS.

[achiruel]

If a rail line of some kind were to be built in this corridor, it would be LR not HR, but I think there are other priorities required before the Nerang-Broadbeach connection. Stage 3 & 4 for a start, and the main east-west link should probably then be Varsity Lakes to Burleigh - there's a lot more density along this corridor than Nerang to Broadbeach.

[#Metro]

Agree with SurfRail.

Branching will eat a train path from the location all the way to Brisbane. By not branching, the train path can be useful all the way to the terminus (Coolangatta).

Why we prefer not to branch where it can be avoided is detailed here:

Basics: branching (or how transit is like a river)
https://humantransit.org/2011/02/basics-branching-or-how-transit-is-like-a-river.html

[Gazza]

Does raise an interesting question, if you were to do transit along that corridor, could it be some rinky dink little skytrain thing?

[achiruel]

Does raise an interesting question, if you were to do transit along that corridor, could it be some rinky dink little skytrain thing?

Why wouldn't you do light rail?

[Gazza]

I mean you could, but since in this case there's enough land on the corridor and less visual impact concerns, so you could get away with something partially elevated, and enjoy the cheaper running costs and high frequency.

[SurfRail]

When you get down to it, I wouldn't be too troubled by a similar arrangement for the coastal strip - stops only at Helensvale, Harbour Town, GCUH, Southport, Surfers, Broadbeach, Burleigh, Palm Beach and the Airport.  The light rail absolutely isn't intended to be as fast as possible, but this could be and would work in tandem with it for shorter trips.  The heavy rail would perform the same role but it doesn't need the same granularity for local trips since there is a lot of non-developable land all the way along the corridor.

Way, way off into the future though.  Bigger fish to fry elsewhere until then.

[Rail Rookie]

Agree with SurfRail.

Branching will eat a train path from the location all the way to Brisbane. By not branching, the train path can be useful all the way to the terminus (Coolangatta).

Why we prefer not to branch where it can be avoided is detailed here:

Basics: branching (or how transit is like a river)
https://humantransit.org/2011/02/basics-branching-or-how-transit-is-like-a-river.html

Thanks for the link, makes sense

[Rail Rookie]

When you get down to it, I wouldn't be too troubled by a similar arrangement for the coastal strip - stops only at Helensvale, Harbour Town, GCUH, Southport, Surfers, Broadbeach, Burleigh, Palm Beach and the Airport.  The light rail absolutely isn't intended to be as fast as possible, but this could be and would work in tandem with it for shorter trips.  The heavy rail would perform the same role but it doesn't need the same granularity for local trips since there is a lot of non-developable land all the way along the corridor.

Way, way off into the future though.  Bigger fish to fry elsewhere until then.

I have seen another discussion talking about LR Stage 5 extending further south to Tweed etc. Should an East-West LR be implemented before or after this possible southern extension? I know council are looking at buses for East-West links to the coast strip from Robina, Nerang etc. but should they (at least Robina) be getting LR, especially with the Olympic village and large developments being planned for Olympics ? I understand that Stage 3 & 4 need to happen, just looking at future options. We don't seem to be able to set the BBQ up in QLD let alone fry some fish 

[Gazza]

Further south to Tweed is a matter for NSW.

Personally I think the priorities would probably be Olsen Avenue (Simply because its easier) and then Robina.

Beyond that I would build LR on frank st.

But the 2040s idea is Elevated Rapid Transit along both Nerang Broadbeach Rd, and on Southport Burleigh Rd (Bermuda St)
Both lines would run independently but would share an out of service connection for depot access.

Line 1 is from Nerang to Broadbeach South
Line 2 is from Southport to Tallebudgera (Would probably have to tunnel for the bit into the Southport CBD