Ministerial Statement: Indooroopilly station goes green in $26.5 million revamp

[ozbob]

Deputy Premier and Minister for Infrastructure and Planning
The Honourable Paul Lucas
11/01/2009

Indooroopilly station goes green in $26.5 million revamp

The first "green" train station on South East Queensland's urban rail network was unveiled by Acting Premier and Minister for Infrastructure and Planning Paul Lucas today.

Mr Lucas said the $26.5 million revamp of Indooroopilly station included solar panels, a rainwater tank and a redesign to make public transport even more eco-friendly.

He said the revamp of the busiest station outside the Brisbane CBD - with an average of 1700 passengers passing through the station each peak hour - set the standard for future infrastructure projects.

"Trains are already an environmentally friendly way to get around and now our stations are becoming greener too," Mr Lucas said.

"Indooroopilly is the first station on the urban rail network to use solar panels which feed back into the power grid and features a rainwater tank providing water for toilets as part of its design.

"The design maximises use of natural lighting and improves ventilation to reduce air-conditioning usage in the station building."

The revamped station also includes a new concourse level and ramp from Coonan Street, three lifts and sets of stairs, a new 'kiss 'n' ride' zone and access to Coonan Street and Railway Avenue via a refurbished subway.

Other features include improved lighting, CCTV technology and customer signage, new waiting shelters and seats, and platform upgrades.

"It's hard to remember what the station looked like before the upgrade - it is now much safer and easier to access for all passengers," Mr Lucas said.

Mr Lucas said together with local schools, QR also planted 280 plants around the station to enhance its appearance and benefit the environment.

The station also features a mural, spanning 250 metres, that was the artistic collaboration of more than 200 students from local schools St Peter's Lutheran College, Brigidine College, and Indooroopilly State High School along with eight local artists.

Mr Lucas said the Indooroopilly station upgrade was an integral improvement to the urban rail network and thanked local residents and businesses for their cooperation during construction.

"Across the board we are looking at ways to help manage environmental impacts more effectively and we take this responsibility very seriously," Mr Lucas said.

"Simply by using the rail network, people are showing their commitment to the environment."

A short section of subway owned and controlled by Brisbane City Council is expected to be upgraded later this year.

Mr Lucas also said a new morning peak-hour service on the busy Ipswich line would be introduced from tomorrow to help ease passenger demand ahead of further service enhancements early this year.

Mr Lucas said the new service would depart from Darra station at 6.35am and arrive at Central station at 7.04am would be trialled to help alleviate pressure on early morning Ipswich line services.

"This new six-carriage service will provide an extra 450 seats and further room for 300 standing passengers during the height of peak hour," Mr Lucas said.

"This new 'sweeper' service will depart Darra station six minutes before a busy service leaves the same station at 6.41am - the new service is designed to pick up passengers beforehand to help ease demand."

Mr Lucas said the TransLink Transit Authority and QR were undertaking a huge amount of work to improve access to public transport by upgrading infrastructure and bolstering services.

"Public transport patronage across the TransLink network had soared almost 40 per cent in the past four years and we are committed to boosting public transport amid this unprecedented growth," Mr Lucas said.

Mr Lucas said clearly people were voting with their feet when it came to public transport, with more than more than 220,000 go cards now in circulation.

"People are telling us what they think of this convenient and flexible system the only way that counts - by using it," Mr Lucas said.

"More than 15 million journeys have been taken on the go card and over $41 million has been loaded on to the cards.

"TransLink's go card makes using public transport quicker and easier as passengers no longer need to carry change or waste time queuing for tickets.

"South East Queensland is just the second Australian public transport system to successfully roll out smart card technology and it is the largest network in the world."


Bold emphasis mine - Admin

[ozbob]

The upgrade is very welcome.

The only sour note from my point of view is the failure to incorporate a bus-interchange as part of the upgrade.

Some folks are not happy with the platform heights as well.

Both these issues may prove costly in time for sure.

[brismike]

I agree they have done a terrific job with the upgrade .. Just one small gripe I have is that there didn't seem to be a clean up of the tracks around the Station when it was finished. 

There are all sorts of rubbish strewn around the place and some of it came from the construction workers. Things such as face masks, gloves, tins & bottles. A really good tidy up of the surounds is what is needed.