POLL: Rail in Cairns

[#Metro]

The main piece in that article was:

Unfortunately the answer for the congestion to the south of Cairns is buses. Upgrade the highway, but consider dedicated bus lanes, especially for peak hours. Lets face it, buses are far more versatile and can go anywhere there is a road. If you're lucky, that could mean right out side your door or your work. They are cheaper to procure, but yes, in the long run they are not so environmentally friendly as a train.

I haven't had time to do any in depth analysis, but it is always dangerous do a 'cost-benefit' analysis when actually it is a cost-only analysis. No calculation of benefits appeared in that. If we were to use the same logic, everyone at a wedding would be served 2 minute noodles, city councils would meet in tents and the cheapest public transport option would be no public transport but simply T2 and T3 lanes painted on existing freeways to encourage higher car occupancy during peak hour. Land use changes are also not featured.

The other thing is that AIUI a bus lane on a freeway is a category B right of way because it will have to share with cars at lights and intersections. A railway is a category A right of way, which is an equivalent level of priority as a busway and is far higher priority than category B. Having a disused rail line through a major town centre is like having a brand new busway but refusing to use it.

Of course BRT and improved buses will be important on corridors in Cairns.
But not along and parallel to pre-existing rail alignments, particularly to the southern suburbs of Cairns IMHO.
Its not BRT vs LRT but making the right match- you match each mode to each particular purpose for a best fit. There is a pre-existing rail line, it should be used.

[#Metro]

How will the problem of the long distance trains and the Kuranda Scenic trains be dealt with? These trains need considerable time at the platform to load their passengers and provisions, and the solution is either a dedicated long distance platform or new suburban station. Remember, we have trains arriving and departing every five to fifteen minutes. Where to put it? What cost?

Col, what's your opinion on this?

[colinw]

Cairns Post - Light rail 'too expensive' - click here.

Light rail 'too expensive'

Nick Dalton
Monday, October 25, 2010
© The Cairns Post

A CALL for light rail as an answer to public transport problems in Cairns was considered by the State Government but ruled out as being too costly.

In The Weekend Post Jonathan Strauss of Cairns Action for Sustainable Transport put the case for a light rail system on the main transport routes to be supplemented by buses.

A Department of Transport and Main Roads spokeswoman said when considering a transit network for Cairns, various modes were considered, including light rail, heavy rail and bus.

"A bus-based transport system for Cairns provides flexibility, adaptability and capacity to meet customer needs for the next 20 years," she said. "Light rail is successful in densely populated cities across the world but is not the best option for Cairns.

"The low density neighbourhoods of Cairns could not support high frequency light rail services in a cost-effective manner and rail isn't able to provide the flexibility that buses offer.

"Cairns needs a public transport system with genuine flexibility.

"A bus-based system has been shown to be the best and most appropriate solution for Cairns."

The spokeswoman said a major benefit of a bus-based transport system over light-rail was that it could be introduced in stages and as funding became available with buses running on existing roads.

"The Cairns Transit Network has been designed for future flexibility so that it can accommodate light rail or new technologies as the city grows," she said.

Mr Strauss said light rail provided better route capacity than buses.

He said it was durable and the vehicles lasted for 30 years or more.

Mr Strauss said over time light rail provided better value than a bus system, better passenger comfort and was more attractive to users.

"This is transport available to the old, the poor and the young. There would be less traffic congestion and need for car parking and less transport-related fatalities and injuries," he said.

[ozbob]

The rest of world moves forward.  Cairns is still in a transport backwater.

Never fear, state election coming in a year or two.

[colinw]

How will the problem of the long distance trains and the Kuranda Scenic trains be dealt with? These trains need considerable time at the platform to load their passengers and provisions, and the solution is either a dedicated long distance platform or new suburban station. Remember, we have trains arriving and departing every five to fifteen minutes. Where to put it? What cost?

Col, what's your opinion on this?

I see the "lets trot out 100 reasons why (its too expensive / its too hard / it won't work/ people won't use it - pick one) arguments have started to get trotted out, even though busway plans will cost far more!

Clearly the Kuranda trains, Sunlander and Tilt Train are going to need to use different platforms to the local services, particularly if those local services are low floor vehicles that use low level platforms.

Solution?  Not sure off the top of my head.

Here's images of the interior of the station:



Looks to me like 2 tracks is all that can possibly fit through there (how's that for forward planning?). So if you assume a worst case of both a Sunlander/Tilt and a Kuranda train in then we've got ourselves a problem for a hypothetical local service.

Now, let's assume we go the "low floor tram/train route".

What about diverting the light rail service through the bit of the station that currently has a road through it?  Low level tram stop here?


Or put the LRT station just outside Cairns Central across Aplin St, here.

Or run the LRT up a ramp to a station on the roof level carpark - here.

There's an engineering solution for just about anything.  As to what is cost effective 'though ...

[#Metro]

This is a bit co-incidental.
What, did this just come out Today??? Really?

"A bus-based transport system for Cairns provides flexibility, adaptability and capacity to meet customer needs for the next 20 years," she said. "Light rail is successful in densely populated cities across the world but is not the best option for Cairns.

Disagree. I can show that there are many cities around the world that have a similar or lower density to Cairns, and have LRT.
"Density is too low" Not true IMHO. And you are never going to get the density up using buses. LRT on the other hand stimulates TOD development which changes the land uses and therefore the density around the stations. I'm sure Dr Paul Mees would disagree with "the density is too low".

"The low density neighbourhoods of Cairns could not support high frequency light rail services in a cost-effective manner and rail isn't able to provide the flexibility that buses offer.

What were the assumptions used in the financial modelling? Was it an electric system? Did it use feeder buses?

"Cairns needs a public transport system with genuine flexibility.

What is the nature of this "Flexibility"?
There is only one way into Cairns from the Southern Corridor, and that is the Bruce highway. Unless they had some other yet-to-be-conceived route into the Cairns CBD.

The spokeswoman said a major benefit of a bus-based transport system over light-rail was that it could be introduced in stages and as funding became available with buses running on existing roads.

It could along many corridors, but along the southern corridor, why introduce staged busways, when you have a complete and continuous rail line that is class A right-of-way just sitting there!?

"The Cairns Transit Network has been designed for future flexibility so that it can accommodate light rail or new technologies as the city grows," she said.

The problem with the "it is convertible later" argument is that 1) you don't need a conversion if you have the track sitting there already, and 2) has there been an analysis on the technical ease and magnitude of the cost and inconvenience to do a job twice??? In Brisbane, these two factors are being touted as reasons why the busway here cannot be converted.

Use rail for trunk routes, buses where there is no rail corridor.

It would be interesting to see the entire analysis and its underlying assumptions published publicly.

"Light rail is successful in densely populated cities across the world but is not the best option for Cairns.

"The low density neighbourhoods of Cairns could not support high frequency light rail services in a cost-effective manner and rail isn't able to provide the flexibility that buses offer.

http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2010/10/25/132041_local-news.html

RegioTram between Kassel and Warburg
http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php%3Ftitle%3DDatei:RegioTram430.jpg%26filetimestamp%3D20060629221457&rurl=translate.google.com.au&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhhHN8LKBe6h1EntAJI6uNhAMDq1eQ

[ozbob]

Some feedback received, thanks.

The old stations now removed at North Cairns and Stratford should be rebuilt and a new station about James St or Grove St should be considered. The old station at Aeroglen is not a particularly convenient site as it does not have access to airline passenger facilities nor to a significant residential area. Redlynch already has two platforms and a passing loop, but if services were extended 2 km to the old Jungara site, this could be stage 2, it would serve the western part of Brinsmead and newer developments along the upper part of Freshwater Ck. A new Woree station could be built where the new alignment deviates from the original alignment. Campos do Jordao in Brazil manages to run a suburban tram service along the single track rail line which admittedly does not have any regular non passenger trains. There are passing loops at each tram terminus and one in the middle. Trams run half hourly which can allow for the long distance trains to pass. This is an electrified track.

[colinw]

Here's a few examples of small cities that have or are building light rail:

Tacoma, Washington, USA.  Pop 193,500. Free electric tram, expansion of system is planned.
Turku, Finland. Pop 176,000, region 303,500.  Had trams until 1972, comprehensive regional LRT system planned.
Angers, France. Pop 157,000, region 283,000.  LRT system under construction.
Montpelier, France.  Pop 265,500.  Two line LRT in operation, 3rd line under construction.  System carries 190,000 pax daily - more than QR CityTrain!
Mulhouse, France. Pop 252,000.  LRT system opened in 2005.
Tampa, Florida, USA. Pop 344,000.  Small tram system operating, larger LRT system under development.

[Stillwater]

It's not surprising that state government pushes for buses as the preferred option -- trunk route along the highway (paid for by another level of government), bus stops just a post in the ground (inexpensive) and buses bought, maintained and operated by private enterprise (perhaps with a government subsidy).  Rail?  Well, that would have to be provided by the cash-strapped state government, with state bearing costs for rail track upgrade and maintenance, 'stations' (more costly than a post in the ground), the rolling stock and the crews to run trains/trams.  Also trackside would need to be maintained, whereas Cairns Council maintains the verges on the roads.  Megabucks versus minibucks.

[ozbob]

Many places are moving to light rail.  The list above, the USA, Europe etc. well entrenched moves.

Light rail might cost more to set up initially but the savings in the longer term will mean a much better deal than bus only.   As can now be observed in Brisbane the bus solution is already breaking down.  Recent outbursts by the Lord Mayor as to the costs.  Basically because the line transport role needs to be transferred to rail, and allow buses their best roles.

The rest of world understands the savings in terms of improved operating costs, reduced congestion costs, environmental costs and lessened road trauma costs.  Australia struggles with the cheap options which invariably end up costing a lot more in the longer term.

The money squandered on the roof insulation immolation project would have paid for over for light rail systems in Cairns, Newcastle, Ballarat and Bendigo as well as extensions in Sydney and Adelaide.  A bit left over for seed to the Perth LRT.

Still I see some distant tram lights on the horizon.

[Fatty]

Single track, with loops at:

Gordonvale

There's no loop at Gordonvale but there is the sugar siding.

[colinw]

Removed?  The QR Network access diagrams show a loop, but they are dated 2002.

[Mick_L]

The siding is still there, but it's not available to cross trains, as it stands at the moment.

[O_128]

NO. No more to these stupid busways, light rail is a much better option and as I say either build it right or don't build it at all111 

[#Metro]

IMHO BRT will be essential for Cairns- bus lines like the BUZ would be great. They would be good for corridors where there is no pre-existing rail route and there are a number of arterial in Cairns that would be suited for this purpose. For the Southern Corridor, IMHO I am more skeptical. The purpose of a busway is to get PT running in a Class A right of way, that is a 100% exclusive, car traffic free alignment. Problem is, that alignment already exists and runs perfectly parallel to the Bruce Highway. No need to reinvent the wheel three times over- bus lanes, busway and then rails in busway? The same logic for the Eastern Busway. Tram tracks are sitting there. Run buses over the tram tracks and then integrate when busway is converted over to LRT.

http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/~/media/e7ea37bc-b755-4327-9117-267e9808102f/pdf_cipts_part_01.pdf

A busway system is recommended in the southern corridor to integrate with other bus priority measures on key parts of the network. Should light rail become an option in the future, experience around the world demonstrates the ease with which a busway can be developed into a light rail corridor. In common with the South- East Busway in Brisbane, it is appropriate to plan the busway using geometry and clearances that keep the light rail option open for the longer term future.

Where in the world has a busway been entirely and easily converted to light rail? Perhaps they should have a chat to TransLink and enquire about how "easy" it is to shut down a busway carrying around 12 000 passengers/hour in peak for many months...(IMHO it is possible, but not painless).

It is certainly not an easy task for Ottawa, after officials singularly fixated on "bus forever" solutions not noticing creeping capacity constraints, leaving the busway to overload and then fail with bus jams and bank-ups. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ottawabusgallery/3930509680/

When you look at Brisbane, buses every 10 seconds might be something to boast about, but to me is says loud and clear that the system is nearing capacity, and systems that near capacity are increasingly prone to failure. Brisbane's busway system is good and has served the city well, it continues to do so and IMHO has some capacity left. But Brisbane is not Curitiba or Bogota, our economics and labour costs are also vastly different, the time to move on is coming. Dig a well before you are forced to dig one when you need to drink from it...

[SteelPan]

I am all for it - two important points to further enhance any possible service:

1. Hot looking babes in bikinis to sell tickets!
2. Fare evaders to be thrown into croc infested rivers!

I believe with the above two performance enhancement strategies, success is assured  

(I also believe item 1 could be further rolled across the QR network - ASAP   )

[Stillwater]

Benefit-cost analysis is not just a drive for profit or break even, based on the cost of infrastructure and ongoing running costs versus fare revenue.  It is legitimate to include in B-C costings the value of lives saved by taking cars off roads, fuel savings, savings on carbon emissions not put into the atmosphere, travel time savings etc.  There are standard 'costs' for these things that can go into the formula.