The 20min Timetable

[rtt_rules]

Hi,
I have been running the models for a 20min timetable to see how it would or wouldn't work.

First issue is with the 15min timetable over inner sections and 30min outer sections makes some things a bit easier on the single track sections and GC could even remain 30min. 20min however sort of dictates all lines are 20min to the end. The target is was also clockface.

Obviously Ips, Cab, Richlands, Kippa and soon FG no issues. Shorncliffe also really no issues for a 2min section of single track.

I looked at Cleveland - Doomben, this is a tricky one but can work with some capital. Cleveland trains would pass at Lota and Wellington Point with a few minutes added to out bound for waiting and 1min for inbound. Extensions of some of the duplication would obviously help alot for reliability, especially Manly through to Thornside, but fairly costly.

What is needed though is an extension of the duplication section from EJ towards Hendra as trains would pass on EJ side of Clayfield station, basically 30sec out which probably means just next to station. You could do a cheap and just merge on east side of Clayfield but a realtively cheap additional 500m further towards extension to Hendra (don't even need to go 2 plats at Hendra) would improve reliability. This doesn't matter a great deal whether trains come from Cleveland or elsewhere as its the length of the line at 7min that doesn't leave much room for 20min. A pass could be timetabled at Ascot with signally upgrade. Or Doomben itself with say trains arriving on Plat 2, then Plat 1 departs a few min later with either Plat 2 next departure or a shunt neck movement. If Doomben was to be extended, a pass between Hendra and EJ would probably be the easiest and cheapest to install.

I suppose you could leave Doomben on 60min, but running 30min would be messy and I'm not a fan of 40min, which I think is Tonsley in SA.

GC and Beenleigh. The current GC trains have limited flexibilty due to single track on Airport and Helensvale section of the line with GC trains passing at EJ station. Now if I run Beenleigh trains 7min after GC headed north from Beenleigh (like now) the Beenleigh train gets passed between by following GC train between Sals and Park Rd. Allowing for 3min following before changing tracks and 3min after to jump infront of Beenleigh.

Now the South bound services, if you try the same thing, ie arrive at Beenleigh 7min before the GC train, like now you have the pass occuring in the same in the same section as Nth bound. So to off-set this you can delay the south bound Beenleigh train and have the pass occur south of Sals but at Beenleigh there is a 14min wait for GC trains although a cross platform change can occur at Coppers Plains on current stopping pattern.

The 15min table required quading between Kuraby and Sals, even if GC remained on 30min. This is really only major capital requirement for 15min and probably easier than Quading Sals to Park Rd especially with CRR on the agenda for some day in future which would negate the need for a surface quad. At least the Sals to Kuraby quad would still be used for a 15min service, CRR or not. For Cleveland line if you go 15min, the extra train would terminate at Manly or Lota, not capital outlay. On 20min timetable there is one extra service on nth, ie Doomben or Shorncliffe until Greenbank line is built, I suppose Shorncliff could have a cross platform shuttle with other nth trains. 15min service does not have this issue as Manly/Lota service can provide a 30min feeder to Doomben. 15min is also easy to mix with less frequent trains than 20min.

So for my money, throw the money at 15min, build the final section of the quad south of Sals for which most of earth works has been done and job done. Only outer Cleveland and Doomben would be unlikely to drop below 30min until some money is spent.

regards
Shane

[somebody]

My eyes rolled when I read the subject line as this has been discussed quite a bit, but congratulations on thinking through the issues here.

Your GC/BNH plan is the same as david's which I wasn't enthusiastic about.  The conflicts are a bit of a nightmare on present infrastructure and you can't serve Park Rd heading north without using disused platform #4.  I think a more achievable upgrade is 15 minutes to Coopers Plains, preferably with an all express (exp PR-CP) BNH service.  It's achievable on present infrastructure and doesn't make it harder for freight (at least not much).

I'd be very reluctant to pass at Lota while Manly-Lota is still single track.  For only a small amount of money (relatively) you could duplicate that section and prevent a late outbound train from delaying an inbound one at least at one point.  But 20 minute frequency isn't happening (as you infer) while GC/BNH is on 15 minute cycles.

I personally think that the best move for Cleveland is to join with the Shorncliffe line and just have Doomben-Roma St (or maybe via Tennyson as before) but QR are against this because it combines two single track sections.  Which isn't the worst reason.

build the final section of the quad south of Sals

This part I wouldn't do quite yet.  Just implement CRR properly without the ridiculous limitations at Salisbury.  15 minute frequency as far as Coopers Plains with an all express timetable beyond that is nearly as good and more achievable.

[somebody]

Actually what I meant was:
4tph Ferny Grove-Coopers Plains
2tph Airport-VL
2tph ?-BNH, express Park Rd-Coopers Plains.

Ideally ? = Airport, but that seems unlikely at present.

What you are suggesting is worth exploring a bit more though, if it works out.

[somebody]

Looking at what you are suggesting, I think the priority has to be increasing frequency on the more inner parts rather than the outer.  It seems you can't do both, although I haven't looked at it for too long.

[SurfRail]

In Shane's scenario above I would expect the Coopers Plains terminators and the Beenleigh services would all continue north of the city.

Timetable through South Bank and Park Road should also include tolerances for a 15 minute Cleveland headway at least as far as Manly. 

I expect it might make some sense to run the through-routing as follows:

Sector 1
- 2tph Caboolture express to Ipswich express
- 4tph Kippa-Ring to Springfield Central all stops
- NCL services to Roma Street

Sector "2A"
- 2tph Cleveland to Ferny Grove all stops
- 2tph Manly to Ferny Grove all stops

Sector "2B"
- 2tph Shorncliffe to Beenleigh
- 2tph Doomben to Coopers Plains (or 1tph this pattern and 1tph Bowen Hills to Coopers Plains if not doable)
- 2tph Airport all stations to GC express
- 2tph Airport all stations to Roma Street

That way you make all the southern line trains share the suburbans out to Eagle Junction and the Cleveland patterns all go to Ferny Grove, which gives you some more sub-sectorisation.

By my count, in 2016 there will be 153 stations on the system (excluding Exhibition), and with the above arrangements you would have round the clock 15 minute headways at 73 of them (48%) as opposed to just 24 from 145 (17%) now.

It might be meet to use this as a small-target strategy that is achievable even without CRR.

[somebody]

I've been thinking about Cleveland-Ferny Grove but I'm no longer keen on it as that increases the degree that the Gold Coast trains catch up to the Beenleigh trains.  So it reduces margin.

[SurfRail]

I've been thinking about Cleveland-Ferny Grove but I'm no longer keen on it as that increases the degree that the Gold Coast trains catch up to the Beenleigh trains.  So it reduces margin.

We can play with the edges like through-routing one line to the other, no doubt.  I'm just keen on legibility - in my mind it is a worthy price to pay for certain operational inefficiencies.  (For instance, clock-face timetabling is not necessarily the 100% most efficient use of the available resources, but it makes it easier for everybody to navigate and remember.)

I am keen on running 15 minute headways all the way to Cleveland if the infrastructure permits.  Better every station gets at 15 minute service than having a 2 train per hour express and a 2 train per hour local run (I doubt they would be willing to pay for 6tph or more in the current environment outside the Ippy-Cab corridor and even that would be a stretch) - it would still be a better outcome than at present.

[somebody]

I've been thinking about Cleveland-Ferny Grove but I'm no longer keen on it as that increases the degree that the Gold Coast trains catch up to the Beenleigh trains.  So it reduces margin.

We can play with the edges like through-routing one line to the other, no doubt.  I'm just keen on legibility - in my mind it is a worthy price to pay for certain operational inefficiencies.  (For instance, clock-face timetabling is not necessarily the 100% most efficient use of the available resources, but it makes it easier for everybody to navigate and remember.)

I am keen on running 15 minute headways all the way to Cleveland if the infrastructure permits.  Better every station gets at 15 minute service than having a 2 train per hour express and a 2 train per hour local run (I doubt they would be willing to pay for 6tph or more in the current environment outside the Ippy-Cab corridor and even that would be a stretch) - it would still be a better outcome than at present.

I'm more focused on the Beenleigh line than Cleveland.  The latter has bus alternatives for much of its route.  Looking at the stats (100501-public-transport-survey.pdf), the Beenleigh line gets more than 50% more off peak patronage.  It should be noted that both are better than Ferny Grove significantly, but Caboolture is by far the most worthy upgrade.