#duplicatesuncoastrail, a real tweet for commuters

[Fares_Fair]

1. Year corrected: Cab-Lboro rail one of the weakest links in QR network, so said Hon Paul Lucas MP on 29 August 2005 #duplicatesuncoastrail

2 Facts will always outdo inaction. On 14/08/06, SC rail promised to Landsborough by mid-2012, but it isn't. #duplicatesuncoastrail

3 Facts will always outdo inaction. 44% of weekday trains betwn Caboolture & Nambour are actually buses. So congested #duplicatesuncoastrail

4 Facts will always outdo inaction. 6/12/11 Minister describes Beerburrum-Nambour upgrade as strategic to the region. #duplicatesuncoastrail

5. Facts will always outdo inaction. Rail buses that replace trains Caboolture-Nambour take up to 1.5 hrs to go 54km #duplicatesuncoastrail

6. Facts will outdo inaction. Report: Is likely region would exp. adverse socio-economic effects if NCL not upgraded. #duplicatesuncoastrail

7. Facts will outdo inaction. Short passing loops on North Coast Line severely inhibit freight & passenger trains. #duplicatesuncoastrail

8. Facts will outdo inaction. Shortest passing loop at 682m long in the 1668km from Brisbane-Cairns is at Palmwoods. #duplicatesuncoastrail

9. Facts will outdo inaction. Think about this, 1 x 1500m freight train can take 100 semi-trailers off your highway. #duplicatesuncoastrail

10. Facts will outdo inaction. Freight trains on NCL can't be any longer than 650m. Short freight trains cost us more #duplicatesuncoastrail

[Fares_Fair]

11. Facts will outdo inaction. Qld can save ($2006) $430 M over 20 years for an outlay of $300 M, says QR report 2006 #duplicatesuncoastrail

12. Facts will outdo inaction. Springfield gets duplicated rail track for 23k people, Sunny Coast gets none for 330k #duplicatesuncoastrail

13. Facts will outdo inaction. 2007 Strategy; "major current impediment is rail congestion from Brisbane to Nambour" #duplicatesuncoastrail

14. Facts will outdo inaction. 2007 Strategy; "poor track alignment impedes efficient transit times" Ask any commuter #duplicatesuncoastrail

15. Facts will outdo inaction. 2007 Strategy; "first & foremost issue is passenger/freight between Brisbane & Gympie" #duplicatesuncoastrail

16. Facts will outdo inaction. Qld Gov't afraid to explain why rail duplication stopped 24 days after last election" #duplicatesuncoastrail

17. Facts will outdo inaction. QR Submission to Productivity Commission, date 5 July, 2006 itemised savings for rail. #duplicatesuncoastrail

18. Facts will outdo inaction. QR Savings: extract 850,000 t of freight from road to rail on North Coast Line markets #duplicatesuncoastrail

19. Facts will outdo inaction. QR report: road accident cost savings of $43M (2006$) over 20 years to be had. #duplicatesuncoastrail

20. Facts will outdo inaction. QR report: environmental gains of $23M (2006$) over 20 years to be had. #duplicatesuncoastrail

[Fares_Fair]

21. Facts will outdo inaction. QR report: road pavement/maintenance savings of $94M (2006$) over 20 years to be had. #duplicatesuncoastrail

22. Facts will outdo inaction. QR report: better rail transit times/reliability valued at $127M (2006$) over 20 years #duplicatesuncoastrail

23. Facts will outdo inaction. QR report: benefits to rail operators/customers valued at $143M (2006$) over 20 years. #duplicatesuncoastrail

24. Facts will outdo inaction. QR report: reduction of freight costs of 2-6% if gains to "above rail" are passed on. #duplicatesuncoastrail

25. Facts outdo inaction. "Rail is 3 times more efficient than road in using fuel to move freight" Dr Phillip Laird. #duplicatesuncoastrail

26. Facts outdo inaction. SunnyCoast Interim Roadmap 2010 says; "transport demand has been growing strongly as well" #duplicatesuncoastrail

27. Facts outdo inaction. Sunshine Coast headed for substantial population increase of 72% over the next 19 years. #duplicatesuncoastrail

28. Facts outdo inaction. Caloundra South & Palmview developments will add 87,000 people over the next 10 years to SC #duplicatesuncoastrail

29. Facts outdo inaction. Caboolture Landsborough Rail Upgrade Study: Needs Assessment by Qld Transport said in 2002 #duplicatesuncoastrail

30. Facts outdo inaction. In summary desired levels of service CANNOT be met with existing rail infrastructure. con't #duplicatesuncoastrail

[Fares_Fair]

31. Facts outdo inaction. "Hence an upgrade of the Caboolture to Landsborough section of NC rail line is needed." #duplicatesuncoastrail

32. Facts outdo inaction. National Transport Commission Rail Productivity Review October 2008 p11, Qld projects says; #duplicatesuncoastrail

33. Facts outdo inaction. "For a productive Melb-Cairns freight corridor, issues north Qld border need to b addressed #duplicatesuncoastrail

34. Facts outdo inaction. "Chief among these r upgrades to passenger & freight rail network in Brisbane (incl. ICRCS) #duplicatesuncoastrail

35. Facts outdo inaction. "& changes t permit efficient use f 1500m freight trains (more than double length used now) #duplicatesuncoastrail

36. Facts outdo inaction. "Brisbane rail network region includes the 104km north to Nambour on the Sunshine Coast. #duplicatesuncoastrail

37. Facts outdo inaction. NCL rail duplication for1500m freight trains has Benefit Cost Ratio: 1.43, >CRR at just 1.3 #duplicatesuncoastrail

38. Facts outdo inaction. Cross River Rail (CRR) will not help SunshineCoast trains til Beerburrum bottleneck fixed. #duplicatesuncoastrail

39. Facts outdo inaction T'sport&LogisticsNews "A shift to rail of 15% road freight could save up to 45 lives/year." #duplicatesuncoastrail

40. Facts outdo inaction. Sunshine Coast rail fail ignored by #ALP, who are clearly embarrassed by their own inaction #duplicatesuncoastrail

[ozbob]

38. Facts outdo inaction. Cross River Rail (CRR) will not help SunshineCoast trains til Beerburrum bottleneck fixed. #duplicatesuncoastrail

CRR will actually, will improve reliability on the core network and allow a better operating pattern.

[Fares_Fair]

40. Facts outdo inaction. Freight rates for road can be up to twice cost of rail & increased twice as fast since 2001 #duplicatesuncoastrail

41. Facts outdo inaction. NCL main line upgrade completion would save 30M litres diesel each year (80,700t CO2-e gas) #duplicatesuncoastrail

42. Facts outdo inaction. Fact 41: by Dr Phillip Laird, University of Wollongong, NSW summary Rail Tech Soc. 11/12/08 #duplicatesuncoastrail

43. Facts outdo inaction. 2007 House Reps Standg Comitee on Tsport & Regnl Serv. report title Great freight task says #duplicatesuncoastrail

44. Facts outdo inaction. Report p103 "there is demonstrable need to expedite Caboolture to Landsborough duplication" #duplicatesuncoastrail

45. Facts outdo inaction. The Beerburrum to Nambour section of rail the most congested single line track in Australia #duplicatesuncoastrail

46. Facts outdo inaction. Neville Report 2007 p128 "greatest need for Australia... realignment main freight networks" #duplicatesuncoastrail

47. Facts outdo inaction. Sept 2009, "Qld's Tilt Train averages 55km/h betw Landsborough & Nambour" Dr Phillip Laird. #duplicatesuncoastrail

48. Facts outdo inaction. "Assuming av payload 750t/freight train, savings of nearly $33,000/train" Dr Phillip Laird. #duplicatesuncoastrail

49. Facts outdo inaction."5 NCL deviations betw L'boro & M'boro would slash Tilt train travel by 57 mins" Dr P. Laird #duplicatesuncoastrail

50. Facts outdo inaction."further, freight train time saving of 41minutes with fuel saving of 173 litres" Dr P. Laird #duplicatesuncoastrail

[Fares_Fair]

51. Facts outdo inaction."46 deaths from road crashes involve artic. trucks from 1999-2003 on Bruce Hway" Dr P. Laird #duplicatesuncoastrail

52. Facts outdo inaction."46 deaths=25% of all lives lost in Bruce Hway road crashes in that period" Dr Phillip Laird #duplicatesuncoastrail

53. Facts outdo inaction. Resolution 27, LNP conf. July 2011: Rail duplication to Nambour a matter of high priority. #duplicatesuncoastrail

54. Facts outdo inaction. 'No more bottleneck' duplicate Sunshine Coast line T-shirts for $16 #duplicatesuncoastrail http://twitpic.com/913wpy

[BrizCommuter]

38. Facts outdo inaction. Cross River Rail (CRR) will not help SunshineCoast trains til Beerburrum bottleneck fixed. #duplicatesuncoastrail

CRR will actually, will improve reliability on the core network and allow a better operating pattern.

CRR, (and Shorncliffe duplication) would also potentially allow Caboolture/Sunshine Coast/MBRL services to skip Northgate to Albion = faster journey times.

[Fares_Fair]

38. Facts outdo inaction. Cross River Rail (CRR) will not help SunshineCoast trains til Beerburrum bottleneck fixed. #duplicatesuncoastrail

CRR will actually, will improve reliability on the core network and allow a better operating pattern.

CRR, (and Shorncliffe duplication) would also potentially allow Caboolture/Sunshine Coast/MBRL services to skip Northgate to Albion = faster journey times.

I'm all for CRR or a CRR alternative at less cost and equal benefits if that is possible (this is my personal opinion of course).

The 2 points I make are these;

We have a bottleneck on the NCL right now, that significantly impacts on feight and passenger services, I have read many reports and studies that tell me so, and these studies are up to 6 years old.
It has wide ranging impacts on food chains up north (confirmed by RTI document), on travel times along the east coast from Brisbane to Cairns, on freight competitiveness with roads, and significant economic savings are there for the taking, this according to QR's submission to the Productivity Commission in 2006.
Rail buses making up 44% of our trains, journey times getting longer and so on. How much money could be saved by using 1500m freight trains instead of the current 650m ones? It takes 100 semi-trailers off the highway as well. Dr Phillip Laird concluded that 45 lives were lost by articulated truck accidents, these comprised 25% of all fatalities on the Bruce Highway.
I would venture to say that there are more cost advantages to NCL duplication (noted above) than with CRR.

We have another bottleneck on the Merivale bridge, but that is not going to happen until 2016, according to the ICRCS and CRR study.
It's simply a matter of the timing.
(Yes, in order to fix it by the deadline, things do need to happen soon)

That's not saying that CRR doesn't have significant benefits in its own right, it does, allowing IIRC, an extra 96 trains through to the CBD in peak, and nearly doubling the present capacity.
In my mind and personal opinion the NCL should take precedence over CRR for my simple (timing) reasons above.

I acknowledge and accept that this is a minority (possibly singular) personal view here.
Does that deny my argument's validity? [rhetorical question only]

[Fares_Fair]

55. Facts outdo inaction. $4.57 billion output generation for Qld econ: Co-ord Gen Landsborough to Nambour 9 Nov 2011 #duplicatesuncoastrail

56. Facts outdo inaction. Landsborough-Nambour rail work would provide up to 659 jobs over 6 year construction time. #duplicatesuncoastrail

57. Facts outdo inaction. Landsborough-Nambour EIS says total jobs over 7 years = 2796 on av. at any point in time. #duplicatesuncoastrail

[Fares_Fair]

58. Landsborough to Nambour Rail project Coordinator-General's report on Environ. Impact Statemt, November 2011 says: #duplicatesuncoastrail

59. "Cost is estimated at $1.7 billion & is expected to create up to 659 jobs over the six-year construction time" #duplicatesuncoastrail

60. "The aim of upgrade is to improve the frequency, operating speeds & reliability of passenger & freight trains" #duplicatesuncoastrail

61. "The track capacity & alignment issues impact achievable operating speeds between Landsborough & Nambour... #duplicatesuncoastrail

62. "..with some services travelling at less than 50 km/hr on many sections of the track." #duplicatesuncoastrail

63. "The project designed for trains to have a minimum speed of 80 km/h, with desirable 160 km/h design standard" #duplicatesuncoastrail

64. "Current configuration causes delays to services, due to need for trains to wait in passing loops..." #duplicatesuncoastrail

65. "..or services passing in opposite direction, and then to turn back to access platforms." #duplicatesuncoastrail

66. "...many open level xings & ped. xings along existing corridor, can cause delays, safety & traffic concerns" #duplicatesuncoastrail

Landsborough - Nambour C-G Report 9 Nov 2011 says benefit of $4.57 Billion output generation to Qld economy from #duplicatesuncoastrail. Wow