29 Sep 2009: SEQ: Call to accelerate Cross River Rail Project

[ozbob]

Media Release 29 September 2009

SEQ:  Call to accelerate Cross River Rail Project

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport commuters has called for an acceleration of the Cross River Rail Project (1).

Robert Dow, spokesperson for RAIL Back On Track said:

"The major choke point on the QR Citytrain network is the CBD axis. To quote from the project web site (1) 'The inner city is the hub of south east Queensland?s rail network. There is a bottleneck in the inner city rail network, which by 2016, will restrict the number of trains and passengers from around south east Queensland moving into and through the city.'

"We would suggest that the timeline 2016 is overly optimistic.  We have already started to reach a point where there are restrictions on some lines.  There is still some capacity to increase service frequency on the Ipswich - Caboolture rail corridor for example, but options are much more restricted on the main southern line at peak. Some innovative thinking will need to be done to fully utilise the upgrades and extensions on the Gold Coast line.  For example some services may need to run via Tennyson."

"One way of spreading peak loads is to use the go card as a differential fare pricing instrument.  Encouraging early, late and off peak travel via fare discounts, which in effect makes peak travel premium, would be the next logical step. Melbourne's free early bird scheme has been a big winner with savings and gains for their public transport network (2)."

"The long term neglect of our rail network is starting to bite.  There are a number of significant upgrades in progress but unless the capacity constraint through the CBD is addressed gains will be minimal.  It is essential that the Cross River Rail Project be fast tracked."

References:

1.  http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/Home/Projects_and_initiatives/Projects/Cross_river_rail/

2,  Sleepy commuters doing bit to save state $85m http://www.theage.com.au/national/sleepy-commuters-doing-bit-to-save-state-85m-20090926-g76y.html

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org