Article: All aboard or miss the train

[ozbob]

An interesting perspective.

All aboard or miss the train

Our current and future transport worries are evident before we even start to consider the coming impacts of oil price and carbon limitations.

Southeast Queensland should embark immediately on a process of identifying its optimal rail-based integrated transit network for the period through to 2030. This network will require extensive implementation of subway and regional fast rail, as well as upgrading the existing rail network to a future-proofed (and derailment proof) 21st-century standard ....

From Courier Mail 2 Jan 08 click here!

All aboard or miss the train

Article from: The Courier-Mail

Chris Hale

January 02, 2008 12:02am

CONFUSION and disruption were the order of the day after a recent derailment in southeast Queensland.
Residents with a medium-term memory may remember other such incidents. More generally, visitors to Brisbane (or those who don't regularly ride the trains) can be surprised by the ride.

Brisbane trains seem to bump, bounce and shudder to a degree that is not considered "normal" in locations with more advanced rail networks.

Experts with an eye for technical performance will also tell us that Brisbane's trains accelerate and decelerate much slower than in a European or Japanese system. They might also point out the old-fashioned alignments ? with tight curves that are a legacy of 19th-century rail right-of-ways.

If they had a coffee or beer in front of them they may then express the opinion that perhaps the signalling and rail traffic control systems in our home town are not really state of the art.

After a further beer, or once the caffeine starts to make them jumpy, they may well launch into a broader tirade about the lack of care and attention that has been given our rail system, the poor state of many suburban stations, the immense workload required to turn these problems around. They may even lament the lack of skilled managerial, technical and engineering talent required.

In short, anyone with an eye for public transport networks, or just some plain common sense, will tell us that our suburban and regional rail system is at a turning point.

All of these problems are symptoms of a larger issue. For too long we have lived with the results of incremental maintenance to what is fundamentally a 19th-century rail system ? much of which was designed for use when industrial, load-carrying tasks were a more common application of railways.

In postwar Japan and Europe, engineers, planners and communities faced what might be described as a "post-crisis phase of opportunity" to look again at their transport systems. The result was the implementation of classic 20th-century rail systems within major cities like Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Nagoya, and in places like Vienna, Stuttgart and Munich ? all of which feature population sizes roughly similar to Brisbane.

They also took another leap of 20th-century engineering and industrial development by implementing high-speed rail networks to link these major cities with each other (and with some of their lower-profile neighbours).

During the same time period, Australian cities essentially stood still on rail network development ? in urban, suburban and regional applications. We convinced ourselves (due to wealth of apparent evidence) that the car was the transport mode of choice, and we spent our money accordingly.

Brisbane, and other Australian cities are now facing the need to rethink, redesign and rebuild their rail systems to 21st-century standards, in order to serve 21st-century urban growth, economic, social, environmental and lifestyle challenges.

A recent announcement that the Queensland Government is investigating the option of a single subway corridor over a 20-year implementation period got the topic right but the proposed time frame is wrong, and attention to broader context is missing.

Cities need to plan for 21st-century rail by first identifying something approximating an optimal rail network. Then they can move easily and logically into working on the corridors and projects that are best suited to immediate implementation. They can also decide which routes are worth holding over until the next five-year cycle.

A 20-year time period is suitable for the design and construction (or rebuilding) of an entire metropolitan rail network, not just a single subway tunnel. Wonderful networks were built over two decades during the early 20th century in New York or during the 1960s to 1980s in examples like Munich, Washington DC or San Francisco. If a single subway line linking Woolloongabba to the CBD is the only major urban subway line proposed to be implemented by 2027 (when our regional population will have increased by about 30 per cent), then we are in real trouble as a city.

Our current and future transport worries are evident before we even start to consider the coming impacts of oil price and carbon limitations.

Southeast Queensland should embark immediately on a process of identifying its optimal rail-based integrated transit network for the period through to 2030. This network will require extensive implementation of subway and regional fast rail, as well as upgrading the existing rail network to a future-proofed (and derailment proof) 21st-century standard.

Subway options need to connect the variety of key inner-urban activity centres. We also need to ensure development at places like Albion provides for high-standard transit infrastructure and service, upgradability and visionary station design.

The Woolloongabba to CBD line is an excellent idea, which may yet emerge as one of the hallmarks of the Bligh/Lucas era. The other obvious candidate subway corridor would link Indooroopilly, UQ, West End, South Brisbane to the CBD and on to the Valley. The UQ to CBD axis is already heavily enough travelled to make a mass transit link financially feasible.

The challenge in conceiving a 21st-century rail system is to start with the big picture before moving into the micro-level details.

This includes the recognition that developing new infrastructure will include choosing between a variety of options and performance standards.

Under a basic "level one" strategy for 21st-century rail, the bare minimum requirement is to thoroughly upgrade the existing rail network and to extend it into new corridors already identified by the Government.

These include Redcliffe, Ripley Valley, the Sunshine Coast including Maroochydore and Mooloolaba, and others. This task should be completed over something like a three to seven-year implementation period. Two or more key inner-urban subway corridors such as the Woolloongabba-CBD link and an Indooroopilly-UQ-CBD-Valley concept, should also be implemented to facilitate effective movement at the eye of the metropolitan transport storm.

An orbital middle-ring distributor could also come under consideration.

A "second-level" option would be to introduce higher performance in both the existing network and in the new corridors. Advanced signalling systems, better alignments and track standards, and faster trains could have us cruising along at close to 140km/h over certain stretches. New architect-designed stations would reposition rail travel as an attractive option.

Perhaps we should also consider the penetration of heavy rail beyond the inland corridor ? delivering passengers closer to the seaside population centres of the Gold Coast.

Links like this could be delivered via a combination of selective tunnelling and the clever co-use of highway rights-of-way (sure to feature much more heavily in rail corridor applications in future). Stations themselves should be positioned at the centre of TOD (Transit Orientated Development) style activity precincts.

The design challenges and new engineering solutions required, as well as the manufacture of advanced new rolling stock, would probably represent the most significant and meaningful industrial development exercise in the state's history.

Whether truly high-speed options are applicable is open to discussion in a detailed "level 3" inquiry process. Japan's Shinkansen, France's TGV and Germany's ICE systems all support cruising speeds of 250km/h for express trains linking significant centres (generally above 70,000 inhabitants ? many of which exist in SEQ).

We need to actively consider the benefits of this level of service before we throw the idea of fast rail out. The necessity for fast rail express service in 2015 to 2030, for a future region of about 3.5 million wealthy residents, is reasonably foreseeable at this point.

This standard of infrastructure would also provide the platform to extend to destinations in New South Wales. For a long time we have been silent on the question of an eventual high-speed connection through to Newcastle and Sydney.

Another wildcard is emerging at "level 4". Many transport pundits and planners are seriously underestimating the viability and implementation-readiness of the Maglev system ? such as the one built in Shanghai by Europe's Transrapid consortium.

The successful Shanghai system is likely to be extended in a coming second phase. Munich is also in the process of finalising agreement to move ahead with a central city to airport link which would cover the 35km stretch "in 10 minutes, every 10 minutes". The system in Munich is to be tunnelled through built-up areas ? and will then swing on to available freeway corridor space. The freeway routes may be slightly out of the direct path, but the Maglev's high speed (up to 450km/h) allows it to make up the extra time and save on land acquisition headaches.

Highly regarded transport planners and engineers in Europe see the Maglev as a viable system that is about to take off around the world.

Overall, it is time that transport planners and government started to follow the most basic of transport planning principles for regional and metropolitan networks.

They need to start by nominating all our major centres. Then they need to move on to identifying the optimal overall system to connect them. From there they can perform an evaluation of which corridors deserve immediate action, and engage in an open discussion of the technology and service levels that are appropriate for a leading 21st-century metropolis.

Seamlessness and efficiency would be designed into regional and urban movements. Taking new train infrastructure seriously offers the opportunity to bind the region together ? including the potential to directly link the Gold and Sunshine coasts' major centres for the first time.

Our starting point at this moment is to lift the cone of silence and broaden our reference points regarding the possibilities and opportunities at hand.

Chris Hale is an urban economist with UQ's Centre for Transport Strategy

[ozbob]

On a recent visit to Melbourne I walked along part of the former outer circle railway in the general area from Murrumbeena/Hughesdale on the Pakenham line to Dandendong road (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Circle_railway_line,_Melbourne ).  The early planners had great vision, if the outer circle was still in situ today it would be a major mass transit corridor relieving a lot of the CBD radial axis congestion in Melbourne.  Similar problems in Brisbane.  Radial transport feeds with limited laterals.

Part of the old outer circle railway (now a longitudinal park) at Murrumbeena Victoria.



Photograph R Dow 24 Dec 2007
 

From the article:

An orbital middle-ring distributor could also come under consideration.

Essential.  Time to restore full time rail services from Corinda to Yeerongpilly for example as a precursor.

[SteelPan]

YEP, YES, SPOT-On,
If only the Courier Mail would keep the pressure on and run more of these types of articles and put the HOPLESS QT/QR Senior Leadership and the POLITICANS under sustained pressure.
Please do not tell me they are "planning" (over 20yrs of course)  a single track subway for inner-Brisbane or do they mean two tracks?    IF we did build a single track system, we will go down as the Greatest Bunch of UNSmart Twits to ever work this Dragon Infested, Flat Earth, Centre of the Universe State of Queensland!  But look where they built Robina Station in relation to the main shopping are???

Well done Chris Hale, if only our political system could allow you to be appointed Transport Minister for a Decade or Two.

MORE RAIL, MORE RAIL....MORE RAIL.....