20 Mar 2011: SEQ: Make proper use of Queensland Rail assets ...

[ozbob]

Media release 20 March 2011

SEQ: Make proper use of Queensland Rail assets before building Brisbane subways

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport passengers believes that improvements to the current Queensland Rail services to provide a metro-style service must be considered before building subways. Cross River Rail is of course, priority number one.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

"RAIL Back on Track refers to recent comments in the media suggesting that Cross River Rail should be scrapped (1). RAIL Back on Track has always welcomed the Cross River Rail Project. While subways could certainly be looked at along with alternatives such as 'high-end' rapid-transit grade light rail, Cross River Rail will still have to proceed anyway. It must not be scrapped because other councils outside Brisbane are also experiencing explosive growth and these places also need to access jobs in the Brisbane CBD. One of the limiting factors on this access to jobs is the Merivale Railway bridge, there just aren't any more slots for new train services on that bridge during peak hour. Cross River Rail has  real benefits in terms of capacity and frequency gains over the entire urban and interurban rail network and this is why it is essential."

"Brisbane also has a significant amount of completely underutilised Queensland Rail infrastructure (2). The number of train stations within South East Queensland outnumber busway stations five to one. We have continually proposed Rail Rapid Transit in the form of 'Train Upgrade Zones' in Brisbane which is a rapid-transit quality, metro-style train service fed by feeder buses and existing bus routes(2-6. Indooroopilly rail station would be a perfect candidate for this."

"This can be done now where current infrastructure permits with no new trains and does not prevent the future installation of a subway elsewhere in Brisbane. Simple measures such as a proper bus-train interchange at Indooroopilly would allow people to connect to the improved Queensland Rail services and would have benefits sooner rather than later."

"The multi-billions for 'Car Rapid Transit' - a low capacity, expensive to build, high user toll, high pollution and unsafe mode would have been better spent on proper public transport options like orbital 'ring road' bus routes like Melbourne SmartBus and an improved Queensland Rail network (7-10)."

"RAIL Back on Track calls for 'Car Rapid Transit' funds to be diverted to fund proper mass and rapid transit transformations of our existing and future public transport systems."

Contact:

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org

References:

1. 'Scrap cross-river rail': Lord Mayor
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/scrap-crossriver-rail-lord-mayor-20110318-1c0c9.html?comments=16#comments

2. SEQ: Why our "Busways on Steel Wheels" must be better used
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=5432.0

3. SEQ: A Train Upgrade Zone between Petrie and the CBD?
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=5407.0

4. Metro-style frequency Darra to CBD?
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=5380.0

5. Train Upgrade Zones (TUZ)
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=5385.0

6. Think bus, fill train!
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=5339.0

7. SEQ: "Car rapid transit" is NOT the only option for Kingsford Smith Drive
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=5166.0

8. SEQ: Core Frequent Network 2011 - If the price goes up, service levels must go up too!
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=5193.0

9. SEQ: Focus on building the core frequent public transport network needed now
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=5290.0

10. SEQ:  Time to get more from our scarce taxes
http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=5355.0

[#Metro]

This is the Barcelona Metro, it has 160 + stations.
South East Queensland has almost 150 QR train stations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona_Metro

Look at the line lengths, they are very similar to the line lengths on the Doomben, Shorncliffe, Ferny Grove and inner core parts of the Ipswich (say to Darra), Cleveland (say to Manly) and Beenleigh (say to Kuraby) lines.

Line    Length
L1 20.700 km
L2 13.700 km
L3 18.400 km
L4 16.700 km
L5 18.900 km
L6 5.384 km
L7 4.634 km
L8 11.266 km
L9 3.9 km

Just so there is no misunderstanding, none of this is to say that metros or whatever can't be a future option in Brisbane.
The separate system, high peak capacity and potential automation are useful features.

But it would be total madness to start spending billions of dollars on metros when that money could be used to unblock
and upgrade the current rail system to take more capacity. This was one deciding factor in the axing of the Sydney metro- the comparative benefit of spending billions on a short metro in the CBD or spending that money on existing rail infrastructure that could have effects for tens of kilometres outside the CBD. Unless the metro was built parallel to all the QR train stations in Brisbane (Heaven forbid) it would not improve off-peak mobility for people living around those stations.

Remember population growth is also going to impact on the existing rail system too, and so in any scenario that will require upgrading anyway.
What people need is proper services on existing trains first.

When a person goes to catch public transport, they don't complain that "oh, it wasn't a metro", they complain that the train takes too long to wait for, that the services don't go where they want to go and that the frequency is very limited outside peak hours and on weekends. These are all to do with service, not vehicle type.