13 Mar 2012: SEQ: Sunshine Coast Line - an opportunity to revitalise ....

[ozbob]

Media release 13 March 2012

SEQ: Sunshine Coast Line - an opportunity to revitalise Nambour and Palmwoods town centres

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, wants the Sunshine Coast Line (SCL) duplication to be fast-tracked so as to revitalise the hearts of two traditional railway towns.

In Nambour today, Robert Dow Spokesperson for RAIL Back On Track said:

"Today, RAIL Back On Track calls on the major political parties to commit to a 'decade of action' that will see a duplicated Sunshine Coast Line linking Brisbane and Nambour with continuous dual rail tracks by 2022, not in 2031 as envisaged currently.

"We also believe it is possible to bring forward plans for new railway stations at Nambour and Palmwoods that will spearhead redevelopment of both town centres.  The new stations will support the Coast's depressed construction industry while revitalising the local economy.  Demonstrable government support for Nambour, in particular, will work towards restoring its place as the 'heart of the hinterland'.

"The state government proposes an immediate $4 million upgrade of the existing Nambour railway station to allow disability access to station facilities.  This upgrade is supposed to be completed by the end of June 2012.  To the $4 million committed already, RAIL Back On Track proposes expenditure of an additional $21 million ($25 million in total) to bring forward the full upgrade of the Nambour railway station and transit centre in 2015-16, when the state budget is due to come into surplus.

"Meanwhile, plans for a Palmwoods business centre upgrade is subject to a land battle between the Sunshine Coast Council and the state government.  The debate centres around a 1ha parcel of state-owned land behind the IGA supermarket in Main Street, to the west of the existing Palmwoods railway station.  The council is eyeing the land for a 'place-making' redevelopment that would link the old and new shopping precincts in the town, as well as open to the proposed new Palmwoods railway station.

"However, Queensland Rail says the land is required as a staging area for emergency and maintenance operations associated with the SCL duplication, which is being pushed back and back, thereby stalling the orderly development of the Palmwoods town centre.  An alternative site exists to the east of the railway line, but Queensland Rail wants a developer, or the council, to meet the costs of relocating maintenance facilities to the new location.

"It is a Catch 22 situation because the state government's delay in duplicating the SCL at least until 2031 has become a stumbling block for urban renewal.  The bureaucratic bickering must stop.  The track duplication must be brought forward.

Jeff Addison, RAIL Back On Track Sunshine Coast Region spokesperson, said:

"It's time candidates for all political parties stopped speaking in generalities about the SCL upgrade and undertook to spell out how a future state government will fund and build this project.  And it must be over 10 years, not 20, if we are to provide the heavy rail capability that the Sunshine Coast needs.

"The hinterland towns are the economic and community hubs of activity for the rural areas of the Sunshine Coast.  Therefore creating and enhancing vibrant, attractive and well functioning town centres should help ensure strong, sustainable rural communities.

"The Sunshine Coast Council has been critical at the way government transit agencies have not adopted a holistic plan for the Nambour railway station precinct and has failed to work with the council to develop a project that has the potential to be a game changer for the wider Nambour community. 

"In particular, the Department of Transport and Main Roads, TransLink and Queensland Rail have proceeded to undertake various works and studies, among them the disability access facilities, the bus station redevelopment, the examination of a location for a train stabling yard at Nambour and additional car parking in isolation of each other.  There is no station precinct 'master plan'. 

"The potential is for each element to interfere with the next in a planning and functional sense and to ignore the synergies that could be created by developing the station area as a whole, with each element fully integrated with the next.

"The station is a barrier to pedestrian movement from one side of town to the other.  This needs to be addressed.  It is possible for the area around Petrie Creek to become the site for a hotel or apartments, linked across the station site to the town centre via walkways accessing a second platform.  Additional station car parking is required, the station should be more visible and linked via concourse to Currie Street and options explored for extending the Nambour Civic Centre above the transit centre.

Likewise, transport planners need to engage meaningfully with the people of Palmwoods about the shape and form of their town ahead of a track duplication between Eudlo and Palmwoods on the planned new track alignment.

As is desirable at Nambour, a joint planning approach with the Sunshine Coast Council is the way forward.  The track widening and straightening will impact on future residential growth at Paskins Road and Jubilee Drive, the Palmwoods Bowls Club will have to move, while Kolora Park and its 'duck pond' will be impacted by the preferred alignment further east. 

"A major supermarket development has had to be put on hold because of a 'do nothing until 2031' approach by government.  Its development is seen as critical to stopping a loss of shopping dollars to nearby Woombye and Nambour and to the viability of other existing shops in town.

"A whole-of-government solution is required, involving Queensland Rail, the council and relevant state government agencies.  And a decision to act must occur now," Mr Addison said.

References:

http://www.deedi.qld.gov.au/cg/resources/project/landsborough-nambour/landsborough-to-nambour-CG-report-091111.pdf

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2011/11/10/the-rail-that-fails/

http://translink.com.au/about-translink/what-we-do/infrastructure-projects/nambour-station-upgrade

http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/~/media/fb79d8a7-845f-477e-9154-e5c4b0b89291/pdflandnambfactsheet27.pdf

Contacts:

Jeff Addison
Sunshine Coast Region Spokesperson for RAIL Back On Track

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

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