19 Jan 2012: SEQ: THE CLEVELAND SOLUTION: THE LEVEL CROSSING CONUNDRUM

[ozbob]

Media release 19th January 2012

SEQ: THE CLEVELAND SOLUTION: THE LEVEL CROSSING CONUNDRUM

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 has highlighted the fact that whilst the Cleveland Solution has been touted as a cheaper alternative to Cross River Rail, what has received no mention in the SEQ Council of Mayors report is the impact it would have on level crossings (1).

RAIL Back On Track member Gavin Seipelt said:

"Currently 8 trains per hour arrive in the city from the Cleveland line per hour in peak. Each holds 1000 passengers, giving an hourly capacity of 8000."

"The Cleveland solution proposes using more compact 600 passenger trains in order to negotiate the tight turns of the proposed new tunnels. At least 14 of these trains must be run into the CBD per hour from Cleveland in order to simply match current capacity."

"However the Cleveland and Ferny Grove lines will be linked, meaning 28 trains per hour, when both directions are added together."

"What this means is that boom gates along the line will be dropping around every 2 minutes in peak periods. Gates will have barely risen before closing again for the next train, causing traffic chaos!

"In future years, as more trains along the corridor need to be run, saturation would occur.

"Whenever RAIL Back On Track has raised this very simple geometric and mathematical fact to SEQ Council of Mayors we have been met with unrelated spin quoted directly from the report, rather than an answer to the question.

"The fact is, for the Cleveland Solution to even basically match how the corridor runs today, level crossing removal is essential.

"With 17 level crossings along the Ferny Grove – Cleveland corridor and an average cost of $100-150 million per removal, it's an inescapable cost of around 2 Billion or more.

"Yet the SEQ Council of Mayors report only allocates $400 Million over the next 5 years for level crossing removal, and this money is shared across all lines!

"The important point is that the costing for Cross River Rail includes everything needed for the line to operate in the real world, and has had a full cost benefit analysis performed.

"It is misleading to say the Cleveland Solution is a better, cheaper alternative, if  additional spending, which must be done alongside the project is being  left out of the equation to make the numbers look good, and the analysis is cost only."

Reference:

1.  http://www.councilofmayorsseq.qld.gov.au/docs/Publications/COMSEQ-Public-Transport-in-SEQ_LOW-RES.pdf

Contacts:

Gavin Seipelt
RAIL Back On Track Member

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

[ozbob]

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