10 Jun 2008: Queensland - Rail is back!

[ozbob]

Media Release 10 June 2008

Queensland:  Rail is back!

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport users has called for a renewed and urgent commitment for rapid rail expansion . The money should be redirected from the flawed road and road tunnel projects that will only compound the public transport crisis in south-east Queensland as oil shortages and fuel prices impact severely.

Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:

?RAIL Back On Track has consistently highlighted the need to put in place sustainable mass transit and freight transport solutions.?

?It is clear that there is a massive shift under way in the major cities of Australia to public transport.  This is being driven by the relentless price rise of oil which will only continue as this commodity becomes exhausted.?

?The failure to pro-actively put in place sustainable mass transit options in south-east Queensland is now obvious to all. Come for a ride on the 6.44am QR urban service from Oxley to the CBD any weekday morning and see for yourself!  Ask the stranded commuters at bus stops as full buses pass them by!?

?Queensland is not unique in terms of this public transport myopia. A recent report in the Sydney Morning Herald  has highlighted the same basic problem of not enough public transport resources in Sydney for example (1).  Melbourne is also desperately trying to cope with an overloaded public transport system due to years of inadequate resourcing and the perverse outcomes of the privatisation of public transport.?

?There are global signs too. For example, in the USA there has been the fall in vehicle miles travelled for the first time since 1979 (2).?

?The huge bias to road funding is now completely misplaced.  We need more rail infrastructure, urban, interurban and national.?

?The Queensland Sustainability Minister McNamara recently warned of looming oil shortages and the need to prepare now. The nation and the state are wasting billions of dollars on roads, bridges and tunnels which will become useless as peak oil shortages hit.?

?Here is a list of some immediate rail priorities:

1.  Build the Richlands to Springfield  line with stations at Ellen Grove and Springfield Lakes as well as Springfield Central now as the Darra to Richlands construction is done.

2.  Duplication of the rail line to Cleveland.

3.  Quadruplication from Darra to Ipswich.

4.  Commence the line from Petrie to Kippa-Ring.

5.  Introduce a south-west loop service Central to Yeerongpilly, Sherwood, Milton, Exhibition and back to Central in both directions which would give passengers options other than transiting through the CBD when travelling cross suburbs. Also provides a service to Tennyson and Exhibition. Re-open Normanby railway station and integrate with the Normanby bus station (3).

6.  All country lines to remain intact. More country passenger and freight services provided.  Consider hybrid rail-motors for rural services.

7.  Rail commuter services to be introduced from Toowoomba to Ipswich.?

8.  Extension underground Brisbane city rail loop.

?Translink (and government) are transfixed on buses.  It isn?t working now and won't work when the fuel escalates greatly in costs either.  A 30% increase in passenger numbers across the system in the last three years is a harbinger of future shock. QR had a 9% increase in passengers in just a single year, 2006-2007.?

?The recent announcement in the state budget of a further 58 three car trains is welcome, but more will be needed (4).

?The high capacity bus routes will need to be converted to electric light rail to have any hope of coping with the huge passenger demands that will be made on the system. Buses will not cope.  To pretend buses will is absolute folly. The Gold Coast Rapid Transit system should be light rail to be sustainable and be able to handle the passenger loading demands.?

?Rail ? light and heavy, is the sustainable bulk people mover.  By ramping up the QR urban and interurban system to a high capacity frequent service this will take the pressure off the radial bus network. More lateral bus routes and feeder services will complement the high frequency rail commuter services.?

?Time that we act and look to a sustainable transport future!?

References:

1.  http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/petrol-crisis-fuels-crush/2008/05/29/1211654221491.html

2.  http://www.dot.gov/affairs/fhwa1108.htm

3.  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=990.0

4.  http://backontrack.org/mbs/index.php?topic=969.0

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org

[richard]

Bob

Looks like a good list, but a couple of comments.

Not sure what value the line from Roma St to Exhibition would be - there is the school but not much else that I can see that would take people off the roads and onto rail.  It makes it easy to turn back trains, but I don't see any other value.  Possible exception would be the RBH.

Secondly, you are not suggesting much action north of the river.  THe loop trains you are suggesting may be better running through the city stations and turning back at Northgate, which would add travel time but would effectively service all of the inner suburban 'main line' (as I think we have discussed here before.  In addition, the Wamuran line could be electrified for a small part of the distance, providing a station aimed at motorists with significant parkling available. Why have the main station in the middle of town?  Presumably similar comments could apply to Beenleigh and Ferny Grove

Not sure what the current capacity is on the Petrie line, but adding Redcliffe trains, and additional services when the north coast line is expanded, would, I imagine stretch it.  Suggest quad to Petrie at least.  That would allow more effective express running - every second or third Caboolture train stops Cab-Petire, Strathpine, Northgate, Eagle Junction only, with the intermediate stations covered by sweepers from Petrie or Caboolture.

Keep up the good work!

[jason]

Brisbane doesn't need increase tracks on existing routes

What higher capacity trains (including double deck trains), breaking existing lines into more managable sections, like breaking the beenleigh line into 2 segments (say at Kuraby) and running all day express trains between beenleigh and kuraby to the city, similar to the gold coast line.

The darra to Ipswich line doesn't need to be quadruplicfied, There is current investigations to remove all frieght services from this section of track, so this would be a waste of tax payers money. Removing freight movement from commuter sections of the network is more effecient, especially if Toowoomba is used as the main freight corridor south.

I wondering why Robert Dow (Ozbob) keeps refering to specific services from Darra.

Trains aren't the total answer, they are not a door-to-door service, more often than not most commuters live more than 1km from a train station, up to 5km, bus services are more effecient, able to provide door-to-door service, across town services by-passing the CBD, and Transit Orientated Developments, especially those outside the CBD

The amount of increase public transport user in SE QLD was higher than any one could have expected it to have been, therefor no mone could realistically have predicted the amount of new users. Yes services were becoming overcrowded, but i don't believe anyone could have honestly say that they predicted the number of new users

The Petrie to Kippa-Ring line is another line that should not proceed in its current form. This corridor is reaching residential density capacity, with new developments occuring closer to Northlakes than Redcliffe. The proposed line has no significant potential increase in trafficover then next 20 to 50 years unless high rise style development occurs.

A better use of this corridor would be to relocate Sandgate Station south of its current location, redirecting the Sandgate line via Redcliffe linking back onto the Caboolture line. Continue the Aiport Line to the North Coast line as well. The idea is to run half the North Coast Services via the airport, freeing up  Airport Services and redistributing services ( a network system similar to Cityrails Airport Line and Peak Services ), this would provide services all day as existing service would be redirected via the airport. 30min or better service on the airport deviation and 30min or better service on the Northgate to Toombul section, with 15min or better service between Toombul and City. Services would also connect at Northgate.

The Toowoomba service is a great idea, but unfortunately anyone who has actually used the passenger service or travelled by car down the range knows in its current form, this is not a viable service. Trains take too long to travel down the range. The previous govt started to investigate this but failed to take seriously any further development of this line as part of the proposed freight route to Sydney and Melbourne. As long as its faster to commute from toowoomba to brisbane by car, rail system will never be utilised, even with heavy congesion along the Ipswich motorway

The bias to road funding is greatly misued in the article here, majority of road funding is not primarily associated with commuter traffic, which equates to 3 to 4 hours, 5 days a week. Freight vehicles make up majority of traffic on the roads, as they operate a more consistant 24hrs a day / 7 days a week. Until freight movement moves back to rail, road will require more funding than rail.

Running a loop service on the Beenleigh -Tennyson - Ipswich lines is a great idea, a 30min bi-directional service would allow train services beyond to run services to the city

Undergound City Loop services is a bad idea in its current form. Why would you suggest opening the Ekka line than suggest inner city loop, this would create too many lines in one area. Ideally, central station section would be decommishened creating a single loop service Roma Street - Central - Parliment - Riverside - Brunswick - SPring Hill - Ekka - Normanby loop with all lines entering  the loop similar to Melbourne's Rail System. THis would also allow a turnback style system ( similar to Bondi Junction and other Sydney Lines, as well as end stations on Busways ) allowing trains to continue without major dwelling times at Central.

The statement about bus vs rail patronage increases is misleading. More passangers travel by bus and bus patronage is increasing more than trains, as they service the wider community, both point to point and point to CBD than rail could. Buses are also more direct than rail. A bus from Logan Central to the City via the SE Busway is faster during Peak hour than a train from Logan Centrak (Woodridge) to Central. Train are also only effective for trips longer than 30 minutes from their destination. Most bus services are designed for maximium trips generally up to 30 minutes. As most of Brisbane's population lives withing 30min of the CBD buses are more effective than heavy rail. The Busway network has been designed with light rail in mind.

Until entry price of light rail decreases, costs of light rail greatly prohibts implementation.  Light rail needs to reduce in price be km to become entry economically viable.

Busway network needs to be expanded throughout the brisbane suburbs ( 30min travel time to CBD ), expand dedicated services to Loganholme, The Gap, Indooroopilly / Kenmore, continue the Boggo Road - Uq to Indooroopilly, TradeCoast Central and Port of Brisbane, Eightmile Plains - Carindale - Murrarrie - Airport (via Gateway Motorway) to Northern Busway and Kingsford Smith Drive. As most transport users don't use the CBD as their Destination, it makes sense to provide more across city services, that by-pass the city. This would also reduce the number of trips into the CBD (similar to the Boggo Road UQ busway dereased the number of UQ students accessing the CBD from Eight Mile Plains, Carindale and Sunnybank.

This would allow light rail in the future to be used on the busway when entry costs decrease. Also Trams need to impove on time running. Currently Melbourne's Yarra Trams on-time performance for May 2008 82.64%. Compared to QR running approximtely 90%, this is less than acceptable. Also Yarra Trams also experience major delays and closures during rain events, problems not affecting heavy rail and buses as they have better traction.

But in economic terms an above ground tram system is more cost effective solution for CBD than any inner city capacity increase or metro could offer.




In this long response, its not to say that anyone solution ( rail / bus / tram ) is the answer, but a mixture.
* Rail is not good for inner city trip (trips less than 30min ).
* likewise buses aren't viable for trips longer than 30 min. busway network needs to be expanded in inner CBD and cross town services.
* Light rail is a great alternative to buses for inner city trips, but entry costs for track, overhead gantry and vehicle costs impeed this. The cost of track per km / per passenger is higher than bus on busway.  The recovery cost for the State Govt is a lot higher and will take a lot longer than any other form up public transport.
* move back from road to rail for major freight services to help offset the costs of upgrading and new lines throughout Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba and North Coasts. QR makes more money per km for frieght delivery than passenger services.
* higher capicity train services, longer sets and double decker trains
* review inner city capicity study, remove current central station from commuter service ( maybe used as an intercity / interstate terminal instea of Roma Street).

Whats not often considered by most people is other factors that influence decision making processes. Entry Costs, Running Costs, Visual and property impacts, passengers per km, car capacity, expected growth in patronage, is it point to point or are passengers using CBD as an interchange point.

It should be noted that the congstion of the SE Busway at between Mater Hill / Woollongabba / Buranda will be greatly reduced once the the Boggo Road Connector opens. up to 40 buses per peak hour will be removed from this section as total running time and service improvements are introduced when it opens. Buses are able to reach their destination quicker and return for their next service sooner. This will also allow more buses to be redistributed across the city.

In nearly every post that is posted by OzBob here seems to be self-servicing his own trip between darra and CBD, no other section. Are there any other administators here than can comment on any other parts of QR network, or is he the only administator. It seems ashame as all the "Media Releases" I have never seen any media release in any paper except the one on a linked forum, or comments he has made on talk back shows along with other callers.

Are there any other professional planners, Economists etc here. I have degrees in Business Economics and Town Planning and have worked on studied in Australia and overseas for various govenments, have been involved in research and implementation of Heavy and  Light Rail, Buses and bicycle, and i'm interesting if and what other professionals have to say

[ozbob]

Thanks for your comments Jason.

I live near Darra and I have a particular interest in that area. As do other members with respect to various lines in there areas.  I am using Darra as a demonstration of how local interest can be highlighted.  If other members wish to do like wise they are most welcome and often do.

We get a lot of press coverage on the various issues we raise. Wether we do or not is largely irrelevant from my perspective though. This is purely a voluntary hobby for us.

We are a community group, so I expect the professional colleagues you enquire about are not that common here.  We are not experts and don't profess to be.  I think that is one reason why the media is interested in our comments as we don't have any agenda other than improved transport outcomes.

Cheers
Ozbob

[richard]

A couple of comments on Jason's message.  I  agree with things that he said, but there are couple of matters I want to raise.

higher capacity trains (including double deck trains)

this idea is frequently mentioned in chats like this, but are usually scant on detail. What would this look like?  Trains can get longer (meaning that all platforms and some track arrangements would have to change), get higher (bridges and tunnels would have to be lowered (remember the drama when they lowered the floor in the tunnels in the 70s?) or get wider (changng the loading gauge and distance between platforms), they would have to burrow (lower the floor under structures like bridges and tunnels)  or people would have to squash up (maybe remove the seats to create more room - people already bitch about standing up.


breaking existing lines into more managable sections, like breaking the beenleigh line into 2 segments (say at Kuraby) and running all day express trains between beenleigh and kuraby to the city, similar to the gold coast line.   

Excellent idea (reflects what I said in my earlier post) but contradicts your suggestion that we do not need additional trackage. 

I like the idea of a line from Sandgate to Redcliffe.  Realistically, it wouold need to come near North Boondall and parallel the Deagon Deviation, but if it could thread through Brighton it would service that population on its way to the bridge.  But let's get even more ambitious.  Why not extend the discussed line from the Ferny Grove branch to Carseldine through Bracken Ridge and on to Redcliffe!

The other issue is that any rail development needs to be matched with feeder buses and car parking.

[ozbob]

Increases in  public transport patronage will require further investment in all modes, but particularly rail to provide the bulk capacity.

We need more lateral and feeder bus routes to complement increases in rail frequency.

It is refreshing to see the change in attitude of Governments - Federal, State and Local to the need to maximise public transport use and availability.  Many have been warning governments for  years for the need to prepare, the time has now arrived.

Light rail is a sensible solution for high density heavy loading routes.  It is sustainable and efficient for the long term.

Our QR network can be doubled in frequency, with a broadening of the peak shoulders. Other initiatives such as more decentralisation, work time changes, incentive ticketing (off peak, early bird and so forth) will also help.  The go card has much potential for incentive ticketing schemes as well.

Very interesting times!

[ozbob]

Interesting collection of letters to the editor in Courier Mail today (13th June)  seems many citizens agree with the general thrust of more rail and the underground extensions.