Sunshine Coast Line - stabling

[ozbob]

From the Sunshine Coast Daily 12th March 2014

Woombye train shed

[Arnz]

^

With Woombye being identified as the replacement for Nambour, I would guess that rules out any short/medium term additional Cooroy/Gympie North services (apart from either extending or making the Tilt Train paper ticket trials permanent).

Elimbah from what I've been told (and also said by HTG on this board) will ultimately replace the Caboolture stabling yard.

[SurfRail]

^ I'm not sure of that.  The yard would presumably have to be accessible from both ends so I don't think it would be an operational issue to get more trains up there based on the yard's location - the problem is getting through other traffic and convincing TransLink to pay for more services.  The yard at Nambour is not really in a different position.

[Stillwater]

It won't happen overnight, but removal of the stabling yard at Nambour, to be replaced by one at Woombye, allows for the station redevelopment to occur at Nambour.  It is on land with greater value.

I wonder whether the installation of a stabling yard at Woombye would result in the NCL at Woombye being constructed to its new alignment, consistent with the Beerburrum-Nambour track duplication?

[Fares_Fair]

There was a story tonight on Channel 7 local news regarding the proposed Woombye train stabling facility for 8 six-car sets of the new generation rolling stock in 2016.
I heard that there is a local action group who are not happy with the proposal or are trying to find out what the proposal entails.

Apparently, the group and Cr Jenny McKay went to Nambour station at 9pm on Saturday night to observe what happens at a train stabling facility with cleaning, noise and lights etc.

I didn't see it as I was still on a train (no surprises there).
Anyone see it?

[Stillwater]

Some links:

http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Projects/Name/S/South-East-Queensland-Rail-Stabling-Program.aspx

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/train-cleaning-shed-on-the-cards-for-woombye/2185454/

http://www.mysunshinecoast.com.au/articles/article-display/observing-nambour-rail-stabling-site-after-dark,33495#.UyhIxIuKDC4

[Stillwater]

Is there any indication that stabling currently located at Nambour will shut down, freeing up that land, once the Woombye facility is built?

[Fares_Fair]

I have been invited to represent Rail Back on Track for the Woombye Community Reference Group.

Any questions you may have about the rail stabling facility, you can call their free-call information hotline on 1800 783 334.
Information is also provided on the Queensland Rail website, just search 'rail stabling'
You may also email them: stabling@qr.com.au

Our first meeting was held on Monday, 17 August, 2015.
It outlined the agreed meeting protocols and procedures and listed the expected meeting dates and times in the future.

It also outlined a list of topics to be addressed at each meeting, with relevant expertise invited to attend those meetings and answer any questions that are raised, and address any concerns pertaining to the proposed facility.

Our first meeting topic was Site Selections, and it examined the rationale and economic determinations for the particular site at Woombye, with comparisons made and information provided on the other sites that were initially proposed for broad examination.

Further information may be found under the link below:
http://www.queenslandrail.com.au/inthecommunity/projects/major-infrastructure-projects/site-selections

Rail Stabling Sites:

Banyo 4 x 6-car trains
Elimbah 8 x 6-car trains
Robina 4 x 6-car trains (additional to current capacity) 
Woombye 4 x 6-car trains
Kippa-Ring Up to 10 x 6-car trains

'For Your Information' Fact sheets are also distributed at each meeting.

[Fares_Fair]

Hello SW,

The Woombye facility will have stabling for 4 x 6 car sets.
There are no plans to shut down the Nambour stabling facility at this time.

[Arnz]

I wonder if the Elimbah stabling yard is in addition to the existing Caboolture yard as well.

[Fares_Fair]

I attended the most recent Woombye Community Reference Group (CRG) Meeting held on Tuesday 15th September, 2015.

The record of discussion for August 2015 is posted here: www.queenslandrail.com.au/stabling.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate in contacting a member of the Project Team on 1800 783 334 or send an email to: stabling@qr.com.au


I have attached the September 2015 record of discussion for your information here.

[Fares_Fair]

G'day Arnz,

The Elimbah yard will be created to stable 8 x 6-car trains.
I know this doesn't answer your question but it may if you know how many are currently stabled at Caboolture.

Also the local media reported that as a result of the extra stabling there would be an additional 9 daily services to/from Nambour.
4 southbound (to city) and 5 northbound (from Caboolture.. City??)
Some of the Rail buses will obviously go - there's currently 13 in each direction week-days.

[Fares_Fair]

On behalf of Rail Back on Track, I attended the Woombye Community Reference Group (CRG) Meeting held on Monday 12th October, 2015.

Discussion was focussed on the Environmental / Ecological considerations and its' most recent report and the Hydrological Study being prepared by Aurecon.
Project Managers are Leighton Contractors.

A detailed explanation of what the Hydrologic (flood and water flows) study included ensued, with time for questions.
Any questions not able to be answered directly are placed on notice for an answer in writing to attendees (decision made at this meeting to save time).

A map was distributed showing the location/s of the Grey-Headed Flying Fox, the Tusked Frog and the Grey Goshawk, these species being determined to be of significance according to State and Commonwealth Governments.

Some interesting facts to emerge:
Lights will automatically dim after 1 hour of non-movement.
The lights are directional LED type.
Lux (light of 1 candle at 1m) levels at various points were noted, e.g. access paths: max. 42 Lux, min. 21 Lux.

The Hydrologic study is compared to real-life circumstances and records (in its model) to ensure its accuracy.
It takes into account climate change.
It is to ensure that there are no adverse impacts to any surrounding properties.
It ensures that there are no changes to existing wetland areas (or dry areas) within the site.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate in contacting a member of the Project Team on 1800 783 334 or send an email to: stabling@qr.com.au

[Fares_Fair]

Woombye Rail Stabling Facility

Environment Management Facts Sheet attached here for download:

[Fares_Fair]

For the record, once the Woombye Stabling is opened and working (commissioning due late 2016), there will be an additional 9 daily services (4 southbound) and (5 northbound) between the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane, weekdays.

This will create effective off-peak frequency services of approx. 60 minutes (from the current 90 minutes).
These new services will cover the inter-peak period and the period after the afternoon peak.

[Fares_Fair]

SEQ Stabling Program
Woombye Community Update
November 2015 Newsletter pp1-2

[Fares_Fair]

SEQ Stabling Program
Woombye Community Update
November 2015 Newsletter pp3-4

[Stillwater]

QR seems to have pulled out all stops to inform the people of Woombye about the stabling facility just south of the town's railway station, including the formation of a community reference group.  This was not always the case.  There was a point in time when QR misjudged the extent to which the people of Woombye wanted to be informed about this proposal, were confused about this facility and proposed track augmentation associated with Beerburrum-Nambour duplication, and the pride people have about their town and what happens in it.  Let's hope QR has learned the lesson and no longer will treat people as mugs when it comes to this type of project.

[Fares_Fair]

QR seems to have pulled out all stops to inform the people of Woombye about the stabling facility just south of the town's railway station, including the formation of a community reference group.  This was not always the case.  There was a point in time when QR misjudged the extent to which the people of Woombye wanted to be informed about this proposal, were confused about this facility and proposed track augmentation associated with Beerburrum-Nambour duplication, and the pride people have about their town and what happens in it.  Let's hope QR has learned the lesson and no longer will treat people as mugs when it comes to this type of project.

QR have certainly raised the bar with their levels of communication on this project, and that is to be applauded.
It began as a Department of Transport and Main Roads project.

[Fares_Fair]

I attended the most recent Woombye Community Reference Group (CRG) Meeting held on Monday 9th November, 2015.

The record of discussion for November 2015 is posted here: www.queenslandrail.com.au/stabling.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate in contacting a member of the Project Team on 1800 783 334 or send an email to: stabling@qr.com.au


SEQ Stabling Program
Woombye Community Update

Meeting: Monday 9th November, 2015
For Your Information p1

[Fares_Fair]

SEQ Stabling Program
Woombye Community Update
For Your Information p2

Meeting: Monday 9th November, 2015

[Fares_Fair]

SEQ Stabling Program
Woombye Community Update

Meeting: Monday 9th November, 2015
For Your Information p3

[Fares_Fair]

Membership of the Woombye Community Reference Group

Current members Woombye Community Reference Group membership as at 9 November 2015:

Councillor Jenny McKay, Sunshine Coast Council
Kylie Ely, Woombye Community and Business Association
William Canty, Woombye Community and Business Association
Nicola Canty, Woombye Community and Business Association
Rodney Gill, Woombye Scout Group
Kerry Brown, Sunshine Valley Gazette
Jeff Addison, Rail Back on Track
Kirthi Demeijer, Woombye Bank Community Board
Ian Kerr, community representative
Paul Lowik, community representative
Angela Pollett, community representative

[ozbob]

Thanks FF for your ongoing committment to Woombye CRG and updates, much appreciated.

[Fares_Fair]

SEQ Stabling Program
Woombye Community Update

January 2016
For Your Information

Project site office establishment and vegetation removal work

For more information please do not hesitate in contacting a member of the Project Team on 1800 783 334 and press 1.
For general project enquiries, please press 2.

[Stillwater]

What is the latest on Woombye train stabling?  Has anyone been to Nambour station lately to see how the works there are going?

[Fares_Fair]

SEQ Stabling Program
Woombye Community Update

April 2016
For Your Information

Construction Update

SEQ Rail Stabling Program - Woombye  construction update As part of the SEQ Rail Stabling Program, Queensland Rail and CPB Contractors (formerly known as Leighton Contractors) will be undertaking vital construction activities along the rail corridor during the scheduled track closure of the North Coast line on 2 and 3 April 2016. 
           
This work will be undertaken on Saturday 2 April and Sunday 3 April 2016 from 6.30am to 6.00pm, weather permitting. 

Works will include:
• Concrete works for the foundations of overhead line equipment masts and signals
• Installing electrical conduits underneath the railway line
• Delivery trucks and workers' vehicles entering the site via the corner of Old Palmwoods Road and Back Woombye Road
• Use of machinery such as excavators, mobile cranes, front-end loaders, generators, track mountable excavators, directional drilling machine, resurfacing machines and a concrete pump
• Use of small power tools such as drills, saws and minor vibratory equipment
• Delivery and unloading of materials. 

Every effort will be made to keep disruption to a minimum.
We appreciate your patience during the construction period and will continue to update you as work progresses.

For more information please do not hesitate in contacting a member of the Project Team on 1800 783 334 and press 1.
For general project enquiries, please press 2.

[Stillwater]

How did the works go?

[Fares_Fair]

Our next meeting is on 10th May (we skipped a month).

[ozbob]

https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/tableOffice/questionsAnswers/2020/510-2020.pdf

Question on Notice
No. 510
Asked on 21 May 2020

MR M HUNT ASKED MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND MAIN ROADS (HON M BAILEY)

QUESTION:

With reference to receiving several complaints of noise and light pollution from the newly
operational Woombye Rail stabling yards—

Will the Minister outline any operational reviews being undertaken or proposed and any mitigation
measures proposed for nearby residents in Woombye?

ANSWER:

I thank the Member for Nicklin for the question.

Queensland Rail is conscious of the impact associated with its operations, and has been working
with Woombye residents to address their concerns about noise and lighting levels from the
Woombye stabling facility, which became operational in February 2020. I asked Queensland Rail
to respond to these community concerns and Queensland Rail sent its technicians to assess the
noise and lighting levels generated from the yard and identify any potential improvements.
As a result of this review, I am pleased to confirm that Queensland Rail is reducing the lighting
impact from its activities. From Thursday 18 June 2020, Queensland Rail dimmed all 40 overhead
LED lights in the yard to 50 per cent from dusk until dawn—approximately 5 pm to 6 am
depending upon the season. This will be further improved from late-July 2020, when all 40
overhead lights will be turned off between midnight and 5 am, except for when a motion sensor
detects movement in the yard, which will activate the lights at 50 per cent for security CCTV
purposes.

While Queensland Rail has also worked to minimise the noise from the facility's operations, safety
remains its first priority and any proposed changes to the use of trains' horns are required to meet
strict safety requirements. Train horns are a mandatory safety measure that require testing prior
to a train entering service and are sounded prior to any train moving to alert people nearby.
Previously, 22 train horns were sounded daily between 5 am and 7 am. I can advise that further
to the feedback received from local residents, from today, only three horns will be sounded at
approximately 5.40 am, 6.17 am and 6.59 am, Monday to Friday, resulting in a significant
improvement. As part of the planned changes, Queensland Rail will reduce the speed of the trains
from 25km/hr to 8km/hr when they exit the stabling gate to the pedestrian crossing, removing the
need to sound the horn. In place of the horn, the pedestrian crossing will be activated for an
additional 20 seconds for the three early morning trains.

This is in addition to the measures implemented during construction, where a sound barrier was
installed at the facility and more than 10,300 square metres of vegetation was planted in the area
to minimise its impact on surrounding residents.

Queensland Rail, the Department of Transport and Main Roads and Bombardier are continuing
to work together to address concerns about noise produced by the air-conditioning units on the
New Generation Rollingstock trains.

[ozbob]

Sunshine Valley Gazette 1st July 2020 page 20

QR announces changes to address noise issues

[ozbob]

Sunshine Valley Gazetter 26th August 2020 page 20

Letter to the editor

[red dragin]

"prioritises trains over people"

By running the A/C to reduce mould growth for the people that ride on the trains until the find a solution 

[JimmyP]

Wow, granted, NGR Air con noise is more than the no noise that was there before, but it's such a low amount of noise that most people should be able to ignore it in to background noise. If you aren't actively listening for a certain noise, it tends to reduce in to irrelevance fairly quickly for low and constant noise like a/c units. These people would have gone insane if they lived within a kilometer of a rail yard where EMUs were stored back before they had their air con units switched off overnight! Let alone the sound of the old EMU compressors before they were upgraded a few years back.

[Fares_Fair]

The sound issue is yet to be determined.

I enacted some drive-bys last night throughout Woombye with listening tours at various locations to see if I can detect the source of the annoying sound.
There was a continuous, what I would describe as 'droning' noise occurring.
I could not hear it from the gated entrance to the Rail Stabling Yard.

I could hear it clearly from the residents back yard.
He invited me onto the property to listen. This was at 10pm.

A nearby resident told me the noise was like that pretty well 24/7.
He also said that he could hear the A/C compressors releasing pressure every so often and that that was louder than the constant 'drone'.
The trains are not being placed in air conditioning 'stabling mode' due to the mould and odour issue with the NGR trains.
On weekends the 4 parked NGR trains are not used in service (local resident reported this to me) and are left with A/C units running constantly.

I was at a meeting with TMR and QR where we were told by a senior TMR manager that it would likely be resolved in two months (i.e. by September 2020).
The meeting was held in July 2018.
It is now December and the issue is still not resolved!

This will boil over.

Moved to Sunshine Coast Line - stabling from The Sunshine Coast Case : Rail duplication Beerburrum to Nambour

[Fares_Fair]

https://twitter.com/Jeffrey_Addison/status/1336288237401198593

This is the LAST remaining festering, smouldering issue (aside from the 9 daily trains blatant broken promise by this Govt)
To their credit QR have done an excellent job in sorting out the light pollution and reducing Klaxon use, the system of which will be rolled out to other sites.

These people have every right to be angry.
TMR Manager dismisses claims of noise from the NGR's after two visits by QR staff (no mention where or when).

I can absolutely assure you, nothing could be further from the truth..

[Fares_Fair]

Email received at 11:14pm
He has allowed this to be published in full.

It is impossible for us to sleep in our own bed tonight.

(His wife has moved to another room to try and get some rest). Note - from audio

Audio recording of the noise at his house.
I have heard it, it is loud and it is real.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tf6ykfdi75jft36/8%20Nov%202020%2011%20pm.mp3?dl=0

Stop the noise.

Stabling mode NOW!!!

Mike Melzer
Vintage radio enthusiast
Editor, Wireless Review (A publication of the Historical Wireless Society of South East Queensland)
Ph: 0409 421 289
HWS-SEQ 337
HRSA 2307
Please consider the environment before printing this email.

[ozbob]

I suggested Yandina would have been a better stabling site when this was being planned.

None of the noise/space issues that apparently beset Woombye.

I don't take much notice of anything TMR staff do or say. 

[Fares_Fair]

Choosing to turn a blind eye.
I have been to a number of places.
TMR deny noise is a problem - I can assure them it is.

I went to 4 separate locations last night.

It was a continual droning sound like a WW2 bomber flying overhead.
I heard it over the sound of their TV.
I heard it over the sound of the two passing trains last night.
I heard it from the entrance of the stabling yard (quietest location).

It was coming from the Stabling Yard, there is no doubt.
I have further evidence which I will not reveal here.
https://twitter.com/Jeffrey_Addison/status/1336396623035822081

[Gazza]

Can you post some videos from your phone of the noise at these  public locations?