Regional Fast Rail discussion

[SteelPan]

Thanks for the question. Well bluntly, fastER rail will be MANY...MANY minutes fasTER than the currently either tedious or totally non-existent inter-city services Brisbane/Gold Coast/Sunshine Coast [propper]/Toowoomba.

Servicing a limited number of intermediate stops, 160-200kmph services running the above routes would be perfectly acceptable. I did also say that any such corridors should include capacity for FUTURE true HSR - something you yourself have correctly stated multiple times, is not about to happen in this part of the world. It's a hard sell in any case, as Australia offers few if any really viable options for true HSR.

Might I suggest and I do acknowledge your already very considerable efforts with this site and all that's gone with it, that in 2022, once hopefully much of the Covid madness has passed, you consider running, for example, a one day "Peoples Forum" on fastER rail for SEQ....only a squeaky wheel gets oiled and if pollies keep sitting on their hands, then it's time the people squeak louder.  This is a suggestion ONLY and you've no-doubt got other things pressing your life, but I make it for what it's worth. eg: Hire a room, charge people $20/25 to get in [even give them a cup of tea if it's in the budget  ] and you please put forward the opening pro-rail comments and then have a couple of other pro-rail people speak in support and then questions from the floor etc.

Doing that type of thing is what puts a rocket under politicians and bureaucrates!

[ozbob]

^ thanks for the suggestion.

Certainly will consider it when the time is right.

It is a poignant fact that the Australian rail speed record is currently held by Queensland Rail, an electric tilt train at officially 210 km/h (124 mph).

Even more surprising is that this is on 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge.

(Unofficially it has been a little faster).

[verbatim9]

I wonder if Barnaby Joyce will work with the Libs on regional fast rail or let it fall by wayside?

[Gazza]

Barnaby Joyce will work to secure road upgrades in the seat of New England

[#Metro]

Better pull out the fast rail plan to Armidale 😅

[ozbob]

The now Deputy Prime Minister of Australia,  Christmas message 2019.

https://twitter.com/Barnaby_Joyce/status/1209372444726743046

[ozbob]

Barnaby Joyce will work to secure road upgrades in the seat of New England

Nailed it!

[achiruel]

Better pull out the fast rail plan to Armidale 😅

Probably from Canberra to Armidale too, rather than anywhere useful.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1408859238621802501

[SteelPan]

These are two different types of rail.

"Regional Fast[ER] Rail" is, in the SEQ context, Brisbane/GC/SSC/Twmba, these are overdue and doable projects.

"Fast Rail" ie., Bullet Train/TGV type technologies, are not regional in nature, but only make sense [which they don't in Oz] in the Brisbane[GC]/Sydney/[Canberra]/Melbourne context.  Where they don't add up and would be a politically poison pill to seriously promote.

Much more politically appealing, is to link regions with fastER rail, than quickly hit a brick wall of "Bullet Train" promotion. However, fastER rail corridor development should absolutely include the capacity for future generations to run with the idea of fast trains along the East Coast. That starts with a population of 2/3 times what we have now.

But millions of people ARE NOW crying out for fastER regional rail projects. If we can't sell those to govts, there's simply no-way we're going to [in the future] sell them on bullet train dreams costing 10 times as much!

[ozbob]

We have to be a little careful with the ' faster rail ' terminology.  The Qld Government deliberately talks about ' faster rail ' because they are not committed to true fast rail improvements. Taking  a couple of minutes off the run between Beenleigh and Park Road is ' faster rail ' in their eyes.

For our purposes we know what fast rail is, and what high speed rail is.

https://ara.net.au/priorities/faster-rail/

Faster rail
Faster, more reliable and more frequent services on regional rail lines can be achieved quickly with upgrades to the existing network. Simple improvements can deliver big gains for travellers, with faster rail typically delivering speeds from 160-200km/hr.

Fast rail
The development of fast rail lines over the next five to 10 years will make rail travel times competitive with road, giving travellers a genuine alternative for their commute to the city and positioning regional centres as viable alternatives to live and work. Fast rail lines can achieve speeds of 200-250km/hr.

High speed rail
While high speed rail is a longer term ambition in Australia, we need to preserve rail corridors now to keep project costs down in the future. Ultimately, high speed rail connections could achieve speeds greater than 250km/hr.

[Stillwater]

The 'fastest train in Australia' can do a bit of a spurt between Caboolture and Elimbah, but averages 77kph south of Maryborough. Yet the spin doctors focus on performance over a very short section of track and pat themselves on the back for having a 'world class' faster (fastish?) rail service. 
Regional Fast Rail in SEQ is a no-brainer.
Remember the PR stunt Jackie Trad (who?) pulled when she organised the City Deal Memorandum of Understanding photo opportunity? That's all it was.
As part of the SEQ City Deal (still being negotiated), the feds should stress State Labor politically by offering to meet half the cost of regional fast rail (through a string of seats) to Sunny Coast, where the LNP needs to win back state seats like Caloundra and Nicklin. The state government would squirm because it would not have the matching dollars -- and will say they have other priorities and the feds should pay 100 per cent -- and the state Labor members on the Sunshine Coast will have brain explosions while wanting the project, but having to toe the party line.

[ozbob]

We need an agency that is focussed on improving rail, rather than roads.

There is no hope for anything much until we get a heavy rail division in a proper public transport authority.

[SteelPan]

10,00000% AGREE!   

[verbatim9]

Olympics Games for SEQ 2032 Thread--->https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=11297.msg249242.msg#249242

Olympic Dream to bring vital infrastructure forward?

Electric Fast Rail to Toowoomba, Coolangatta and Maroochydore by 2030-32.

[SteelPan]

For general info...fast trains, airport connection....

Interersting new global inspiration for QT/QR planners, no-dout hard at work on this very thing right now.....

[verbatim9]

They have 4 elevated tracks going to the airport. We only have one and still awaiting the confirmation of a station at Skygate, to act as a passing loop.

But yes, very good forward planning for Bangkok.

[SteelPan]

More general background to put things in broader perspective!

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> Fast rail Gold Coast: No super-fast railways to be built for 2032 Olympic Games $

THE Prime Minister's special envoy on the Olympics wants the train network expanded into his own area, because the bullet train pitched to run to the Gold Coast is off the table for 2032.

Sunshine Coast LNP MP Ted O'Brien wants the state government not to "squander the next few years" and build the new line from Beerwah into Maroochydore's CBD, after Infrastructure Australia found the long-touted fast-rail project did not stack up.

"We know the Queensland government won't agree to start building a new fast-rail network between Brisbane and Maroochydore so let's not squander the next few years arguing about it and getting nothing done."

Fast rail between Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast was touted as a major project that could be delivered ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games.

However, State Transport Minister Mark Bailey said there was virtually no chance high-speed rail would be built between Brisbane and the Gold Coast in time for the Games.  ...

[ozbob]

Nothing will be done in terms of regional fast rail.  The ' faster rail ' con.  Yes, trains might be running ' faster ' on the Gold Coast line with improvements Kuraby - Beenleigh but will it be any quicker?  Not really when you factor in the additional stations etc.

The Olympic Games legacy for public transport will be a ' souvenir ' restricted rail timetable ala the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Not much point in fretting over the failure that is rail in SEQ and Queensland generally.  No one really cares a toss up top.

Carry on ...

[kram0]

I think if the Sunshine Coast line to Maroochydore was built to 140-160kph standard double track, with a link to the city via Trouts Rd (which is what council are in favour of) then this would be a good outcome.

I will not hold my breath however!!

[Arnz]

Should at least be to Caloundra, or at least to Birtinya/SCUH first with construction proceeding directly after the Beerburrum-Beerwah duplication.  As pointed out there is the tunnel costs around the Meridan Plains area for the Caloundra-Birtinya leg.

[ozbob]

Fast Rail, a must do for SEQ

11th November 2021

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 thrown its weight behind calls to establish a fast rail network in SEQ before the 2032 Olympics.

SEQ has been waiting too long for fast rail. It's an idea that has huge public support, but so far has had piecemeal support from government

The sad reality is, no matter if you are travelling from the Gold or Sunshine Coasts, rail services are slower than driving, and if you live in Toowoomba, you don't have regular rail at all. There is just not enough emphasis on making SEQ public transport fast.

Cross River Rail and the Sunshine Coast line duplication are the two main bottlenecks that needed to be solved to make fast rail possible. These will both be done by 2025 so there's no credible excuse for not building fast rail.

Fast rail is generally accepted to mean rail speed up to 200km/h. We are not talking about high speed rail which is speed > 250 km/h.

Too much money has been spent in recent years on upgrading motorways, and in the case of the Coomera Connector, building a new motorway parallel to an existing one. When we have a need to work towards net zero emissions, this approach doesn't make sense.

EVs (Electric Vehicles) are still going to take years to become the majority, so this policy of expanding roads is only going to worsen pollution until then and cause car dependency and more road congestion even with a majority of EVs.

We could be expanding and speeding up our electric rail network right now, reduce emissions immediately and give everyone a fast way to get around, completely immune to congestion.

There is a long list of potential rail projects across SEQ that have been spoken about for years, are all viable right now, but continue to flounder. Other states are going forward with fast rail (1, 2).

Increasingly, various levels of government are weaponizing funding disputes between each other in order to delay projects, and this needs to stop. Its completely unfair on ordinary citizens who just want these things built.

What needs to be done to achieve Fast Rail in SEQ?

- Ensure the new fleet of trains being built in Maryborough are future-proofed with the capability to run at 160km/h or more.

- Quadruplicate the Gold Coast line between Beenleigh and Dutton Park, by providing a new pair of tracks rated for high speed. These tracks must avoid any sharp slow turns and give Gold Coast trains a clear run into the city.

- Build a rail spur from Beerwah to Maroochydore via the long promised CAMCOS corridor, with tracks rated for fast rail.

- Upgrade tracks from Rosewood to Toowoomba as part of the Inland Rail Project, and run fast passenger trains up the range using the proposed new tunnel.

- Build rail along the "Trouts Road"  North West Transport corridor from Alderley to Strathpine to give trains from the Sunshine Coast a clear run into the city.

- Extend the Gold Coast Line to Coolangatta.



Contact:

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


References:

1. A fast rail future for NSW https://www.nsw.gov.au/a-fast-rail-future-for-nsw

2. Geelong to Melbourne Fast Rail https://infrastructurepipeline.org/project/fast-rail-to-geelong

[ozbob]

Facebook ...

[ozbob]

We have to be a little careful with the ' faster rail ' terminology.  The Qld Government deliberately talks about ' faster rail ' because they are not committed to true fast rail improvements. Taking  a couple of minutes off the run between Beenleigh and Park Road is ' faster rail ' in their eyes.

For our purposes we know what fast rail is, and what high speed rail is.

https://ara.net.au/priorities/faster-rail/

Faster rail
Faster, more reliable and more frequent services on regional rail lines can be achieved quickly with upgrades to the existing network. Simple improvements can deliver big gains for travellers, with faster rail typically delivering speeds from 160-200km/hr.

Fast rail
The development of fast rail lines over the next five to 10 years will make rail travel times competitive with road, giving travellers a genuine alternative for their commute to the city and positioning regional centres as viable alternatives to live and work. Fast rail lines can achieve speeds of 200-250km/hr.

High speed rail
While high speed rail is a longer term ambition in Australia, we need to preserve rail corridors now to keep project costs down in the future. Ultimately, high speed rail connections could achieve speeds greater than 250km/hr.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1458632640576122882

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

15th November 2021

A Fast Rail vision for SEQ

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 fast rail services running across SEQ by 2032.

There are increasing calls for a SEQ Fast Rail network to be built in time for the 2032 Olympics.
The SEQ Council of Mayors launched it's "Let's Get Moving" campaign, and Rail Back on Track have repeatedly called for investment in regional fast rail in SEQ.

Whilst the Olympics are a headliner, linking the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba with fast rail should happen regardless.

It would unify our region, save time, avoid congestion, allow decentralisation and have massive economic benefits.

Why Fast Rail?

Currently if you are catching a train to the Gold or Sunshine Coasts it's slower than driving.
If you want to go to Toowoomba, there's no regular train service at all!

This is a real problem.

When rail travel isn't convenient, people drive en masse instead. To attempt to keep up with this demand, the government is planning on building new motorways parallel to existing ones, and all manner of continuous roadworks.

Increasing car travel is increasing our emissions.
Ultimately these new roads fill up after a few years, and we are all stuck in congestion.

What is Fast Rail?

Fast rail involves a combination of building new lines and straightening old ones in order to allow speeds in the range 160 - 200 km/h.

This is because trains cannot negotiate sharp turns without derailing.

Many existing rail lines in SEQ were built at the turn of the century and have never been straightened, so trains often must slow to 50km/h to negotiate turns. It's not possible to provide convenient fast services with these constraints.

On the other hand several modern motorway and tunnel projects have been built.
The Motorways are built to be fast, but the train lines aren't.

Importantly, fast rail can carry huge numbers of people. One fast rail line can move more people than an entire motorway, in total safety.

Is it a Bullet Train?

Bullet Trains, or High Speed Rail, as seen overseas travel at around 300km/h plus.
These are better suited for long distance travel between cities, with very few stations (Usually one per city) They require very straight dedicated tracks separated from other train types, and very specialised trains.

Fast Rail in SEQ, to Maroochydore, Toowoomba and Coolangatta is serving a radius of around 100km from the CBD, and would have some stops on the way, given the dispersed nature of SEQ.

Trains wouldn't really get a chance to get up to 300km/h or faster in this setup, so it's not worth the extra money to have bullet trains operating within SEQ only.

So Fast Rail is the best choice?

Yes!
Fast rail still allows for a decent, adequate top speed of 160-200 km/h, and can accelerate quickly.
Faster than driving and faster than any bus.
Stations are several kilometres apart.
Close enough together that fast rail services are accessible to most people.
Far enough apart that trains can maintain a good speed between stations.

Fast Rail can hook into existing CBD stations and Cross River Rail, so the focus can be on improving tracks elsewhere to deliver time savings.

Where could it stop?

Gold Coast:
Roma St
Woolloongabba
Boggo Rd
Sunnybank
Loganlea
Beenleigh
Ormeau
Pimpama
Coomera
Hope Island
Helensvale
Nerang
Merrimac
Robina
Varsity Lakes
Elanora
Tugun
Coolangatta

Toowoomba:
Roma St
Darra
Ipswich
Rosewood
Laidley
Gatton
Toowoomba

Sunshine Coast:
Roma St
Alderley
Strathpine
Petrie
Caboolture
Beerwah
Aura
Caloundra
Currimundi
Birtinya
Mountain Creek
Maroochydore

So how fast could it go?

Be very cautious in simply taking the top speed of the train and dividing by the distance. Trains take time to decelerate and accelerate for each station
For example the fast train from Perth to Mandurah has a top speed of 140km/h, but the average speed is closer to 90km/h when you divide it out.

We believe these travel times are reasonable:

Coolangatta>Brisbane: 70 minutes

(Drive Time: 75 mins offpeak, 95 mins peak)

Toowoomba>Brisbane: 90 minutes
(Drive Time: 100 mins offpeak, 120 mins peak)

Maroochydore>Brisbane: 80 minutes
(Drive Time: 90 mins offpeak, 120 mins peak)

This means no matter the time of day or night, fast rail will offer the quickest trip, and particularly in peak times could save around half an hour each way.

Do we have to wait for Cross River Rail to be finished?

No!

Transport Minister Mark Bailey recently said.
"Once we deal with Cross River Rail we can start looking at extensions" (CM 10/11/2021)
But we don't need to wait!
Cross River Rail is well into construction. We should get a head start on planning and design work now, so by 2025 when the construction workforce has finished Cross River Rail they can transition to building these fast rail projects.
With a 5 year construction period, Fast Rail could be up and running by 2030, comfortably ahead of the 2032 Olympics.

What Projects would need to be built?

- A fast corridor between Beenleigh and the City
Between Beenleigh and the CBD, "Express trains" from the Gold Coast must negotiate a snakelike route, taking 50 minutes to travel just 40km.
The current Gold Coast and Logan Faster Rail project will straighten some of this out, but doesn't go far enough.
A properly designed continuous fast route between Beenleigh and the CBD is the true solution to slash journey times.

- Complete the planned extension from Varsity Lakes to Coolangatta.
This would be a new build, so can be designed to allow fast running on this section from day one. It would mean the entire Gold Coast has good access to fast rail.

- Complete the line from Beerwah to Maroochydore.
Rail to the heart of the Sunshine Coast's heavily populated coastal strip has been touted for decades, but to date has been fobbed off in favour of projects elsewhere.
This would be a new build, so can be designed to allow fast running on this section from day one.

- A fast corridor to the CBD via Strathpine and Alderley
When trains from the Sunshine Coast reach the edge of Brisbane they inevitably have to mix it up with local trains on the Redcliffe and Shorncliffe Lines, and the route into the city isn't particularly direct.
Utilizing the Trouts Road Transport Corridor through the Northside would allow a fast straight rail line to be built, giving trains an unimpeded route.

- Improvements to the Western line between Ipswich and Toowoomba
Currently the only train to Toowoomba is the twice weekly Westlander tourist service.
It takes over 3 hours to travel between Ipswich and Toowoomba due to the winding route over the Great Dividing Range.
The Federal Government's Inland Rail Project will bypass these slow sections with tunnels, greatly reducing travel times.
Fast Rail services can piggyback onto this infrastructure, along with other improvements elsewhere and new stations, allowing for Toowoomba to finally get fast passenger trains at reasonable cost.

All these projects can occur simultaneously across the region and would come together to finally create the SEQ Fast Rail network.

How Much Will it Cost?

We believe around $12b* to complete all projects.
This would involve around 80km of new tracks, utilise new trains, and upgrades to existing lines and stations.
By comparison, the 5km Airport Link M7 road project in Inner Brisbane was $4.8b.
$12b Represents a bargain considering the broader the massive benefits it will create for the region.
The cost is commensurate with other major rail projects occurring interstate.
Ultimately, we want the government to reassess its priorities and put this project first.

*

$4.0b - Beenleigh to CBD Corridor
$2.0b - Coolangatta Extension
$2.5b - Beerwah to Maroochydore
$1.5b - Toowoomba projects
$2.0b - Strathpine to Alderley


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

[ozbob]

Facebook ...

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1459949939224576001

[SteelPan]

An excellent series of presentations Ozbob - you are to be congratulated!

Remember - that's around $12bn - spread over 10yrs - between the Commonwealth and State, that's not a particularly big financial burden for something that stimulates a number of economic and social sectors, including tourism and would be "Olympic ready"!

Might I also strongly suggest, that when doing costings we always take into acocunt 1) money spent in maintenance and repairs from ever more burdened roads, if this fast rail network is not built and 2) the cost of emergency care ie, ambulance/hospitals/deaths/rehabilitation for the accidents that also occur on ever more burdened roads - this second figure may well be confronting to people, but it will also stun them how it seriously adds up! Nothing to do with health care etc is cheap.

I also suggest again, that IF/when you feel right about it, you organise a public meeting [I'm happy to help] to outline this blueprint of what's possible - and keep it politician free - if they turn-up, they'll simply want to lead the conversation into a politically safe space for them! Nothing "scares" pollies more, than the people pushing ideas they themselves, have long dragged the chain on!

Well done again!!!   

[ozbob]

Thanks SteelPan, but the main work was done by Gazza.

A public meeting is off the agenda for now for obvious reasons but when it is right it will be considered.

Onwards!

[SteelPan]

  to Gazza
well at least the North Coast possibilities are getting some media time!

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

Repeated M1 failures highlight the need for true Fast Rail in SEQ

24th May 2022

Another week, another major M1 Failure, with a 15 car pileup causing delays as long as 4 hours this morning (24/05/2022)

A few days ago (14/05/2022) all northbound lanes on the M1 were closed for hours at Reedy Creek after a truck explosion.

Courier Mail Peter Gleeson writes that the state of the M1 is a "Disgrace" and "a real and present danger to the successful running of the 2032"
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/peter-gleeson/disgrace-m1-chaos-could-jeopardise-olympics/news-story/fb8fbaacdfed13fe89e5c17c24bec077

It doesn't matter how many lanes you add, one major accident can shut down a major road.
Alternative roads (e.g. the Coomera Connector) don't help much either. If you're trapped on a road in the aftermath of an accident, filtering off at the next exit with everyone else,  and traversing suburbia to reach the next parallel highway is still a slow process.

Mass motorways travel cannot support a growing region, the coming Olympics, or net zero by 2050.
We have all experienced a crawl on the M1 at some point.

The solution is to provide true alternatives that get travellers out of cars in the first place.
What SEQ needs is a radical upgrade to it's rail system, to support continuous running of trains at 160 km/h all the way from Coolangatta to Maroochydore, connected through the CBD via the Cross River Rail tunnel.
This would enable safe, reliable travel across the region that is faster than driving day or night, freeing up motorways for vehicles that actually need it (deliveries, construction vehicles etc)
Right now, despite the traffic, trains are still slower than driving at most times, and we cannot expect people to make greener choices if this is the case.

RAIL Back on Track believes 6 things need to be done by 2032 to achieve this:

1 -  A better Logan to Gold Coast Faster Rail Project
Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail was announced last year and is a welcome project. It will provide quad tracks from Beenleigh to Kuraby, giving Gold Coast trains a clear run through this section. However the project will only deliver a 4 minute time saving, and many members of the public  are scratching their heads as to why trains wont be all that fast in the end. The project is still in the planning stages, so now is the time to get it right and design the upgrades for higher speeds and bigger time savings.

2 -  Rail to Maroochydore
The Sunshine Coast has been long promised its own rail line, but have long suffered under significantly lower funding levels per capital for public transport compared to the Gold Coast.
With a change of government, and the upcoming completion of the Beerwah duplication and Cross River Rail, there are no longer any political or engineering roadblocks for building this urgently needed line.
Being brand new, it can be built to faster rail standards.

3 -  Rail to Coolangatta
At the other end of SEQ, motorway upgrade projects march on, but rail extensions have been left at the starting blocks for 13 years, with southward extension works halting at Varsity Lakes in 2009. Extending rail to Coolangatta would mean the full length of the Gold Coast is within reach of a rail station.
Again, this brand new extension can be built to fast rail standards.

4 -  Rail from the City to Strathpine via the North West Transport Corridor.
As train from the Sunshine Coast and Redcliffe approach the city, they must mix in with traffic from several other rail lines, and follow an indirect route via Virginia. Rail along the North West Corridor would give these trains a dedicated fast run into town. In addition, this project has the double benefit of allowing new stations on Brisbanes northside in places like Everton Park and McDowall (If additional local tracks are built at the same time)

5 -  A new fast route from Kuraby to Dutton Park
Perhaps the hardest part, but no less critical is the tortuous route from Kuraby to Dutton Park. In this section trains must crawl to as low as 50km as they negotiate sharp turns on a route first built in the steam era through the southern suburbs. A new dedicate set of express tracks, which may involve tunnelling, would avoid all this and fully separate Gold Coast trains from Beenleigh trains, and would also support a future rail extension to Beaudesert.It's a big project, and it wont be cheap but we could say the same for projects like the Gateway or Clem 7.

6 - The inland rail corridor should be utilised to provide more direct and fast rail services to Toowoomba.

Now is the time for SEQ to come of age and build a true fast rail system for itself.

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

[ozbob]

Facebook ...

[ozbob]

4BC News have followed up!  Quicker than fast rail! 

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1528954903485628416

[#Metro]

1 -  A better Logan to Gold Coast Faster Rail Project
Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail was announced last year and is a welcome project. It will provide quad tracks from Beenleigh to Kuraby, giving Gold Coast trains a clear run through this section. However the project will only deliver a 4 minute time saving, and many members of the public  are scratching their heads as to why trains wont be all that fast in the end. The project is still in the planning stages, so now is the time to get it right and design the upgrades for higher speeds and bigger time savings.

This needs to be Dutton Park to Beenleigh. Not just from Kuraby. There is that big deviation at Altandi and track to straighten. And also, some stations are very closely spaced that they could be merged.

[Gazza]

That is mentioned as Project 5 - Kuraby to Dutton Park.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> M1 accident shows where money must go on the road to Games: Lord Mayor

An 11-vehicle pile-up that clogged the M1 for hours on Tuesday showed why Brisbane must continuously upgrade road infrastructure in the lead-up to the Olympic Games, lord mayor Adrian Schrinner says.

Likening the scale of accident to those usually seen on icy roads, the lord mayor said having infrastructure keep pace with population growth was one of the reasons south-east Queensland pitched for the 2032 Olympics.

Schrinner chairs the South East Queensland Council of Mayors, which began the campaign in 2015 for the region to host the Olympics.

"It is one of the reasons why we put our hat into the ring for the Olympics and started that process, so we can get the attention from other levels of government for the infrastructure that we need." ...

 

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1529110822190198785