Suggestions for improving rail north of Brisbane.

[Marshal]

It would seem unlikely now that the NWTC is a realistic option for a rail corridor to the north.

Perhaps we should consider alternative approaches.

These are some recent thoughts I have copied from the NWTC thread.

Admin

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- With rail, BCC has made a logical error. Because the corridor surface cannot be used, the rail tunnel now does NOT have to follow the Trouts road corridor.

- It can actually follow one of the motorway options and be placed straight under Gympie Road, RRR trains could theoretically arrive at Westfield Chermside in 8-10 minutes (assuming 100 km/hr operation and sparse station spacing over the 13 km distance). BRT can go on top filling in the intermediate stops.

Prior to the release of this document, I had been increasingly growing to think this was always the better option to the NWTC for our strategic rail needs. My issues with the NWTC is that it isn't really an ideal option for a primary North-South rail trunk focused on efficient movements from beyond the northern borders of Brisbane City Council to the CBD. I've attached a map of how I personally see the NWTC being set up for rail accounting for the current sector situation/BCC report.

To summarise my reasons for viewing the NWTC as a poor option for a trunk North South rail route are:

• The corridor has clearly been established with road in mind. It is hard to ignore how seamlessly it runs into the Gympie Arterial Road, and it would have completed the Western Ring Motorway initially envisioned by the old Wilbur Smith plan (with an unbuilt motorway linking the corridor to the Western freeway).
• The corridor would be trying to fulfil too many purposes at once. If the goal is to get trains up to Strathpine and beyond more efficiently, the infill stations along this route will reduce the effectiveness of this. So we don't add many stations, but then we aren't providing service to the local community along the line. The corridor promotes an end product that is trying to be both our main North South trunk, while also providing a local service, resulting in the same mixed traffic issue we have on most the network, where inner urban services clash with longer distance commuters and intra-regionals.
• Getting the rail from Alderley to Roma St creates multiple issues.
  
  • We can run along the existing surface Ferny Grove line, but this would result in cross sector running (if NWTC is sector 1) if no new lines are built to separate the services (plus we have to get to the CRR line at Mayne which is not possible via the fly-over). This also takes what was a direct route and makes it much more circuitous.
  • We can tunnel straight to Roma St from Alderley, but this orphans the Exhibition station
  • We could tunnel to the Exhibition station (essentially under the Ferny Grove line) but this has the same circuitous issue as the surface option
  • Finally we have the BCC option of tunnelling from Wooloowin to the NWTC via Stafford, which is both circuitous and may mean we need more track capacity between Wooloowin and Bowen Hills

If we have to tunnel the full NWTC, then we could just tunnel anywhere. So I would prefer an alignment that better suits the main goal of better trips to the further extents of the network.

In my opinion a Chermside tunnel alignment (see my second map) is the better option.
A southern portal could be located either just beyond Exhibition station or Wooloowin Station (if sector 1/2 transfers are required).
A single stop would be built at Chermside, near the Westfield, bus interchange and Hospital.
The northern portal could be located at Carseldine to provide express service to the government owned PDA at the old university  site.
Alternatively the tunnel could continue through to Strathpine.

Assuming the Northern Busway/Transitway metro services provide for the local journeys, this allows the new corridor to be focused specifically on serving the extents of the network rather then local trips. A Chermside station provides a highly optimised mid point interchange with local bussed (and is a major activity centre in it's own right).

An added advantage is that we'd still have the NWTC for other uses. My understanding is that the bulk of the environmental issues are related to Chermside Hill reserve. I'd assume a busway, being a less intensive use of the corridor then motorway or heavy rail, would be easier to adapt to the environmental challenges. At worse, you could just direct the busway around the hill using local roads. This is shown in my 3rd map.

The idea here would be that the NWTC, alongside a Kelvin Grove Rd transitway, would provide a North Western mass transit spine for the local residents. Between a NWTC busway, the Northern Busway/Transitway and the original NCL corridor and Sandgate Road, we'd have a  strong north western, central north and north eastern spine that we could then use to anchor east west high frequency bus routes. We'd be able to build out a strong bus/brt based local service, while the Chermside tunnel allows passengers on trips beyond the BCC to bypass it all.

These are just personal, 'back of the envelope' ideas and of course I am far from the first person to throw them out there, but I think the main point I want to get across is that the NWTC is, at least in my own opinion, not the best option for our main North South heavy rail trunk.

[ozbob]

^ I don't think it will ever be used now for anything other than a mixed use active transport path on the surface.

Maybe we need to rethink rail.  For example tunnel after Exhibition to north of Northgate on the Northern line (say around Sunshine).  Quad the track from there where it would join through to Strathpine. This would allow some fancy dancing for trains heading to the Sunny Coast. 

[ozbob]

Maybe we need to rethink rail.  For example tunnel after Exhibition to north of Northgate on the Northern line (say around Sunshine).  Quad the track from there where it would join through to Strathpine. This would allow some fancy dancing for trains heading to the Sunny Coast. 

Good point. The comparison project for fast-rail-via-Trouts would be 6-tracking to (at least) the Airport junction and 4-tracking from Northgate to (at least) Strathpine.

I have mixed feelings nowadays about local rail via Trouts into the inner Ferny line. It's a bear of a junction to make work and a tunnel into CRR would be 30% shorter from Alderley to the city, and much faster.

[AJ Transport]

An effective if ambitious line could tunnel up from exhibition following the approximate path of the airport link tunnel through Lutwyche then following the A3/Gympie Rd until it reaches the M3 crossing the existing rail line at Bald hills, going through Griffith crossing the existing rail line again at North Lakes and then making it's way to connect with the north coast line.

Why this route? It follows existing road based population corridors including providing access to pretty large populations in Griffith and north of north lakes, money can be saved by using elevated sections or tunnelling with cut and cover, and almost no environmental damage.

[aldonius]

This is increasingly sounding like the "HSR to the Sunshine Coast" corridor...

But yes, "if you have to tunnel all/most of the NWTC, then why follow it at all?" is a very good insight.

[#Metro]

I agree. If it's tunnel there is no need to follow the surface corridor.

This could go straight under Gympie road, reaching Chermside in 8-10 minutes.

You could use the grid road pattern to run buses to surface rapid transit which will do the local stop function and free up the train for high speed to the Sunshine Coast.

Further west, something can be looked at for Old Northern Road. BUZ would be the first stage, then possibly bi-arctic buses into either Enoggerra interchange or into Kelvin Grove Road.

And if BCC won't fund it, maybe Transurban will, they can get a shadow toll payment for each bus they run on the infrastructure. After all, a busway is just a toll road minus the toll and cars.

This is similar to how G-link operates on the Gold Coast. G-link is a private company working under contract and who built the infrastructure.

[Gazza]

I think BCC is just trying to muddy the waters to support a conclusion a tunnel is therefore the only option. Why should anything in that report be trusted?

The Coomera Connector corridor is full of vegetation and is being built on so why are they saying it cannot be built on up here?

[#Metro]

I don't think anyone is suggesting a surface corridor through Chermside Hills reserve.

Isn't the place full of Koalas?

[AJ Transport]

I'm sure there are ways to navigate the corridor in a sensitive way. This is about the way major political parties are funded and their fear of change. They know motorways and their donors like motorways for their own profit reasons.
Council doesn't do anything to prevent tree clearing for new homes in Bridgman Downs, and when evidence of koalas was presented both state and council worked hard to claim it was the other level of government who could stop the development.

It's more about political will than anything. On the (small) upside Greens MP Michael Berkman and Greens Councillor Jono Sri have both stated on social media their opposition to the motorway idea and support for rail.

[Gazza]

I get that, and Chermside Hills reserve would probably have to be a tunnel anyway because it's a hill and adjoins a wider tract of bushland. That accounts for around 3km of the 11km reserved corridor.

But a lot of it looks like  this:
https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.400939,152.9966605,3a,52.6y,12.58h,88.97t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sZauyI6siwekngm1gI5lrlA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

or this:
https://www.google.com/maps/@-27.3657753,153.0023277,3a,60y,352.7h,85.45t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sPl_w1xRZB1TC1RoHnjr07A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

What's the argument for a rail tunnel in these sections?

It is not intellectually consistent to say that an above ground motorway on the Coomera Connector corridor is ok, but that a rail tunnel is necessary on the non sensitive sections.