18 Sep 2022: Cross River Rail - Cleveland Line Duplication Required!

[ozbob]

Cross River Rail - Cleveland Line Duplication Required!

18 September 2022

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web-based community group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport passengers has called for urgent track amplification and additional platforms on the Cleveland line.

The opening of Cross River Rail in 2025 will see train services reorganised across SEQ. As announced in the SEQ Rail Connect plan, the Ferny Grove Line will be paired with the Cleveland Line. The Ferny Grove line is fully duplicated.

The Cleveland line is a single track after Manly station. This restricts frequency of services and the line is notoriously unreliable (1).
In line with the 2017 study ' Park Road to Cleveland Rail Upgrade Planning Project ' (2) we call for an immediate upgrade of the section Birkdale through to Cleveland.

* The longest single track sections are Cleveland-Wellington Point, and Wellington Point- Thorneside. They are more than double the transit time of the other single track sections when the dwell times at the stations (Birkdale and Ormiston) are taken into account.

* Duplicating Birkdale-Cleveland would allow an increase in capacity to 8 trains per hour (8tph) reliably, would be relatively straightforward in terms of construction (low numbers of bridges, few sensitive areas, wide corridor), and greatly enhance reliability and flexibility by removing the terminal constraints and all single platform stations.

* From a delivery perspective, duplicating Birkdale-Cleveland would still allow full service to be run from Thorneside to the city while the duplication was occurring. Indeed, it is probably possible to run 8tph Thorneside-City during construction, which would help QR bed in the higher level of frequency, while bringing forward passenger benefits.

* A train turn-back facility could be built at Manly or Lota station to help improve reliability for additional infill services as well. This should ideally be constructed on the future duplication alignment to avoid redundant infrastructure.

Just as we don't have single lane bridges on motorways in South East Queensland, we should also not have single track sections on the Brisbane suburban rail network. The Queensland Rail network must be modernised to meet modern expectations for basic average train speed, frequency, and reliability. Our rail network is lagging behind other peer cities with lower population and lower density, such as Perth.

When Cross River Rail opens there will be plenty of capacity for trains to and from Cleveland through Roma St, South Brisbane, South Bank, Park Road.  It will be important to ensure that there are sufficient trains to service that corridor which is why it is important to have the Cleveland line upgraded NOW, so that there is time to get it ready for 2025.  For the Government to keep spinning that there isn't any capacity to increase services on the Cleveland line until Cross River Rail is complete is treating us as fools. Works need to begin now to ensure the line is able to deliver more trains, more often, reliably, when Cross River Rail is commissioned.  Cleveland line passengers also deserve to have a frequent reliable rail service.

Our recommendations are in alignment with those of the 2017 report (2).
The issue has been analysed already, and the solution is clear and unambiguous.
There is no need for further study, just a requirement to progress to design and delivery.

References:

1. On-time running profile of the Cleveland line https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?msg=262382



2. RTI 955/2020: A copy of the Park Road to Cleveland Rail Upgrade Planning Project (PDF, 65.43 MB), Stage 1 Duplication – Technical Assessment Report (July 2017).
https://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/-/media/aboutus/rti/disclog/2020/RTI-955-Released-documents.pdf?la=en

Image: Birkdale station platform in May 2020
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkdale_railway_station,_Brisbane



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

[ozbob]

Discussion --> https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?msg=262451

[kram0]

Let's NOT cut anymore corners and just duplicate it all at once Manly to Cleveland as you know it'll take them another 50 years to finish anything they don't start,