Article: Transport planners ignore light rail

[ozbob]

From the Australian 13th January 2009 page 4

Transport planners ignore light rail

Transport planners ignore light rail
Sean Parnell

BRISBANE town planners are failing to consider light rail for the city's booming busway network, even though it has been specially designed and constructed to one day host a tramstyle system.

But the network currently being extended in three directions, covering suburbs not serviced by heavy rail will still sustain the city as it undergoes months of major roadworks. With the Government and Brisbane City Council playing catch-up on road infrastructure, building several massive tunnels and a new inner-city river bridge, motorists face continuing delays until the projects are completed.

Tangled up in the worksites and detour signs, however, is another extension of the busway network, a dedicated Northern Busway passing the busy Royal Brisbane Hospital and due to be progressively extended north. The 16.5km South-East Busway is also being extended, and will be connected to another busway from the Princess Alexandra Hospital at Buranda to the University of Queensland across the river at St Lucia, while there are plans to build an Eastern Busway from Buranda to Capalaba.

Transport Minister John Mickel yesterday said the South-East Busway, which opened in 2001, and the Inner-Northern Busway were on track to record 50 million passenger journeys this financial year. "When you consider trains on the TransLink network carried about 60 million people in 2007-08, you can see what a crucial piece of infrastructure the two busways have become," Mr Mickel said.

Despite the success of the busways, the Government has not even contemplated a point at which they might be converted to light rail.

Queensland Transport infrastructure delivery director Ian Sturdy, responding to a Freedom of Information request from The Australian, said officials had ensured only that the network was "future-proofed" for light rail.

Comment:  as the rolling stock increases, present orders are a 70% increase rail will be carrying easily 120 million passengers. But the real figure of significance is passenger kilometres. Here rail is streets ahead.  Buses cannot carry much more, hence the shift to rail in time, light and heavy!

[#Metro]

Queensland Transport infrastructure delivery director Ian Sturdy, responding to a Freedom of Information request from The Australian, said officials had ensured only that the network was "future-proofed" for light rail.

A bit of an oversight IMHO. How are they going to execute conversion to anything larger than bus (metro, LRT, very long bus) without shutting down the busway which is carrying 12 400 passengers/hour/direction in the am peak? Do they have a solution for that one or not? It might be possible, but from this, it seems like they don't actually have any conversion plan, at all.

Are they going to sit back and watch it overload?