Article: LNP rail plan for Coast a disaster

[ozbob]

From the Sunshine Coast Daily click here!

LNP rail plan for Coast a disaster

LNP rail plan for Coast a disaster

12:00a.m. 18th March 2009

| By Nikkii Joyce

Fiona Simpson pictured with LNP candidates Steve Morrison, left, Mark McArdle and Steve Dickson.

The state government last night ridiculed LNP plans to fast-track a $700 million Sunshine Coast rail and road transport system, describing it as a ?railway line to nowhere?.

Shadow minister for infrastructure, transport and main roads Fiona Simpson yesterday announced a railway line between Caloundra and Maroochydore, part of the planned CAMCOS project, would be built by 2015 if the LNP took government after this weekend?s election.

Ms Simpson said the line would provide transport to the proposed new public hospital at Kawana.

The line, designed to eventually connect Maroochydore with the main line at Beerwah, would connect Caloundra to Maroochydore by rail, with express buses operating through to Beerwah.

Ms Simpson said the fast-tracking would take 10 years off the original proposal.

?Under the old plan, Maroochydore wasn?t due to see the CAMCOS project actually come to the centre of the Sunshine Coast until 2025,? Ms Simpson said.

?We?ve re-sequenced CAMCOS so that the whole project is brought forward, but the first stage will actually be on the high-traffic route between Caloundra and Maroochydore,? she said.

Ms Simpson said there was no access plan to the new hospital in the project by the present Labor government.

She said initial funding would provide for detailed plans, followed by a marketing project to ensure the first stage of the ?very important? public transport corridor and subsequent infrastructure were in place by 2014-2015 to align with the hospital opening.

?We felt that it was too important to wait until we had the $3 billion (for the entire project) and that we needed to get the first stage in place quickly,? Ms Simpson said.

She said Caloundra Aerodrome businesses would not be thrown out in the process.

?We?ve said if the aerodrome can?t be relocated, then that section of CAMCOS has to be redesigned,? Ms Simpson said.

?You just cannot throw those sorts of businesses out.

?We don?t want to lose one piece of infrastructure to gain another one.?

Deputy premier Paul Lucas said the vow would be disastrous.

?Ms Simpson needs to show how this can be done in such a short time,? he said.

?When will she provide details on the timings of her promise?

?How many jobs will they cut to deliver the project in that timeframe??

Ms Simpson also said an LNP government would provide new Coast bus services to commence by July, increasing the Caloundra to Maroochydore express bus services to every half hour.

LNP deputy leader and Caloundra MP Mark McArdle also announced LNP plans for a $5 million Caloundra Community Centre.

Mr McArdle said an LNP government would buy a new site in the town and build a new centre in its first term.

[stephenk]

Yet another LNP gimmick. Does the Borg think voters are stupid?

Building a line from the Sunshine Coast to, just the Sunshine Coast would be a bad idea, and not cost effective. For starters it wouldn't link the Sunshine Coast with Brisbane, which would be a major source of passenger loading. A depot would have to built on the line as there would be no access to other depots. Trains, and track maintenance vehicles would have to be delivered, and transferred (for overhauls) by road.

If the Sunshine Coast line was to be built in stages, then starting the construction at the Beerwah end would make a lot more sense. 

[david]

I agree...the idea is preposterous at best.

Doesn't the existing SEQIP proposal for the Beerwah to Caloundra line state it as being finished in 2016 or somewhere near there? Build that first with buses from Maroochydore would be much better.

Jobs cuts, rail lines in the middle of nowhere with no normal way of getting trains to use them and mixed messages regarding how the LNP will finance everything has left a sour taste in my mouth...

[mufreight]

The LNP seems destined to continue shooting itself in the foot over unworkable and impractical policy announcements regarding rail infrastructure and services.

[Dean Quick]

Another pathetic attempt to fool voters. This all reeks of an opposition with very little to offer. Lift your game Mr Borg..............

[ozbob]

From the Sunshine Coast Daily click here!

Rail plans will leave budget 'blackhole'

12:00a.m. 20th March 2009

Rail plans will leave budget 'blackhole'

| By Nikkii Joyce
Rail plans will leave budget 'blackhole'

A plan to fast-track a Sunshine Coast rail link was flawed because of a $3 billion funding ?black hole?, state treasurer Andrew Fraser said last night.

Mr Fraser was commenting on an LNP plan announced this week to build the Caloundra to Maroochydore section of the proposed CAMCOS rail within six years.

?The opposition said it is going to slash over $6.6 billion from the budget over the next four years,? Mr Fraser said.

?They still haven?t explained where the money?s coming from.?

The LNP plan was announced this week by opposition transport spokeswoman Fiona Simpson as a promise, but later was described as ?aspirational? by opposition leader Lawrence Springborg.

Deputy premier Paul Lucas said yesterday that Ms Simpson and Mr Springborg owed the Coast an apology for what he said was an in-house squabble.

However, Ms Simpson said her announcement simply put at the front end of the project the section of the CAMCOS link expected to have most use.

She said the Caloundra to Maroochydore link was shorter, and so cheaper, than the Beerwah to Caloundra link the Labor Government had proposed.

Both Labor and the LNP, if in government, planned to have that link finished by 2015.

Last night Ms Simpson clarified her ?promise/aspiration/commitment? announcement by saying: ?We have a goal and a commitment through a plan to make it happen.?

Late yesterday, Mr Springborg admitted the LNP in government would not be able to bring the Queensland budget back to surplus within four years.

That undertaking earlier in the election campaign had been one of the key aims of the LNP.

Releasing the party?s election costings yesterday, treasury spokesman Tim Nicholls said an LNP government would be $74 billion in debt with a budget deficit of $2.46 billion by the 2012-2013 financial year.

The Labor government has forecast deficits until 2011-12, including a $1.57 billion deficit for 2008-09.

Mr Nicholls conceded the global financial crisis would affect an LNP government?s ability to pay back debt, as its plan was based on diverting revenue above 2007-08 levels to debt repayments.

[O_128]

  the is the stupidest thing i have ever heard.The rail way to nowhere.When the coast line does get built i think that some sort of infrastructure should be built so that ont he way to the city the line stops at the airport.Airtrain could jsut charge people the extra fee if they get off at that station