Article: Commuters ignored

[ozbob]

From the Gold Coast Sun 29th July 2009 page 9.

Commuters ignored

Commuters ignored

Coast train travellers feel peak-hour pinch
By JO HALES

GOLD Coast rail commuters will continue to feel the peak-hour pinch with just one set of extra carriages making it on to the Gold Coast next year.

Coomera MP Michael Crandon said he had called for five six-car sets to be added to help ease overcrowding on peak-hour trains from the Coast to Brisbane.

Instead, the Coast will be receiving just one six-car train set

- capable of holding 750 people
- when the Varsity line opens next year.


Mr Crandon, whose electorate contains three of the Coast's five train stops, said he would continue fighting for more rolling stock because the region had the most overcrowded trains in peak hours.

"One extra six-car set will mean nothing. It is completely and utterly inadequate," he said. "It is not taking into consideration the increase in traffic up and down the line."

He estimated when the new line opened the trains would pickup at least another 750 people from the Varsity area. "The peak hours run from Sam to gam so we are talking about 60 extra people per train," he said.

Mr Crandon said he would not stop fighting until the passengers' plight was addressed.

"The bottom line is I have a long way to go on this," he said. "I will be making a lot of noises to get the message to the Government that it is not good enough."

He said Transport Minister Rachel Nolan had ignored calls for extra train services, despite figures showing more commuters were packing the trains to Brisbane.

A 2009 Queensland Rail passenger load survey showed the Gold Coast's annual seasonal peak passenger demand exceeded two other regional centres which received extra services in 2008.

It showed loading from Robina to Ormeau increased from 83 to 86 per cent last year, with peak-hour growth at 15 per cent in the morning and 19.7 19.7 per cent in the afternoon.

[stephenk]

The problem is that for a significant increase in peak service Gold Coast Line, then more infrastructure will be required to allow Gold Coast trains to overtake Beenleigh Line trains, such as triplicating Kuraby to Loganlea, 4th platform at Kuraby, and 4th track Dutton Park to Banoon. Unfortunately work has not started on either of these projects.

[mufreight]

You have it right Stephenk but you have overlooked the major problem, that being train paths both accross the river and through the CBD.
The amplification of the rail capacity has to come before services can be increased much more on all lines, not just the Gold Coast.

[ButFli]

I love the way Gold Coast people carry on like they are the only ones who can't get a seat on the way to work. Have they tried boarding some of the Ipswich line services? That's where the true Bombay Expresses are. Every line suffers from overcrowding during peak periods.

From my limited understanding of the current CityTrain situation, providing an extra 5 6-car-sets every morning would mean 5 6-car-set services would have to be removed from already-timetabled services on other lines. Typical Coasties, expecting more than their fair share of Government resources. The Gold Coast has the best train line and the best motorway to Brisbane. Don't take services away from other Queenslanders so Coasties can live in the lap of luxury.

[skippy]

There is limited opportunity to schedule extra peak hour trains with the current infrastructure. The merged Gold Coast, Beenleigh and Cleveland lines between Park Road and the City into one track each way is just about at the limit of capacity.

Current Gold Coast morning peak services are already at 15 min, arriving CBD between 7:40 and 8:40am. I suspect the next service to be added will fill the 30 min gap arriving CBD at 7:25am - other than that the infrastructure will restrict additional peak services, let alone contemplating Greenbank.

On the northside, things are not any better with 6 services (Sunshine Coast, Caboolture, Shorncliffe, Ferny Grove, Airport and Doomben) merging into two tracks each way. Similar to the south side, the Bowen Hills to CBD is also nearing capacity.

We desperately need the first inner city rail tunnel (Park Road to Bowen Hills) in order to cater for the ongoing patronage growth, let alone the
- New station at Varsity Lakes
- Albion Transit Orientated Development (TOD)
- Coomera TOD
- Wynumn Central TOD
- Carseldine urban Village
- Bowen Hills TOD

[stephenk]

You have it right Stephenk but you have overlooked the major problem, that being train paths both accross the river and through the CBD.
The amplification of the rail capacity has to come before services can be increased much more on all lines, not just the Gold Coast.

That is quite true. The northbound Merivale Bridge & suburban track through the CBD currently handles 19tph during the busiest hour of the am peak. The Inner City Rail Capacity study sees 25tph being the maximum capacity for this track. Given that Bowen Hills can barely handle 3min frequencies on the current timetable, I think that more than 20tph may be difficult to reliably operate.

[O_128]

dont forget the massive buranda and boggo road ones.