When do we see high speed Sprinters

[glossyblack]

When will George St wake uo to the need for high speed railcar sets similar to Victoria's Sprinters for the "middle distance" trips such as Gatton, Toowoomba and maybe the proposed Beaudesert line.
It's fine to have a new Tilting Sunlander but sureky the good citizens deserve some consideration - perhaps a Tilting Rangelander, I appreciate the extreme difficulty in electrifying the Range but a diesel tilter must fit the loading gauge, or is the DTT all speed and no power meaning it can't do the range?

[mufreight]

Loading gauge problems not power would inhibit the operation of any form of tilt train to the west.
A higher speed operation for passenger services that would be more than time competitive with road transit be it road coaches or private cars using current era equipment would be possible with the realignment (a new base line tunnel) of the existing alignment through the Little Liverpool Range and also west from Helidon to Toowoomba.

[Stillwater]

Was there not a plan at one stage to relocate the Toowoomba railway station underground and place the western line in a tunnel to reduce the gradient that trains would encounter going up the range?

Also, is it true that a plan to co-locate the Second Range Crossing (road project) and a new railway up the range has now been abandoned?

For those advocating a Melbourne-Brisbane inland rail freight route via Toowoomba, what's the plan for getting the freight trains up and down the range, or is the plan to truck freight to Brisbane from a freight depot at Charlton-Wellcamp?

Grateful for anyone's advice on these matters.

[colinw]

Mufreight is exactly right about loading gauge, the CTT would get itself into severe problems at the #1 tunnel on the Little Liverpool Range, and would not reach Toowoomba with metalwork intact! (Although, in practice it would probably smash the overheight detector west of Rosewood and throw the signals to red).

Was there not a plan at one stage to relocate the Toowoomba railway station underground and place the western line in a tunnel to reduce the gradient that trains would encounter going up the range?

Also, is it true that a plan to co-locate the Second Range Crossing (road project) and a new railway up the range has now been abandoned?

For those advocating a Melbourne-Brisbane inland rail freight route via Toowoomba, what's the plan for getting the freight trains up and down the range, or is the plan to truck freight to Brisbane from a freight depot at Charlton-Wellcamp?

Grateful for anyone's advice on these matters.

That one has been bandied about ever since I was a kid growing up in Toowoomba, and the way to Brisbane was to catch the McCafferty's Co-ordinated to Helidon, thence 2000 class railmotor to Roma St.

A corridor for the "Grandchester to Gowrie" railway has been preserved:
Read about it here..

This newsletter shows the alignment of the preserved corridor.

The current proposed timing of the rail upgrade to Toowoomba is 2026 to 2031, which is where all the "Kippa-Ringed" projects get parked in SEQIPP.
Click here for details.

Let's just say that I do not expect to be catching a fast train to Toowoomba to visit while my parents are still alive.  

Much will depend on the future of the developing coal traffic.  If it continues to run to the Port of Brisbane via Toowoomba, the economics for a new range crossing will stack up.  If it goes to Gladstone via the Wandoan to Moura "Southern Missing Link", then I very much doubt the Toowoomba line will get rebuilt for what traffic remains.

cheers,
Colin

[mufreight]

The economics do not stack up for the inland standard gauge line to be built via Toowoomba but the present Qld Government does not want to go ahead with the construction of the tunnel through the Little Liverpool Range to enable the extension of rail passenger services west to Toowoomba and wants the Federal Government to foot the bill for the tunnels required through both the Little Liverpool Range and the ascent of the Toowoomba Range.
The key problem here is that if Federal Government money is provided it will be to construct infrastructure that will cater for the operation of double stacked intermodal trains so electrification will then never be able to be extended beyond Rosewood and the levels of freight on both gauges would also inhibit the operation of frequent fast passenger services on the same line.
The logical answer at this time is for the construction of a base level tunnel through the Little Liverpool Range between Grandchester and Laidley and to wire to Helidon reverting to the old Co-ordinated service until such time as a new alignment is constructed from Helidon to Toowoomba.
The savings in operating costs as well as time more than justify the costs of construction of the tunnel through the Little Liverpool Range at this time, the escarpment of the Toowoomba Range may require a higher freight density to justify at this time.