Gold Coast Light Rail

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> New Gold Coast light rail exceeds expectations with bumper passenger numbers

[Jonno]

So are the numbers above the original "unbelievable/reckless" numbers that were revised down to be more realistic by the Campbell Govt?

Amazing claim that the LNP was the only Govt capable of delivering given under Fed LNP Policy this project would never have been funded Federally!!!

[techblitz]

will just go on record to say that the new 745 timetable is near perfect with a good 7 minute train - bus connection and a more generous 9-10 minute bus - rail connection gap.

Needs to be 4 or 5 min train to bus and a dynamic buffer bus to train but usually 10 mins.

Remember the time sink that is the Pac Fair loop and the riverside caravan park stops (ugh).

745 still does not connect with each morning train in either direction.

You could fine tune the timetable to meet each morning train...TL probably wouldnt bother with it at the moment due to increased freq of train services in the morning...That being said.....provided the bus drivers leave to schedule from b.south station...the 745 will become a fairly consistent route....and down the track..the timetable could be reworked to meet each morning service properly...and also decrease the connection gaps...trial and monitor...

[SurfRail]

It assumed in 2006 that the system would be opening in 2011 all the way from Helensvale to Broadbeach, with Coolangatta done by 2015.  The original projections were around 45,000 per day.  Also assumed that 2011 bus patronage immediately prior to the system opening would be over 26 million per annum when in reality it was closer to 17-18 million due to.

- the GFC
- the fares skyrocketing out of control

May also have been "year 1" figures rather than "day 1" figures but I am not 100% sure, only going from memory.

No doubt it will get above 20K sooner rather than later.  It's only been running 2 weeks...

[achiruel]

I really don't think having the northern connection at Parkwood is a good idea.  I mean, what is actually between GCUH and Parkwood?  Not much.

At least going to Helensvale, Harbour Town is on the way, which is a decent patronage attractor.

As for SurfRail's via Paradise Point idea, while it might be a good idea in terms of coverage etc. I really can't see it ever being built due to the massive number of bridges (and therefore expense) required.  Also Paradise Point isn't exactly high density is it?

To be perfectly honest I'm not sure what a Helensvale link would achieve at the moment either, other than remove a need for an extra transfer for passengers coming to/from Brisbane.  I can see the point in Harbour Town though.  Probably a southern extension would generate more patronage at this time though.

[SurfRail]

^ I think the connection will be at Helensvale but going via Parkwood.  There are advantages and disadvantages either way, and no matter which way you go you can still extend further north later on.

This is decades into the future here.  Imagine if somebody suggested extending a new railway line to the Ripley Valley from Oxley or Darra in 1973.  40 years later and it's halfway there. 

Keep in mind Coomera is ultimately meant to look something closer to Robina.

Line to Paradise Point could take a number of different routes, but going Oxley/Lae/Bayview to get to at least Paradise Point shouldn't be too hard.  The key thing is that there is ample space because virtually all the bridge crossings have provision for duplication.  The area is also densifying, albeit not to the extent of Southport.

For the next 20 years, the priority needs to be on going all the way from Helensvale to Tweed Heads and identifying/preserving the most suitable other extensions.  I'm not sure the 2015 revision to the City Plan really does that anymore but then again the 1997 transport plan didn't end up materialising either.

[ozbob]

Griffith U News --> Travel free on Gold Coast light rail to Griffith Open Day

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> Near miss as car speeds toward Gold Coast tram after mistaking tracks at Southport for unusually quiet road

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> Large cracks in concrete of Surfers Paradise North light rail station near Marriott Hotel

[SurfRail]

Seems a surprising number of people are not familiar with the basic properties of concrete, number one being "it cracks".

Contractor's defects probably covers it.

[ozbob]

And it seems a number of people clearly should not be driving motor vehicles ...

Gold Coast Bulletin > Motorist going head-on towards Gold Coast tram on the Southport tracks avoids disaster by metres

[dancingmongoose]

Survey regarding connecting LR to HR at Helensvale by 2018

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> Shock new footage shows a taxi almost slam into a tram and man dicing with death on tracks

[ozbob]

9 News --> Gold Coast tram drivers 'traumatised' by near misses with drivers and pedestrians

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> Majority of Gold Coast City councillors back light rail to Helensvale - except Bob La Castra

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Tourism Minister Jann Stuckey made aware of Gold Coast light rail's confusing blunder for tourists

[red dragin]

Surfers paradise north
Surfers paradise - cypress ave
Surfers paradise - caville ave
Surfers paradise south

Face saving and fixes the issues.

"We've upgraded the signs" rather than "We've fixed the mistake"

[ozbob]

Office of the Mayor --> Rail connection survey

^ for Gold Coast Residents

Mayor: no mixed messages on rail link from Mayor Tom Tate on Vimeo.

[SurfRail]

There was a bit on Seven News saying the patronage is not meeting expectations which sounded like bunk to me.  Apparently their "exclusive" figures (which we knew around 2 weeks ago) show patronage is 18,500 per day and the government's expectation was 20,000.

As I understood it the revised expectation was actually 17,000.

Of course the original figure of 45,000 also quoted relied on a Helensvale link and non-extortionate fares.

[ozbob]

^

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow

@7NewsBrisbane Gold Coast light rail expected pax was 17K so exceeding despite extortionate fares and no heavy rail connection! Cheers!

=========

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow

@7NewsBrisbane You really should get these things right. To much media misinformation in many domains ...

[ozbob]

Gold Coast Bulletin --> Visitors admit widespread confusion at light rail ticket system - Gold Coast Tourism boss will investigate

[ozbob]

Twitter

Great to see: "@Molhoek: At Griffith Uni talking about ... extension of light rail http://www.robmolhoek.com.au/lightrail  http://t.co/duPY6L2uW8"

[ozbob]

Twitter

GoldLinQ @gclightrail

1 million ticketed trips achieved in the first 59 days of tram services. A great milestone for the G: on the Gold Coast.

===============

Twitter

GoldLinQ @gclightrail

Congrats Irina on being the G:'s 1 millionth passenger. Thanks @JPLangbroek for being part of this milestone.

[hU0N]

That's about 67 boardings per service.  Or put another way, each vehicle could be earning up to $450 per hour.  I wonder how that compares to the hourly cost of running the vehicles.  It seems that it would be pretty high.

[SurfRail]

http://saygidday.com.au/qld/gold-coast/gold-coast-news/one-gold-coast-tram-traveller-will-win-big/

[SurfRail]

That's about 67 boardings per service.  Or put another way, each vehicle could be earning up to $450 per hour.  I wonder how that compares to the hourly cost of running the vehicles.  It seems that it would be pretty high.

The only way is up at this point.

With a sensible fare structure that does not punish short-distance travel (not bloody likely) it would be doing much better, as would patronage throughout SEQ generally.

[ozbob]

ISCA --> Gold Coast Light Rail, Main Roads WA and Katrina O'Mara Big Winners at the Sustainability in Infrastructure Awards

[dancingmongoose]

Mayor Tom Tate leads push to get 'ugly' advertising wraps taken off Gold Coast trams -> http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/mayor-tom-tate-leads-push-to-get-ugly-advertising-wraps-taken-off-gold-coast-trams/story-fnj94idh-1227061919059

Ugh, that is horrendous.

[#Metro]

Glad the local council doesn't own it, ha! Seriously, one has to wonder if these crazy ideas really are deliberate attempts to gain media attention by the political class. On the roof?

[dancingmongoose]

Discussions held on linking light and heavy rail before 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games -> http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/gold-coast/discussions-held-on-linking-light-and-heavy-rail-before-2018-gold-coast-commonwealth-games/story-fnj94idh-1227064541417

[Gazza]

It sounds like the writer of the article has been looking at plans for Helensvale station upgrades for the duplication works (hence 3rd platform or a new turn back) rather than anything to do with G link extension.

The fact the article mentions the coomera bridge duplication is a dead giveaway.

[pandmaster]

I do not know why a station at Parkwood was not built along with the rail line. It seems to be the closest (by road) to the Southport/Surfers Paradise area where a lot of people live and most people want to go to. IMHO they should build a new station at Parkwood and link the light rail to provide the fastest journey possible between the rail line and the heart of the Gold Coast. Having the light rail parallel the train line from Parkwood to Helensvale may be cheaper than a new station at Parkwood but it does not make a lot of sense to me. Yet another half baked project by the looks of it.  The government may save a few million but since the line will be there for hundreds of years to come you may as well do it properly. This kind of thinking is heresy in Queensland, I know!

[dancingmongoose]

As far as I am aware:
The line to Helensvale will go via Harbour Town, and then there will be another line eventually that links up to a new Parkwood station and terminates there. The Light/Heavy duplication is stupid and that's why they are going to go via Harbour Town

[pandmaster]

As far as I am aware:
The line to Helensvale will go via Harbour Town, and then there will be another line eventually that links up to a new Parkwood station and terminates there. The Light/Heavy duplication is stupid and that's why they are going to go via Harbour Town

The present GCCC plan only has light rail to Parkwood and Biggera Waters. With a GC local service I suppose people to/from Helensvale could easily connect at Parkwood. http://imgur.com/a/wlTx5#2

If only Emerson had taken G:Link up on their offer to build to Parkwood in exchange for a contract extension. Now a lot of those construction workers have moved to other things and may not be available when the next stage starts. Governments really need to have a constant flow of projects to keep the experienced workers across all sectors (roads, rail, submarines, etc...). Ditto the workers from the Springfield line.

[SurfRail]

Nobody knows what is planned at present outside of the closed discussions going on.

Keep in mind the effect of building a station at Parkwood on journey times.  Absent light rail it would not be a heavily patronised stop in and of itself as there is only very limited walk-up patronage and only from one direction (Napper Rd).  Helensvale is only 3km up the road, which would be the shortest interval between stations on the Gold Coast line and probably quite a bit shorter than some intervals on the Caboolture line beyond Petrie.  And for this, you lose 130 or 140kph running forever between Helensvale and Nerang.

Helensvale is the much more logical location for an interchange because there is already stuff there, including 12 bus routes which all originate there, and is likely a long-term terminus for the mid-tier express pattern out of Brisbane.  (Keep in mind that Pakenham is around the same distance from Melbourne as Coomera is from Brisbane and it is regarded as a suburban line.)

[petey3801]

Nobody knows what is planned at present outside of the closed discussions going on.

Keep in mind the effect of building a station at Parkwood on journey times.  Absent light rail it would not be a heavily patronised stop in and of itself as there is only very limited walk-up patronage and only from one direction (Napper Rd).  Helensvale is only 3km up the road, which would be the shortest interval between stations on the Gold Coast line and probably quite a bit shorter than some intervals on the Caboolture line beyond Petrie.  And for this, you lose 130 or 140kph running forever between Helensvale and Nerang.

Helensvale is the much more logical location for an interchange because there is already stuff there, including 12 bus routes which all originate there, and is likely a long-term terminus for the mid-tier express pattern out of Brisbane.  (Keep in mind that Pakenham is around the same distance from Melbourne as Coomera is from Brisbane and it is regarded as a suburban line.)

Completely agree. Adding a heavy rail station at Parkwood  would add considerable journey time to the Gold Coast line, particularly when the "limited express" from Brisbane will terminate at Helensvale, meaning it will be the Gold Coast Express services that service Parkwood. On normal 100km/h lines, it would likely add around 2mins to the timetable, for a 140km/h line, it could add 4mins easily to the timetable, when factoring in stopped time, de/acceleration time and time at top speed, compared to current running.
Helensvale is already a busy station with a major shopping centre right next door, plus, as SurfRail points out, is already a major interchange station between buses and heavy rail. A light rail connection to the station and on to the shopping centre is by far and away a better choice IMO compared to a new heavy rail station on a high speed railway (in Aus terms at least) with near-zero trip attractors at Parkwood.

[HappyTrainGuy]

I do agree that at times the advertising detracts from the presentation of the tram. But its very common on trams and buses and in some cities trains and brings in revenue. $3mpa is nearly $10,000 a day. I say take it and also implement other alt as the Mayor suggested.

I hate window wraps. I want to be able to look outside. Especially at night time where any signage becomes invisible be it on a train, bus or tram.

[James]

With a braking and acceleration of 1.0ms-1 and 30sec for dwell time you loose about 70sec (likely a bit longer) with a line speed of 140km/hr.

But agree, the GC line is an excellent piece of modern rail infrastructure design for the "car" culture of the Gold Coast and many of the surrounding estates and minimizing the operating and capital costs of moving people by rail over the distance to Brisbane. So before adding more stations you really need to ask what is being achieved over what we have now. Unless the station is a more a natural junction and could almost justify itself on walk up, then leave it as it is.

The tram is for milk runs. Maybe I'm wrong but due to he physical location of the GC line I don't really see the GC line ever playing a major role in moving people locally, even with more stops.

The heavy rail will eventually play a larger role in moving people locally on the GC - it will just take 10-20 years before population expands out there enough for it to be viable. At this point most of the population still lies east of the line, and it is mainly the minor centres that are on the railway line currently.

The GC railway line is great in its design though - with the recent roadworks occurring around Robina, if you want to travel from Beenleigh to Varsity Lakes, ignoring wait time, it is actually now faster to catch the train instead of drive. It makes you wonder what could have been if we had rail along the SE Freeway all the way into Brisbane - could have very well had a trip time which is actually faster than the car...

[SurfRail]

^ I actually think you could quite easily delete Holmview, Trinder Park, Runcorn, Altandi, Sunnybank, Banoon, Salisbury and Rocklea and replace with (respectively) nothing, nothing, nothing, new station at Centro Pinelands, nothing, nothing and merged station at Nyanda with bus interchange for Beaudesert Rd services for the last 2.

Back on topic though:

http://ridetheg.com.au/get-up-to-date/ - has now been updated.

[ozbob]

I hate window wraps. I want to be able to look outside. Especially at night time where any signage becomes invisible be it on a train, bus or tram.

> http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=10971.0