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Article: Light rail to Hobart's northern suburbs vital ...

Started by colinw, February 03, 2011, 10:18:17 AM

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colinw

Tasmanian Times: A light rail to Hobart's northern suburbs vital for our economic survival

QuoteThe proposed electric light rail for Hobart's northern suburbs would be vital if we wanted to prosper economically and compete with the rest of the world, an expert has said.

Peter Newman, the Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University and board member of the national funding body, Infrastructure Australia, said light rail acted as an economic development tool.  It increased surrounding property values and reduced residents' transport costs - money that's re-invested into the local community's goods and services.

"Hobart should be modelling its plans on the Gold Coast light rail, as the cities are of similar size," he said, adding that the only real obstacle Hobart faced in making this a reality was "purely a political one."

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Metro

 :tr

In Hobart there has been much discussion about reintroduction of trains or LRT to the city and particularly its northern suburbs. The HNSR (Hobart Northern Suburbs Railway) would run battery powered trains from Mawson Place at Constitution Dock and out to at least as far as Granton along the Main Line rail corridor. After much anticipation from the public, there is the PB (Parsons Brinckerhoff) Hobart Light Rail Cost Estimate: Report 2 of May 2009 made for the Tasmanian DIER. Their study is for overhead power LRT vehicles to run from the University of Tasmania to Bridgewater, via the Hobart CBD, inner northern suburbs and much of the Main Line rail corridor from Moonah and beyond.

While any one of or even a combination of these two proposals would be a positive step forward into the introduction of rail guided vehicles in Hobart, Seán's scenario model is for a fully integrated LRT network for Greater Hobart.

The envisioned Hobart LRM (Light Rail Metro) in its entirety would be a north / south / east running LRT network (standard gauge) totalling 50KM in route length. The network would have up to 45 transit stops / stations in total. In his scenario proposal for the Hobart LRM there are 2 lines - these being the Green Line and the Gold Line. The Green Line would serve the entire north / south axis of the network from at least as far north as a Bridgewater Civic terminus to a Kingston Central terminus, via the CBD and the University of Tasmania - Sandy Bay Campus. The Gold Line would primarily serve the Eastern Shore suburbs – running from a Rokeby Village terminus, via Rosny Park and a new Tasman Bridge into the CBD, from where it would share the Green Line alignment between a sub-surface Hobart Central Stn, located beneath the Elizabeth Street Bus Mall as inter-modal change  and as far as a Glenorchy transit stop.

The Hobart LRM would therefore incorporate a network of up to 5 bi-directional rail tunnel segments, totalling up to 6.65KM in network length. These would be composed of 6m diameter bore / cut and cover tunnelling to enable a seamless transit route under the Central Business District. There would be 5 micro-metro sub-surface stations in total – North Hobart, Warwick Street, City North, Hobart Central and St Davids Park. Tunnelling would also allow for LRT alignment from the University transit stop to the Southern Outlet at Proctors Saddle from where the line would run en route to the Kingston Central terminus.

The Hobart LRM would serve as the main transport artery for Greater Hobart, serviced by pulsed timed feeder buses, allowing rapid interchange and importantly transforming the Tasmanian capital into a truly Transit-orientated City.

Recently he has completed a detailed scenario plan in web form of the Hobart LRM . It can be found by going to:

www.hobartlrm.blogspot.com

#Metro

How much would this cost and how long might it take to deliver?
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Gazza

And how frequent are Hobarts buses at the moment on these coridoors? Are they running articulated every 10 minutes, at capacity?

#Metro

Hobart is an interesting case because it has a pre-existing rail corridor that might be useful for LRT.
However, I have taken a ride on Hobart Metro (that's the name of the bus) and the service is just awful IMHO.
Negative people... have a problem for every solution. Posts are commentary and are not necessarily endorsed by RAIL Back on Track or its members.

Gazza

Quotethe service is just awful IMHO.
Haha, well to quote you tramtrain, perhaps pouring concrete is the wrong solution.

I've never understood this concept that because a corridor is "there" it has to be used right now. Ok, so they've got some land (Which they can always hold onto anyway), but pretty much everything else needs to be done from scratch in order to build a workable system.

But how about spending considerably less just upgrading buses across the whole city, rather than sinking all your eggs into one basket.

#Metro

QuoteHaha, well to quote you tramtrain, perhaps pouring concrete is the wrong solution.

I've never understood this concept that because a corridor is "there" it has to be used right now. Ok, so they've got some land (Which they can always hold onto anyway), but pretty much everything else needs to be done from scratch in order to build a workable system.

But how about spending considerably less just upgrading buses across the whole city, rather than sinking all your eggs into one basket.

Um, yeah why not? Hobart has a terrible bus system. That's a pure description.
I'm not anti-bus. I'm pro mobility.

Not sure how anyone can come up with the claim that it costs more or whatever at this stage. It is worth looking at the options and then narrowing them down. If improving bus means building brisbane style BRT (that costs about the same as heavy rail and more expensive than light rail on the gold coast), then you can see why all options are worth looking at.

The geography of the area is such that you have a long constrained section that forces vehicles to run down a single corridor. Personally I think the bus service needs to be fixed up, however if you already have class A ROW, then that could also be suitable for a light rail service operated by diesel, which requires no overhead wires and no power substations and you can get buses to the station. That's one option that needs to be modeled in the BCA. A lot of Tasmania's power is from hydro sources so that is a big plus; the hilly nature of Hobart would also be very good for a BRT trolleybus system which can handle hills well.

The proposal as put in the blog though does seem expensive (anything involving any amount of tunnel is), so yes, short term solution might be a good idea (bus).
Negative people... have a problem for every solution. Posts are commentary and are not necessarily endorsed by RAIL Back on Track or its members.

Gazza


#Metro

I really would like to see the BUZ rolled out in Hobart. That would be a huge improvement. :-c
Negative people... have a problem for every solution. Posts are commentary and are not necessarily endorsed by RAIL Back on Track or its members.

Stillwater

Hobart is a linear city running along the Derwent Valley.  The suburbs developed as a string of communities based around passenger rail stations.  The backbone of the network is there and is very suitable to light rail or light rail metro.  With light rail as a spine, fed by buses, Hobart's 'liveable city' status would be improved considerably.  The 'green line' proposal from Granton to the University (without having to cross the Derwent) would be relatively easy.  The extension of the green line to Bridgewater and introduction of the gold line would be costly, and would have to come at a later stage.  Metro bus drivers would be horrified at the thought.  Let's not forget that Launceston, in the north of Tasmania, had trams also and would benefit from a light rail network.  The geography there forces all cars from one side of the Tamar to drive through town to get to the other side.  Light rail would ease that congestion.

#Metro

Rennes has a metro that carries 120 000 people, and it is a tiny city.

However, that gold line, I think would be better suited to BRT- the lanes on the Hobart bridge are reversible AIUI.

The issue i have with the rail option is the Booker Highway- the rail line shadows this and then veers off, missing certain areas. Now is the LRT going to be built in the median of that Booker Hwy where there isn't rail at the moment?
Negative people... have a problem for every solution. Posts are commentary and are not necessarily endorsed by RAIL Back on Track or its members.

Stillwater

Launceston has a tram culture and there are strong moves to introduce light rail to the city.

http://www.ltms.org.au/trams.html

The old tram network:  http://www.ltms.org.au/Launceston%20Map.html

A point of interest – Launceston's main street is 'Brisbane Street'.  Part of it was converted into Australia's first mall.

#Metro

I am reading through this LRT proposal. It is well thought out.  :-c
Although bus must be considered too. Something needs to go up those hills.
Negative people... have a problem for every solution. Posts are commentary and are not necessarily endorsed by RAIL Back on Track or its members.

Stillwater

TT the old rail alignment is there, no need for median light rail.  Part of the old railway has been converted into a bicycle path Glenorchy-Hobart.


Metro

Chapter 6 (Fig. 05) of my scenario plan for the Hobart LRM details alignment and gradients when concerning the hilly environments.

A feeder bus system would serve the LRT network through inter-modal changes, I am not in any way planning to do away with all existing bus routes. The feeder buses would have a more localized roll, but there would indeed be many areas of the Greater Hobart served entirely by buses.

#Metro

I have to commend you on the detail and thought that has gone into this proposal.
Well done.
Negative people... have a problem for every solution. Posts are commentary and are not necessarily endorsed by RAIL Back on Track or its members.

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