The Sunshine Coast Case : Rail duplication Beerburrum to Nambour

[dancingmongoose]

ALP is against asset sales, so doesn't have the money in its planning for big spends.

Parties only oppose asset sales when they are in opposition though

[ozbob]

[Stillwater]

ABC's Bruce Atkinson tweets that SC commuters can expect '150 more services' after duplication to Landsborough.  (150 more a week?  Will there be Landsborough terminators or will the extra services run through to Nambour?  Will the railbuses go?)

More information please.

[ozbob]

Twitter

Shane Doherty ‏@ShaneDoherty9 2 minutes ago

6 LNP seats on Sunshine Coast .. They'd like 7.. Spending $532m on rail upgrade #qldpol #qldvotes #9News

[ozbob]

Twitter

ABC News 24 ‏@ABCNews24 3 minutes ago

Campbell Newman: Less than 30 properties will be impacted by building of Beerburrum to Landsborough railway #qldvotes #qldpol

[ozbob]

Twitter

Geoff Breusch ‏@gbreusch 14 minutes ago

$532bn to build 17km of duplicated track btw Landsborough and Beerburrum says @theqldpremier #7NewsQ #qldpol

[Mr X]

About time! Services between the sunny coast and Brisbane are a joke.

[dancingmongoose]

Also would like to know what has higher priority, Sunshine Coast duplication or BaT. While we need both, I know which one I'd rather us spend our money on

[ozbob]

Twitter

Scott Emerson ‏@scottemerson 4 minutes ago

Great to join Sunshine Coast LNP MPs to announce $532m duplication of rail line - Beerburrum to Landsborough #qldpol



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

^

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow 27 seconds ago

. @scottemerson Thanks for this committment! Well overdue of course. Look forward to the finer details. #2tracks #qldvotes #qldpol

[ozbob]

Twitter

Chris O'Brien ‏@COBrienBris 39 minutes ago

At Landsborough Rail station @theqldpremier #qldvotes #qldpol @abcnews to announce line duplication

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes -->  LNP promises Sunshine Coast rail line duplication

[ozbob]

LNP have indicated that works will commence immediately if the election goes their way.

[ozbob]

ABC News --> Premier Campbell Newman offers $500m for second Sunshine Coast rail line

Queensland election 2015: Premier Campbell Newman offers $500m for second Sunshine Coast rail line

Premier Campbell Newman has pledged $532 million to duplicate the rail line from Beerburrum to Landsborough on the Sunshine Coast.

He said the funding for his pre-election promise would come from privatising state assets.

He told Sunshine Coast radio station Mix FM it was one of the most important infrastructure announcements of the campaign.

"Today we're announcing on the Sunshine Coast a $532 million investment if we're re-elected to duplicate the line between Beerburrum and Landsborough," he said.

"That will mean we'll be able to dramatically increase the number of services for people on the Sunshine Coast with rail."

North from Beerburrum, the Sunshine Coast rail line currently reverts from a double track to a single track with short passing loops at most stations to allow trains travelling in opposite directions to pass each other.

[ozbob]

http://qld.lnp.org.au/lnp-will-fix-sunshine-coast-rail-line/

LNP will fix Sunshine Coast rail line

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Sunshine Coast passengers will spend less time travelling on trains and more time with their families under the LNP's plan to reverse Labor's broken promise and start work to duplicate the Sunshine Coast train line.

Premier Campbell Newman said under the LNP's Strong Choices plan, the $532 million project will be delivered as part of the commitment for Public Transport Rail Infrastructure.

"We have a strong plan to improve frequency, reliability, safety and affordability of the public transport network and also deliver economic benefits for Queensland families," Mr Newman said.

"Already our strong team has delivered 3000 additional weekly bus and train services, and slashed transport fares by five per cent saving families money. Trains are running on-time 96 per cent of the time, but there's more to do.

"The upgrade will provide more than 150 extra weekly services, improved transport reliability for more than 330,000 residents from the Sunshine Coast and create more than 3000 new jobs during construction.

"We need a strong future-oriented transport system to support a strong economy. You cannot create jobs without a strong economy. You cannot create a strong economy without a strong plan. You cannot stick to a strong plan without a strong and stable government."

Transport and Main Roads Minister Scott Emerson said this project would put an end to a huge bottleneck on the single track line that restricted freight movement and frustrated passengers.

"While we are committed to funding this project under our Strong Choices plan, the former Labor government broke their promise to duplicate the Sunshine Coast line in 2009, at the same time they were hiking up fares by 15 per cent," Mr Emerson said.

"If the Newman LNP Government is re-elected, we'll get on with the job.

"We can only deliver the rail line duplication because of our strong economic management, and our work to fix the state's finances through our Strong Choices plan that will reduce debt and invest in job-creating infrastructure like this project."

Mr Newman said Labor had no plan to tackle the massive debt they left Queensland and broke their promise to fix serious capacity issues on the Sunshine Coast line.

"Only the LNP has a strong team with a strong plan to secure Queensland's financial future and invest in the next wave of job-creating infrastructure," he said.

Less time on trains, more time with family

[ozbob]

Twitter

Campbell Newman ‏@theqldpremier 4 minutes ago

In Landsborough, sharing our plan to improve public transport with $532M upgrade #qldvotes http://qld.lnp.org.au/lnp-will-fix-sunshine-coast-rail-line/ ...

[Arnz]

ABC's Bruce Atkinson tweets that SC commuters can expect '150 more services' after duplication to Landsborough.  (150 more a week?  Will there be Landsborough terminators or will the extra services run through to Nambour?  Will the railbuses go?)

More information please.

150 per week.  Would assume it's per service, hence 75 return services per week.

Divide that over 7 days and it'll be equivalent to 10 more services a day (on a presumed hourly off-peak frequency).  Most of the increased services will likely be placed in off-peak times (from every 90 mins to hourly to Landsborough/Nambour).  Heck even scheduling 3-car services on a hourly frequency during off-peak times might suffice (however peak will still require 6-cars due to varied stopping patterns).

[Stillwater]

Wonder whether any of those extra services will be scheduled to Cooroy. 

ABC reports that duplication to Landsborough will be completed in 2019.  When will duplication to Nambour occur?

[SurfRail]

From the sound of it, I would be surprised if this covers any meaningful realignment, station upgrades or grade-sepping.  Probably just whack in a second track where the other one is.

[Arnz]

^

Reports in the SCD has Newman already quoting that some resumptions will be necessary.  Some of the corridor from the Beerburrum-Landsborough duplication has already been bought by the former government (and works has partially been done as can be seen north of Beerburrum before the halt in construction in 2009).

[Stillwater]

Route realignment already determined.  Arup Report.

Looks like it is no longer available publicly.

http://www.worldcat.org/title/caboolture-to-landsborough-rail-upgrade-study-needs-assessment/oclc/682026395?referer=di&ht=edition

[Fares_Fair]

After 4 years of campaigning with it's hopes and disappointments ... it's finally here.
It's been a long road (bad pun I know).

More work yet to get to Nambour and I will continue the campaign because that's what the reports all state is required.
However I sincerely appreciate the LNP State Government for recognising the need and taking action to address it.
It was always going to be a staged approach and this is stage 1 of 2 stages.

I am grateful to the people of the Sunshine Coast for their support in bringing this to fruition to Landsborough.

I am thankful to the Sunshine Coast Daily's Kathy Sundstrom who  has travelled the trains with us to discover our life (or lack of it),
Janine Hill and Bill Hoffman also providing media support over the years via the Daily. Just saying thank you isn't enough.

I am also thankful for the coverage provided on these issues by local ABC radio 90.3 FM Sunshine Coast.
Annie Gaffney, Rob Blackmore, John Caruso and Bruce Atkinson immediately spring to mind. Thank you for giving us a voice to our much needed cause.
I sincerely appreciate all that you have done to make today's announcement a reality for the burgeoning populace of the Sunshine Coast.
Thanks ABC !

I also would like to thank Mr Robert Dow, the Administrator here at Rail Back on Track who shares a vision of improved rail services to commuters, not just on the Sunshine Coast, but to everywhere.
Since I was first invited to join this group in 2008 over the introduction of the Go card and it's then 23% fare hikes (that's not a fare hike..), he has been a continual and avid supporter of #2tracks. Cheers Robert. 
Thank you also to Stillwater here at RBoT, a fellow Sunshine Coaster and much appreciated colleague here on the forum.

My favourite tenet comes from Abraham Lincoln, who said, and I paraphrse; "Give people the truth and they will make the right decision."

Today they did.

[ozbob]

Thanks FF.  Well done!

[ozbob]

If I recall correctly, documents relating to the proposed corridor north of Beerburrum were available online for a while (c.2008/9)  I might have saved them on an old drive.  Will have a poke around later today.

[ozbob]

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=20&ved=0CFIQFjAJOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dsdip.qld.gov.au%2Fresources%2Fproject%2Flandsborough-nambour-railway%2Fmp-landsborough-nambour-rail-ias.pdf&ei=zpW0VMmDEejEmAWzm4LgBA&usg=AFQjCNEkGP71aC_Ls098USXSRSztq7nO9A&sig2=AEiHCM--iNyetupF2Wd4Uw&bvm=bv.83339334,d.dGY&cad=rja

^ PDF on Landsborough - Nambour 2007

[ozbob]

TMR > Caboolture to Landsborough Rail Upgrade Study

... The first section of the plan, the Caboolture to Beerburrum Rail Duplication project, was commissioned in April 2009.

The second section of this plan, the Beerburrum to Landsborough Track Duplication, will straighten and duplicate this 17 km rail line and upgrade the Glasshouse Mountains and Beerwah rail stations ...

^ last updated as of 15 July 2014 at present.

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Queensland Election: LNP promises Sunshine Coast train line duplication

[dancingmongoose]

If I recall correctly, documents relating to the proposed corridor north of Beerburrum were available online for a while (c.2008/9)  I might have saved them on an old drive.  Will have a poke around later today.

I think I may something somewhere, I will have a look when I get home.

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

13th January 2015

Rail Reform: Sunshine Coast Line Upgrade is GO!!

Greetings,

RAIL Back On Track (http://backontrack.org) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport passengers welcomes the LNP's $532 million for upgrading the Sunshine Coast Line.

RAIL Back on Track is a non-partisan organisation. We are more than happy to promote our ideas to anyone willing to listen to us. Our members have been campaigning for a long time to get this project funded, today's announcement is a massive win for all Sunshine Coast residents.

We call on the leader of the opposition Annastacia Palaszczuk to match this promise.

The bottleneck on the Sunshine Coast Line saw buses pretending to be trains, long waits, low frequency, poor service and problems for rail freight between Brisbane and North Queensland. The announcement of this upgrade will also set the stage for a future direct rail connection into Maroochydore.

We suggest this opportunity be taken to ensure that all stations are fully DDA compliant, platform heights are raised and alignments straightened to enable driver only operation (DOO) in the distant future.

The political party that offers genuine reform of rail and bus networks, together with fare reform, is the political party able to guarantee low cost and abundant public transport for all.

We look forward to public transport policy announcements by Campbell Newman and Annastacia Palaszczuk, and swift publication of detailed transport policies on their respective websites.

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

Reference:

LNP will fix Sunshine Coast rail line http://qld.lnp.org.au/lnp-will-fix-sunshine-coast-rail-line/

[Gazza]

From the sound of it, I would be surprised if this covers any meaningful realignment, station upgrades or grade-sepping.  Probably just whack in a second track where the other one is.

I can live without grade seppings not being packaged with this project...There's just simply very little benefit with the combination of fairly low frequency compared to other lines like Ferny Grove, as well as the are serviced having quiet traffic anyway.
I see Barrs Rd south of Glasshouse as the only one anyway :S
Ditto for station upgrades. They all have lifts and straight side platforms so not a lot needs to be done other than platform raising.

It only appears there's a couple of curves to be eased, mostly immediatley north of Beerburrum.

Its only once you get north of Beerwah the allignment turns to sh%t and the terrain becomes rugged.

More work yet to get to Nambour and I will continue the campaign because that's what the reports all state is required.
However I sincerely appreciate the LNP State Government for recognising the need and taking action to address it.
It was always going to be a staged approach and this is stage 1 of 2 stages.

I reckon once this is done, there are probably more votes to be won, and more potential users if a spur was at least built to Caloundra. Would give Caloundra south a boost, and would link in logically with the bottom end of the 600.

Besides, the original plan had the line reaching Caloundra as a higher priority than the section north of Landsborough

http://www.dsdip.qld.gov.au/resources/project/landsborough-nambour-railway/mp-landsborough-nambour-rail-ias.pdf
pg 10

[ozbob]

Sunshine Coast Daily --> Premier: Less than 30 homes to be resumed for railway

PREMIER Campbell Newman revealed "less than 30 homes" would be resumed between Beerburrum and Landsborough during a snap press conference at Landsborough this morning in regards to the duplicate rail line.

The Premier was in Landsborough with his five sitting MPs and the LNP candidate for Nicklin to officially announce the duplication of the railway line.

He promised, if the LNP government was elected, the $532 million project would be finished by 2019 with construction due to begin this year.

He said it would "create 3000 jobs during the construction period".

Member for Glasshouse, Andrew Powell, was grinning from ear-to-ear as the Premier made the announcement he had been fighting for since elected in 2009.

"Three weeks after I was elected the former Labor Government cancelled its promise to duplicate the line to Landsborough," Mr Powell said.'

"This is something I have been in the (Transport) Minister's ear about since we were elected."

Member for Maroochydore, Fiona Simpson, said this infrastructure commitment was "the best improvement (of the railway line) since the 1980s".

Mr Powell specifically acknowledged rail commuter Jeff Addison and the Sunshine Coast Daily for their hard work in keeping the need for the rail duplication at the top of the agenda.

[Stillwater]

SCL duplication was second lead news item on Channel 10 5pm news.  Premier Campbell Newman told Ch 10 that there was not enough money to pledge duplication to Nambour.

Ch7 Brisbane got it wrong -- said that two tracks would be duplicated into FOUR!

[darthcaligula666]

if the assets arent sold, what happens? does the project die? i just cant understand why this wasnt done 20 years ago. it will be nice if this happens, and will be fantastic for the people who use this line every day. i wont be holding my breath on it though, as i will believe it when i see it. it will be interesting to see if labour come up with a counter offer. the maroochy link perhaps?

[dancingmongoose]

Maroochydore isn't possible without duplication to Beerwah, and Landsborough is the next stop.

[darthcaligula666]

yeah mate i know. it would be interesting to see if anyone was bold enough to say they would make that project a priority. the network is pretty out dated, and it really is sad that so many of these projects werent completed decades ago. today to make 17 km of track is >500 million, whereas back then it would be a fraction of the cost. the longer these other projects (maroochy, duplication north of lands, extension of goldie south of varsity, etc) are put on the back burners, the more expensive they are going to be when they eventually happen.
at least this is a start, but will it go through if he doesnt sell the assets?

[Arnz]

Supposedly the Barrs Road level crossing was covered under the 2009 report.  A overpass was planned for that crossing. I would not surprised however if the LNP leaves out the planned Barrs Road overpass and left it as a level crossing, although people won't mind if that money for the level crossing was redirected to platform raising at Glasshouse Mtns, Beerwah and Landsborough (in stages of course - meaning 1 Platform would have to be left open and the 'dance of the trains' would have to make a temporary return at those stations whilst Platform raising is being done).  Which would be beneficial for disabled access, especially for those coming into Landsborough off the 605/615 buses.

Judging by the reports that work was meant to start ASAP after the election, I would be guessing they are dusting off the old plans and would be going ahead with resuming the properties of those on the planned corridor that hasn't been resumed yet.

[BrizCommuter]

Whilst I'm sure there are quite a few excited here, BrizCommuter has a few concerns:
1) Wouldn't the money for duplicating Beerwah to Landsborough be better used towards building the new line to Caloundra?
2) New trains would be required to run these extra 150 services a week, which are not costed, and not ordered.
3) Given that the Caboolture Line already runs 18tph out of a maximum 20tph south of Petrie (and this is before MBRL), what is the plan for increasing track capacity on this corridor south of Petrie?

[Arnz]

1) It can be argued that the money towards Caloundra may be better used on re-aligning and duplicating beyond Landsborough for freight reasons which benefits the state overall as well as "fed" into the coffers of the "big bad debt" that the government likes to bleat about as a result of increased freight services plus track fees that come from the freight operators.

2) The likely scenario is most of those 'new' services are being directed towards off-peak/weekends, going from every 90 minutes (or infrequent) to at least a hourly frequency.  At a hourly off-peak/weekend frequency, 3-car trains may suffice apart from the odd 6-car working which may be required for peak running, thus requiring less new trains with scheduling.  Scheduling would mean peak through running ex-Nambour to Ipswich and/or Springfield where the 6-car units operate on those lines most of the day before those 6-car units are scheduled back onto the CAB/SC for peak running.

3) As most of the 'new' services are to be likely being redirected to off-peak/weekends to improve the mediocre 90 min frequency, and the issues outlined with the peak capacity south of Caboolture, 1-2 services at most are likely to be directed to peak periods.

[HappyTrainGuy]

Twitter

Geoff Breusch ‏@gbreusch 14 minutes ago

$532bn to build 17km of duplicated track btw Landsborough and Beerburrum says @theqldpremier #7NewsQ #qldpol

Good lord!

@BC. NGR would be the most likely roll along with extending the Caboolture express trains into Landsborough services as Kippa Ring and Petrie services would cover off the majority of the stations inbetween.

[aldonius]

Also on 2) and 3), Briz, by the time this duplication is finished (2019) we'll have the NGR trains in service.

[Arnz]

Twitter

Geoff Breusch ‏@gbreusch 14 minutes ago

$532bn to build 17km of duplicated track btw Landsborough and Beerburrum says @theqldpremier #7NewsQ #qldpol

Good lord!

Would've brought in a upgraded BUZ 314 and BUZ 338 plenty of times over don't you think?