Yes for sure. Hopefully they are looking at event transport planning somewhere. 
Itâs important to be clear about what we think the relationship between peak and total demand is. 193,000 is a big number but a train every 5 minutes times 12 hours times both directions is about 216,000 people.
(Assuming 750 pax/train - itâd be really very convenient if 9-car trains were possible but on current trends I guess the visitors will just have to stand.)
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Absolutely agree. And it is that sort of detail that I would like to see addressed in some public transport documents sometime this year.
There was all this public information that discussed if we bid for this Games and were successful, we would need to do these things, and even then this is going to be a difficult task. And since the State adopted the bid, they havenât said a single thing about real capacity enabling infrastructure, other than LGCFR.
Why canât we advocate for 9 car sets from day one on the Sunshine Coast line even more so sector 1 from Varsity Lakes to Birtinya.
Itâs a more of an economical thing to do than increasing trains to every 5 mins on those long distance runs
The 9 car sets should run every 20 mins off peak and every 10 mins during peak.
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The new stations (Beerwah, Cal South, Caloundra, Aroona, Birtinya) will all feature platforms that are âfuture proofed to accommodate 9 car trainsâ as per TMRâs documents - which could mean anything from land being reserved for expansion to full length platforms from day 1.
According to 2021 documents, the 3 new Gold Coast CRR feature 160m long side platforms with 220m space allowance for extension to accommodate a 9-car train - doesnât really fill me with confidence.
I suppose thatâs a startâŚ. if you exclude all the stations in between.
I suspect that in the Olympics they will have a similar system to the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games where the Beenleigh/GC line will be altered to accommodate high frequency services on the GC line with bus shuttles for intermediate Beenleigh stations. And probably some additional stops for the period (e.g. Yeerongpilly, Woodridge, Coopers Plains). I could see the Sunshine Coast line being similar.
Having said that, with the LGCFR project, I could also see shuttle services running all stops between Beenleigh and Kuraby since there will be 4 tracks in this section. I could see the section between Northgate and Petrie operating under a similar system, with perhaps services stopping at Geebung, Strathpine and Carseldine with shuttle buses connecting intermediate stations.
This would allow trains every 5-6 minutes all day on the GC and SC lines. I could even see services being every 4 minutes at certain times of the day if the infrastructure can support that level.
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All Gold Coast stations can be extended, including the 3 new ones - the current signalling (among other things) doesnât support it but I expect ETCS rollout will sort this out.
I expect all stations Beenleigh to Kuraby inclusive should also be able to be extended once LGCFR is done, although if we are only talking Gold Coast trains probably only need be concerned with Beenleigh and Loganlea.
Stations Kuraby to Dutton Park Iâm less certain about but again probably less of an issue if we are only talking Gold Coast trains.
Albion and north I think would generally be OK except Eagle Junction and Kippa-Ring.
Stabling would all have to be reconfigured as well. Iâm not sure how somewhere like Robina works with 9 car trains when each road can only take a 6 car train - extending the yard there across the creek would be pretty expensive.
Given the need to extend so many platforms (including all platforms on whatever line Gold Coast is throughrouted with) and the current QTMP procurement pathway I canât see 9 car trains happening for the Olympics. It would be the successor trains to the QTMPs at earliest.
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Altandi might be an issue.
Other than inconvenient access (ie the southern ends of the island platform would be further away from the overbridge) Iâm not sure why there wouldnât be room for a 220m platform - there is room at either end, and there can be a minimal amount of curvature if needed without it not being DDA compliant. The side platform also has plenty of room at the southern end.
Note I think this work is needed eventually so that all CRR services can be operated with 9-car trains, but (a) I canât see this happening in time to allow 9-car ops for the Olympics and (b) I donât regard 9-car services as a satisfactory alternative to improved peak and off-peal frequencies, both of which need to be higher than at present.
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There is also the issue of 9 car trains themselves. Unless there are add ons to the existing QTMP program not happening. The impression I made when visiting the high fidelity mock up was that 9 cars was something they had not really factored in for the current contract. NGRs can be made into 9 car but it would require new build cars.
I mean we can probably run rail buses alongside the trains during the games with temporary bus lanes implemented wherever applicable. Capacity problem partly solved I guess?.
Absolutely, additional bus services will need to be part of the mix. But when the whole point of the bid was to advance infrastructure development in SEQ, itâs disappointing that the only 2 projects that werenât already in the pipeline are LGCFR and DSCR (The Wave) currently. And considering that the Government has dropped one (GCLR Stage 4), we are currently at a net result of 1 additional PT project as a result of the Games..
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Yeah we really are taking a âoh sheâll be alrightâ approach to the biggest thing to happen in our city since colonisation
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I assume you are meaning the Wave for the Sunshine coast line? Most of the time I think 8 trains per hour would be enough stepping up to super high frequency to match particular expected peaks. I suppose train numbers would also be a constraint on providing the high frequency services. But I think your suggestions are exactly what they will do in essence.
What size car trains do we currently have (3, 5, 7, or 9) in 2026?
How many of them do we have in 2026?
How many of them do we need in 2032?
What frequencies do you want, and where do you want them in 2032?
6 cars except on Rosewood line and a few peak services
You would need a minimum of 12 9 car sets to run every 20 min bi-directional from coast to coast. Peak you would need 24 or 30 9 car sets to run every 10 mins for 2-2.5 hour peak. I assume peak runs are longer than that but you can always substitute some runs with 6 car sets.
If trip time is say 3 hours, frequency 20 minutes then you need 20 trains (bi-directional).
Similarly if frequency 10 minutes then you would need 38 trains (bi-directional)
Number of Trains=Trip Time (minutes)/Desired Headway (minutes)
Add 1 train each direction for turnaround.
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Right now with a 2tph frequency the Gold Coast and Airport service requires 8 trains to operate (with 2 of them at the ends waiting for turnaround).
Because of the already well known chokepoints we cannot really run the service with a symmetrical 4tph, even with a future GC-SC pairing so the only option would be to run a counterpeak half-express half-stopper timetable.
From Varsity:
- xx:08 express Beenleigh - Boggo Rd
- xx:23 stopper or ltd. exp Kuraby - Boggo Rd
- xx:38 express
- xx:53 stopper or ltd. exp
Apply a similar pattern on the northern side, with a limited express Northgate - Bowen Hills (Albion in the future)
These could be enacted quite quickly with trains that are currently running as Special now.
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Surely Waymo, Wayve and the others will alter any planning that the Qld govt and Brisbane council have done for Metro, public transport and road infrastructure for the 2032 Olympic games? Flying taxis will be for the elite.
A big disruptor coming in the next 2 years.