Begin the multi-year process of building over the Ipswich rail line, from around upper Milton Road to Toowong and likely on-to Indooroopilly.
These regions are higher-density and destined for A LOT more apartments ie people, well located along a major rail corridor.
Govt will receivemoney from developers to build over/modernise the existing unused air-space.
Even Qld has tinkered with this at Toowong (on the corridor) and Fortitude Valley as examples. Sydney particularly has done a lot of this stuff during its own growth journey.
It will allow for the modernisation/upgrading of desired destination living regions, in the inner ring of Brisbane!
Frankly, with modern engineering, it’s basically a “low-hanging-fruit opportunity”, for revenue for the state, apartments [and other structures] for in demand housing and inner-urban lifestyle!
And yes, you can put some shinny new bus-stop signs in, somewhere, if you’re already scared buses might not be the main drawcard [for a change]!
Ok but at least doing it to Bowen Hills would at least make sense. The current area in and around Bowen Hills is an absolute shithole. Then again I could also use those words for a lot of parts of Brisbane, so please pardon my language.
Beyond money and effort, what prevents the government implementing air conditioning at Central? I imagine it requires platform screen doors to keep the cool air in, and therefore a standardisation of rail cars that we may not yet have implemented?
Have they been given that option though? I would argue that this hasn’t been offered to developers and therefore hasn’t been done because of this reason.
I understand there are lots of cons but the pros are also there and need to be considered. Design it well in the beginning, taking into account ventilation, sunlight, and future proofing, and it would be very beneficial for all parties involved.
Basically, building over railway lines is a giant pain in the backside, logistically. There are a lot of regulations around construction in a rail corridor (understandable) that makes it unviable compared to a knock down-rebuild, that it would only really be considered when there’s absolutely no other options.
People talk about Fortitude Valley, Central, Toowong etc, but look at the age of these places. They’re all from the 1970s/80s. Now, I’m not suggesting we return to such a time, but the fact is regulation was far less strict then, making such projects more viable.
The fact is that basically no major construction company in Queensland wants to touch such projects.
Cross River Rail Stations are a completely different situation because they are in a largely enclosed cavern that is located well below the surface, with the only access being via a vertical atrium which has the added benefit of allowing rising hot air to escape.
Central is not a completely enclosed cavern, it is not located any meaningful distance below the surface, and access to the platforms come from above and below platform level.
Famous last words. I dare say that if it wasn’t that difficult, it would have been done already…
By this logic, nothing can ever be improved upon because everything is already done as well as it possibly can be. But buildings are retrofitted and renovated all the time.
if they could build over rail lines decades ago, they can sure build over rail lines today! It’s like saying, they could fly planes in the 70/80’s but we can’t today…what???
countless cities, around the world have “built over rail lines” (big deal!!!) - ONLY in Cinderella City “Brisbane”, would such a suggstion rate 2secs oxygen of objection…and you can have shinny new BUS stops…so fear not!
