Yeah it would be more feasible to just upgrade existing track with automated level crossings and passing loops at certain stations to allow for, I don’t know, a two-hourly service with 3-car units.
Once the QTMP fleet gets going and the SMU260/IMU160 fleet gets fully refurbished you could take the old IMU10x fleet and use it for experimental services across the state.
Thanks @Redrient for doing the sums on the crossings. Good to know the numbers.
I second your order for forty ’ drawbridge ’ crossings!
150km light rail? What a joke
If FNQ needs a regional rail link, it needs to be better than coaches frequency & speedwise and be flood/cyclone proof as much as possible. Currently many coaches per day but only a few trains in each direction.
Upgrade, duplicate, electrification between Port Douglas to Townsville, that section services about 250-300k population. Can tell several key hubs along the way
It will never happen as LRT. 30-40km from the city centre is usually the maximum for LRT.
I dismissed that thought bubble out of hand as some sort mistake or misunderstanding. A town 150km away already served by an upgradeable heavy rail corridor makes sense for the description provided, so I just assumed they were in error. LRT may be something in the future of Cairns itself, but I could never see a system going much beyond the city. Why even consider going as far as Gordonvale with new tracks when it’s already on the NCL?
I’d rather see James Cook University in the north served by better local public transport (which could include light rail in the future) than trying to duplicate something south where the NCL already exists. Transport to the Skyrail terminal, also in the north, is a bit hard to interpret too - when I went a few years ago it seemed mostly managed by taxis or hotel-sponsored shuttle bus. A rail based solution in the north could utilise part of the Tablelands line that already exists to Freshwater before lighter tracks veer northwards.
To play devils advocate the Paris tram express lines are mostly grade separated but still considered light rail. They run citadis dualis rolling stock with a top speed of 100km/h. And the Stadler flirt can run at 200km/h but claims to be configurable for light rail use (likely at lower speeds).
A theoretical benefit of this approach is the potential to run tram/train type services in which trains run at high speed across long distances but then small sections of on road exclusive right of way could service urban areas of light rail.
I doubt that’s what they were thinking of but innovative outside of the box options do exist that could work well.