Gold Coast spends 60 years rebuilding rail line it ripped up
By Nicholas McElroy
The South Coast rail line ran to Coolangatta before the city was known as the Gold Coast. (Supplied: Have You Seen the Old Gold Coast)
Some people find Melbourne’s failure to build a train line to its international airport to be a little humiliating.
The giant car park outside the airport at Tullamarine is a mockery of Melbourne’s tram-lined streets, says urban historian Peter Spearritt.
“Think of the embarrassment, where they still don’t have a train from the Melbourne Tullamarine airport … it’s ridiculous,” he said.
"It’s got more bloody car parks than almost any other airport in the world because they don’t have an efficient fast track rail or tram access to it.
“At least Brisbane has that. Sydney has it.”
Road travel has been the preferred mode of transport to Melbourne Airport for some time. (ABC Archives)
Rip it up, build it back
What gets less attention is Queensland spending more than half a century effectively rebuilding a Gold Coast line ripped up in the 1960s.
Queensland was in the process of closing the Southport to Tweed Heads line — running through what is now among Australia’s fastest growing regions — at roughly the same time Victorian politicians started thinking about a Melbourne airport rail link.
At the time the Gold Coast Airport wasn’t the major hub it is today.
But Professor Spearritt, a University of Queensland academic, said in hindsight it was a bad call.
He said an “enormous emphasis” went into road building instead.
“When the stupid decision is taken to close the Southport to Tweed Heads line, one government minister in the early 1960s said if Gold Coast workers need to work in Brisbane they can catch a helicopter,” Professor Spearritt said.
“It’s a sort of a Jetsons version of what modernity might be like.”
Tantalisingly close lines
Decades on and billions of dollars later, two rail lines have extended south towards the Queensland and New South Wales border.
The Gold Coast Airport is the second largest in both states because it technically straddles the border.
Existing and planned rail lines end a similar distance from the Gold Coast Airport. (Graphic: ABC News.)
Within a few years two rail lines will end roughly 14 kilometres from the Gold Coast Airport.
An existing heavy rail line operates at Varsity Lakes, the key rail link to Brisbane.
Meanwhile the light rail line, under construction to to Burleigh Heads, follows the coastal strip and connects with the heavy rail at Helensvale in the city’s north.
[
Buses to replace rail?
](Buses could replace final stage of Gold Coast light rail project - ABC News)
Photo shows A graphic of a tram at a coastal location.
The final stage of the Gold Coast’s multi-billion dollar light rail line could end up being serviced by “rapid transit buses”.
The light rail project was expected to continue south to Coolangatta — past the airport — but a review by the Crisafulli government could be a roadblock.
It came after backlash from residents who lived along the route.
There are estimates the final 13km stage of the project could cost up to $7.6 billion.
There have been suggestions the final stage of the route could be serviced by buses, with a depot built close to the beach at Burleigh Heads.
Reliability a priority
Queensland Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg said he was open to all modes of transport.
He said he just wanted it to be reliable, safe and affordable.
“My approach to all these problems is probably best described as mode agnostic,”
Mr Mickelberg said.
“We need to be open minded when we look at these problems.”
Brent Mickelberg did not rule out any method of public transport to Gold Coast airport. (ABC News)
Professor Spearritt said public transport needed to be reliable above all.
But he said a change of transport mode, from trams to buses, could be a turn off for some users.
“There’s a real fear among people that the modal shift is going to delay them, so being able to get either just on the bus or a train or a tram is the best option,” Professor Spearitt said.
“I think it should be rail [to the airport], because then people are going to be able to come to Coolangatta [airport] from all of those southern suburbs of Brisbane.”
Light rail runs through the Gold Coast’s tourist strip. (ABC News: Greg Nelson)
Second Brisbane air link
Queensland Airports Limited, operator of the Gold Coast Airport, has been hoping for a rail connection to the rest of south-east Queensland for some time.
Its Gold Coast master plan features trams pulling up in front of the airport and plans include room for a heavy rail stop.
Queensland Airports Limited includes a light rail station in planning documents for the Gold Coast Airport. (Supplied: Queensland Aiports Limited)
The organisation’s chief property and planning officer, Brian McGuckin, said the connection to south-east Queensland’s rail network was a key “missing piece”.
He said it would offer easier transport access to south-east Queensland residents and lead to greater air transport competition with Brisbane Airport.
“I think it’s important to have that choice and and to keep things competitive,”
Mr McGuckin said.
Bus and tram capacity
He said it was “exciting” that two rail lines were close to the airport, but he said clear messaging was needed by leaders about future development plans.
“What the Gold Coast needs is a consistent and clear message about what will be delivered … not just for the benefit of the airport, but for the Gold Coast as an entire regional area,” he said.
Finding a park on a sunny Gold Coast afternoon can be tough.(ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale)
With local roads in southern Gold Coast suburbs often choked by traffic, Mr McGuckin said it was important to recognise the growth expected at the airport that received 6.7 million visitors annually.
Mr McGuckin said the figure was set to grow to 10 million in the next eight years and almost double in the next two decades.
“If you think about the capacity of buses, a typical bus would be 65 passengers [while] a typical light rail tram would be something like 350 passengers,”
he said.
"It’s a significantly higher number of movements [for] bus traffic with turning areas and requirements to park up.
“So there’s a significant challenge for us to move that number of passengers with the limited capacity that you have with a typical bus service … or even a metro style bus service.”
Gold Coast Airport expects patronage to grow to 10 million passengers a year in the next decade. (Flickr: David McKelvey)
Queensland getting one on Victoria
Gold Coast city councillor Glenn Tozer, like Mayor Tom Tate, said heavy rail was his preferred public transport option to the airport, despite the monumental price tag.
“Frankly, one mode from the bottom to the top makes most sense,” Cr Tozer said.
A bus depot could meet light rail users at Burleigh Heads.(ABC Open: David Rowe)
“The idea of an industrial bus depot being right in the heart of Burleigh — I think that’s a real big problem.”
“Whilst it’s expensive, it’s the most efficient use of funds and assets for us … I think any other option delayed is a worse outcome over the long term.”
He said the council was not involved any decision making for the heavy rail line.
But he said the project should have been extended 20 years ago.
“I think that’d be a great thing,” Cr Tozer said.
Professor Spearritt said getting rail south to Coolangatta could also result in cheaper airfares.
“To get one over Melbourne, fast track [rail] to the Gold Coast Airport immediately,” he said.
"It’s got the possibility that could nick quite a lot of traffic from Brisbane Airport.
“Now that isn’t in the interests of the people who own Brisbane Airport, but we can’t run our lives just around who owns the airport.”
