I was just thinking about improving frequencies on routes. I know that when CRR is online, the line pairings are going to be Ipswich all day express to Brisbane Airport (I’m assuming 15-30 minutes), Springfield Central to Shorncliffe (15 minutes) and Doomben to Indooroopilly.
I was wondering would it be possible to reliably run the Doomben services to Darra instead of Indooroopilly? I noticed there’s a track crossover near the station, but 7.5 minute headways are also pretty tight (that’s also assuming that Doomben is given minor improvements to run 15 minute frequencies).
Maybe so. My main question though is would it be feasible from Darra?
Another option for the northside is to run 15 minute headways from Springfield Central to Shorncliffe and 15 minute headways from Darra (if that’s feasible) to Northgate, giving that whole corridor true turn up and go frequencies. I have read that Nundah is earmarked for additional high rises, and Toombul has potential as well with the old shopping centre redevelopment.
Anyhow, still begs the question does Darra work for this?
Regarding what you said about Doomben, then perhaps Doomben could be at the current 30 minute frequencies and run Doomben to Roma Street, terminating at platform 7. The current track configuration from what I can see would allow this, and with much fewer trains running through South Bank and using that track pair there would be plenty of capacity for this.
That would then support the high frequency spine from Darra to Northgate.
Another thought I had regarding high frequency routes is that it looks as if post CRR they’re going to run shuttles from Boggo Road to Bowen Hills to supplement Cleveland - Ferny Grove services.
I think they should extend those shuttle services (assuming it can be supported logistically) from Cannon Hill - Mitchelton. That would give this line pairing the following frequencies:
This would allow very high frequency services from a significant number of stations, and most of the remaining 15 minute frequencies. I believe this would help start to drive changing travel habits for more people.
Thanks. I can’t do much myself, but my hope is that with any discussion that results, that any powers that be might see these ideas and implement them…
In my opinion, getting seven day/all day 15 minutes frequency across as much of the network as possible is probably more important than getting metro-like frequencies. We also can’t do much more in terms of peak frequencies until there are more trains.
What we absolutely could do in the short term is increase the fifteen minute frequencies that exist Monday-Friday into the weekends and evenings. So you could have high frequency services all week to Ferny Grove, Coopers Plains, and Cannon Hill.
Once that is achieved you can gradually extend it as resources allow.
Or I reckon that the trains terminating at Indooroopilly would have a 15min frequency, with half the trains the trains going to Doomben and half the trains going to Northgate. This may result in irregular timetabling for trains to Northgate, but I could see northgate-roma street services implemented to close the timetable gap.
Edit: this would result in a total combined frequency of 7.5min from Northgate to Indooroopilly; which is pretty much a big win for the high-density suburbs along the corridor (e.g. Nundah, Toowong, etc..).
No problem with those, just saying that fifteen minute frequencies to places that don’t currently have them are probably more important than metro-like frequencies between Eagle Junction and Darra. And I say that as someone who lives on the Ipswich/Springfield Line and who would benefit from them.
I understand that and agree that this is vital. The reason why I’m suggesting this is because with the new CRR line pairings, there is provision to run shuttles from Boggo Rd to Bowen Hills as well as Doomben to Indooroopilly, so am trying to think of ways to maximise what I think will be an inefficient way of running things, hence my suggestion to extend the shuttles a few stations either side for excellent frequencies.
But, yes, I agree that 15 minutes all day, every day is crucial. It seems the plans are to implement this after CRR is online already.
Yeah that’s a possibility. I wonder if an easier setup to follow would be 15 minutes Indooroopilly to Northgate and keep Doomben seperate and terminating at Roma Street? This would remove the inconsistent times and also keep stopping patterns consistent.
I actually think the focus moving forward should be increasing off peak rather than peak, as for too long the network has taken a ‘commute to and from the CBD Monday-Friday’ approach. Of course there’s a need for peak, but I believe the growth moving forward will come from other times.
I wonder if it would be better to aim for the following 4tph patterns in the off-peak:
Ipswich express to Airport all stations (with the current peak hour Ipswich express pattern applying full time)
Springfield Central all stations to Shorncliffe all stations
Corinda all stations to Bowen Hills, with every second service continuing all stations to Doomben at 2tph (but if a bare minimum track amplification can be done on the Doomben branch then all services would continue to Doomben at 4tph)
I’m not sure if you need anything more for this between Darra and Corinda other than completing 4 electric tracks for the whole distance. To do it properly, the line would be converted to up-up-down-down running which would involve various track realignments and in particular
Reconfiguring the junctions at Darra so the Springfield flyover feeds into the 2 centre tracks, and Ipswich trains use the outer tracks.
Rebuilding Sherwood, Graceville, Chelmer, Taringa and Toowong with a single wide DDA compliant island platform
Closing the Sherwood LX and upgrading other nearby crossings to improve the clearances.
Rebuilding Indooroopilly to replace the ridiculous and utterly unfit for purpose current station, including by integrating a proper bus interchange into it. Maybe get rid of the footpath on the eastern side of Coonan St if the corridor needs to be widened a bit. I’m inclined to think it could be moved about 50-100m south with bus access to an interchange deck directly from Station Rd and Lambert Rd.
Leaving Oxley, Corinda, Auchenflower and Milton basically as is except for upgrading platform heights (at Oxley the third platform would just be redundant and left as is but out of use).
The turnouts between Milton and Roma Street already support this from memory.
Once CRR, LGCFR and The Wave are done it should be possible to run the following:
Birtinya all stations to Beerwah, then Caboolture, Petrie, Northgate, Albion, CRR stations to Boggo Road, then all stations to Yeerongpilly
Caboolture all stations to Petrie, then same as above to Boggo Road, then all stations to Beenleigh
Kippa-Ring all stations to Northgate, then same as above to Boggo Road, then all stations to Yeerongpilly, then Altandi, Loganlea, Beenleigh, then all stations to Varsity Lakes
Ferny Grove to Cleveland can already run a 4tph with some brittleness that fully or progressively extending duplication from Manly to Cleveland would fix.
That means the only stations with less than 4tph off peak are those west of Rosewood and along the existing NCL north of Caboolture (except Beerwah), where 2tph would be more than sufficient
The corridor from Indooroopilly to Northgate seems to need a bit more than 15min frequencies due to their high density. It just a bit of pet peeve I have when I pass Nundah on my commute to uni, seeing a majorly dense suburb only being served with 15min frequency during off peak.
Alternatively the SC/Cabo, Redcliffe could stop all stations from Northgate to Albion to provide more service to said corridor, and that Ipswich/rosewood trains could stop all stations from Indooroopilly to Milton. But there would not be space for nundah-indooropilly passengers on the SC, Redcliffe, and Ipswich trains due to how busy they get in both peak and off peak.
Edit: BTW the Shorncliffe (beyond Northgate) and Doomben lines don’t really serve high-density areas beyond Northgate, so a 15min frequency on the Doomben line (with duplication) and Shorncliffe line would be fine.
Agreed. That’s why I reckon extending those very short shuttles just a few stops will make a massive difference and are the kind of bold steps needed to drive real modal change.
The two tracks between Caboolture and Petrie (excluding the 3 track layout at Narangba station) will likely to limit separate patterns for The Wave (Direct Sunshine Coast) and Caboolture taking into consideration the freight and 1-2 daily Traveltrains.
I’m tipping its more likely that Caboolture and The Wave (Sunshine Coast) will be merged into one line/pattern, with NCL north of Beerwah converted into a Gympie North/Nambour to Beerwah shuttle outside of peak. The only potential NCL directs beyond Beerwah being the peak “Gympielanders” via Bowen Hills (non-CRR service) and treated similarly as a Traveltrain going via Exhibition into Roma Street.
This may mean Glasshouse to Elimbah will be overserved with 2 trains per hour outside of peak hour as part of the DSCL, but I don’t see the DSCL pattern skipping stations between Beerwah and Caboolture before stopping all stations to Petrie unless they extend the Nambour/Gympie shuttles to into Caboolture to cover for the DSCL expressing between Beerwah and Caboolture.
The Eastern Part of the Caboolture yard can either be converted to car parks or sold off for TOD as the Elimbah, Birtinya and potentially a yard south of Beerwah takes over. The Elimbah yard can serve for the “Caboolture peak short runners” whilst Birtinya and potentially Beerwah yards serves from Birtinya.
Putting the bus and train stations together would be a real game changer. The Lord Mayor’s announcement this week of (even more) upzoning around Indro should be a trigger to fix this long-running problem.
This is a proposal from a few years back from the local State MP, Michael Berkman.
I’ve heard the “concrete podium over the train line” idea a lot, but it would be much cheaper, simpler and quicker to plonk the bus station on either Station Rd or the huge BWS drive-through site.
