It was mentioned in the Auditor-General Report 8: 2025-26—Major projects 2025 page 7
A 2031 completion date doesn’t give much room for timeline blowouts being hard against 2032.
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Potential Beenleigh and Gold Coast Line Stopping Patterns Post-CRR and LGCFR
Some thoughts about what I’d ideally like to see:
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Extension of the Coopers Plains short workings to Altandi (interchange to/from Gold Coast services and Mains Rd buses)
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Three stopping patterns (not including the northside sections here):
- Roma St all to Altandi
- Roma St, Albert St, Woolloongabba, Boggo Rd, express to Altandi, all to Loganlea
- Roma St, Albert St, Woolloongabba, Boggo Rd, express to Beenleigh stopping Altandi & Loganlea.
From an infrastructure perspective, what would stop this?
I’m assuming there would need to be crew facilities constructed at Altandi to allow crew changes to occur there. Also some crossovers between Altandi and Runcorn.
Would it require a fourth track between Altandi and Kuraby? Probably dependent on frequency, but assume we’re looking at 4 tph on both patterns. I don’t have the skills required to calculate this, but I’d like to learn.
North of Altandi, both the Beenleigh & GC trains would share the same stopping pattern. If I understand correctly, there will be 4 tracks between through Yeerongpilly, so they could pass the Altandi services through this section.
Are there any other areas that could relatively easily be quadded, without having to go to the expense of doing the whole corridor, and in a place appropriate for overtaking?
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I don’t see why we need separate fast and slow Beenleigh patterns. 4tph to Beenleigh and 4tph to the Gold Coast as the minimum interpeak and weekend service would be fine - using the current patterns.
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Because the current all stops service from anywhere south of Altandi other than Beenleigh and Loganlea is hideously slow.
e.g. Narangba to Central (35.66 km) is 44 minutes, average speed of ~49 km/h. Edens Landing to Central (36.9 km) is 1:06, average speed of ~34 km/h.
Now, I understand due to alignment, the Beenleigh line won’t ever get as fast as the NCL, but a lot better can be achieved than current. The current slowness is a disincentive to use public transport. It still will be, but less so.
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So just change trains.
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Could Cross-platform transfers work? It seems that Loganlea and Beenleigh stations will have upgrades that do allow for that, but what about Altandi?
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Personally I’d prefer:
- Varsity Lakes (Gold Coast Airport eventually) to be All stations Varsity Lakes to Helensvale, then express to Beenleigh, express to Loganlea, express to Altandi, express to Boggo Road, then all stations via Cross River Rail
- Helensvale trains - All stations Helensvale to Loganlea, then express to Altandi, then express to Boggo Road, then all stations via Cross River Rail
- Loganlea trains - all stations to Boggo Road, then via Cross River Rail.
- Kuraby trains (overlaid on Loganlea trains to provide 15min service Kuraby to Boggo Road), then run via Southbank.
Would probably need 4-6 tracks though to separate the lines. So, more of a foamy pipe dream for myself.
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Post GCFR and CRR , the only real change to stopping patterns should be addition of woodridge to gold coast service (which i know will be unpopular due to the demographics often using it), and no regular off peak short workings. 4tph to gold coast and 4tph to beenleigh all stations.
Peak might be a bit different and I can see maybe yeronga getting added to some gold coast services.
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Why Woodridge? Isn’t Loganlea only 2 stations away (Woodridge, Kingston, Loganlea), and so passengers could take the downward Beenleigh train to Loganlea to then catch the inbound GC? If any more stops will be added for the GC train, it better be from Yeerongpilly to Boggo Road off/counter-peak to allow for capacity for 15min frequencies on both lines.
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Stopping at woodridge mainly for patronage reasons. Its a fairly busy station, especially for one that has the frequency which it does. I think its busy enough to warramt express traims stopping at it.
But isn’t it a bit close to Loganlea though? Wouldn’t it be a bit janky to have the GC train stop at Loganlea and Woodridge since it would only skip one station?
Depends on what your aim of the express service is. Is the aim to maximise time sayings for people travelling between inner city brisbane and the gold coast? is it to provide frequency increases at certain stations? is it to stop at all major patronage stations with the all stops left to fend for all the minor stations? Who says express stations need to be a certain length apart?
WHy does the ipswich express services stop at milton and indoroopilly? Is it simply to increase services at those two stations or is there such a demand from the outer portion of the line to have stops there?
I don’t think any of the above is inherintly right or wrong, it’s just what you think is most important for an express service.
Noting that in sydney and melbourne express and limited stops services station stops are not set by distance from previous stop, its whether there is a physical platform to stop at and the demand that station requires.
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Further investigation into the merits of a Gold Coast local train service is warranted.
Once the LGCFR stations are built and open - Hope Island and Merrimac the train timetable could be backfilled with local GC only trains slotted in the gaps to give 15 min train service all day.
With 10 stations open on the line at that point, it should be enough demand to sustain the local service.
Could be done as a 6 month trial with option to extend another 6 months. There will be discussion about the northern local terminus, which most likely will be Beenleigh, but happy to leave that open to debate here.
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My thoughts were two running patterns in peak times. Varsity Lakes to Helensvale, express to Beenleigh then the regular stopping pattern to the city.
Helensvale all stations to Beenleigh then the regular stopping pattern to the city.
The other thought was all trains depart Varsity, but with varying stopping patterns with the exception of Helensvale and Beenleigh.
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Agreed. At least in the interim until all the works are completed. Surely the addition of a crossover or two would make this possible.
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I think Logan really gets a raw deal from train services, having to take every stop on the line unless they can get to Beenleigh or Loganlea stations. It really doesn’t provide a lot of incentive to use the minor stations if you’re only getting a service that crawls all the way to Brisbane CBD.
In light of this, I propose three stopping patterns, separated by LGA. I don’t generally support splits by LGA, but it’s a convenient coincidence. The real reason is I don’t think an all-stopper should take more than about 45 minutes, otherwise it becomes annoying to use, and Kuraby is the 45 minute point for services from Central (and in future, Exhibition). Also Beenleigh is the terminus point of the Beenleigh line, and is on the Logan/GC border.
- All stops service between Exhibition and Kuraby.
- Express service from Boggo Road to Trinder Park, stopping only at Altandi, then all stations to Beenleigh.
- Express service from Boggo Road to Beenleigh, stopping only at Altandi and Loganlea, then all stations to Varsity Lakes.
That does make it painful for people between Runcorn and Kuraby to catch the train south, as they’d have to take a train towards Altandi first. If there’s enough demand for it, then I’d consider making the first two patterns split at Altandi instead, or add Kuraby as another express station, or introduce a bus connecting those stations with the new Trinder Park station, and then Springwood Busway.
Could also add a station in the stretch between Yeerongpilly and Salisbury to the express services, to facilitate a transfer by bus to the Ipswich line.
I don’t see a need for a pattern terminating at Helensvale. If a service is making the hour-long journey from Roma Street to Helensvale, they may as well just add another 15-20 minutes to send it to Varsity Lakes.
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Just run it to Kuraby and start express running from there, allowing for quick access to either limited express or all stations services.
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I’ve expounded on my views on this here: Gold Coast Light Rail - #274 by SurfRail
I’ve debated the merit of this in my mind too as I agree that Logan residents get a raw deal, and patronage at those stations reflect that. Poor frequency and travel times are a double whammy.
If I was to implement something like this, I’d probably run it this way:
- All stations Altandi to Albion.
- All stations Beenleigh to Altandi then express to Boggo Road.
- Current Gold Coast stopping patterns.
My reasons for this are the following:
- Altandi makes a better changing point for this as it’s already a major interchange between local and inter urban services as well as bus services.
- Logan and Runcorn residents receive a faster service while still serving local Logan City stations.
- Albion will be a major interchange following the launch of CRR so makes sense to terminate the Altandi all stoppers connect with northside services.
- It allows for a high frequency of services all day through CRR.
In order to allow this to happen, at the bare minimum I would imagine that LGCFR needs to be extended from Kuraby to at least Altandi which would be a four platform interchange station. I’d also suggest a turn back facility at Albion for services to turn around without interfering with through and freight services. The added benefit of this would be improved capacity and removal of those level crossings between Runcorn and Kuraby.
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