Even if the turnouts to Boggo Road are possible from an engineering perspective, from an operational perspective construction would be a nightmare as you’d have to close the CRR portal for quite a significant amount of time to construct them. This is another reason why the project changes to CRR are so disappointing as the Northern portal would have originally seen turnouts constructed that could be used to connect to a future NWTC. All gone now
Actually inspired by a conversation with a chatbot on the topic, since there seems to be no good solution for the Beaudesert line to use the existing inner Beenleigh line corridor, another solution is to essentially create an entirely new tunneled line, separate to CRR.
Yes it’s extremely expensive but it would merge together a few ideas.
One is to remove Gold coast services from the inner Beenleigh line entirely, by creating an entirely new tunnel to the city from around Altandi, with Intermediate stops at Market Square (obviously the most important destination ) and Griffith uni. This is an idea we’ve floated before at RBot. How the tunnel gets into the city I have no idea. Connect to CRR or create a new inner city tunnel alignment, idk. Either way this solution would then mean ex-Beaudesert trains could use the now extra capacity on the inner Beenleigh line to reach the city, effectively taking GC line slots
The other idea I had would be to tunnel the Beaudesert line from around Moorooka, and instead of running it in a straight line to the city, run it slightly west with stops at UQ and West end, before turning east and heading to the city, effectively merging the Beaudesert line with the Brisbane Subway concept, running through the city and onto Newstead, Bulimba etc.
Both of these are astronomically expensive and complete foam, but at this stage I don’t see an easy cost effective solution. You could share the triple on the inner Beenleigh line to the city in the short term, but long term something has to givr
I realise this will be very expensive - but am I correct in understanding that the most expensive part of tunnel projects is the station construction? If that’s the case, surely a tunnel with a single station at Sunnybank (Market Square as you say) would be potentially more affordable than some of the other options? Although there is still the issue of connecting to Boggo Road. Also if this option was to be done I could also see the benefits of a station service QEII Hospital/Griffith University. This would also allow for a major expansion of this hospital, although getting to even more foam now…
The problem that I see is balancing new stations with express running. Whatever new tunnel is built, it’s primary function needs to be the express pair for the Gold Coast line.
This means that stations should really be limited to regionally important locations, significant transfer points, and on the straightest line possible to the city.
Since we’re doing foam, would an elevated line from just north of Kuraby next to the Gateway Motorway before running into the city next to the South East Freeway be cheaper than an all-tunneled solution?
Population growth and the Beaudesert line says we’ll need two southern-lines sectors eventually. The Merivale sector is almost completely empty post Clevewich too.
So either a surface quad or CRR extension are necessary to use that capacity.
The other alternative is build a new CBD tunnel. I guess if you’re expecting RFR/HSR to take over (most of) the Gold Coast patronage, that’s part of the deal.
But if you’re expecting that any time soon, why bother quadding LGCFR?
Having said that if you don’t plan on building S2B soon there’s 8tph and the GC 9-car extension in available capacity before more is needed.
As Melbourne is ready to complete their Metro Tunnel (Footscray-Hawksburn) this year, people have been anticipating the plans for a second Metro Tunnel that travels east-west (Newport West-Clifton Hill).
If Melbourne can envision building a second-metro tunnel, what if Brisbane devises a proposal for a 2nd CRR through the city. A possible alignment for the 2nd Cross River Rail is marked in green in the map below (OpenRailwayMap).
The 2nd CRR will serve the suburbs of St Lucia, West End, and Kelvin Grove, with connections at South Brisbane and Roma St stations, and continues out to NWTC. Furthermore, the tunnel could be used by Gold Coast-Sunshine Coast trains, diverting traffic from the 3-track corridor from Yeerongpilly to Dutton Park. All-stop Beaudesert and Beenleigh trains can use the freed up capacity on the 3-track corridor.
I know this proposal won’t come to fruition within the next century, but it is something to provide capacity for the Beaudesert trains on the Yeerongpilly-Dutton Park corridor.
It was never a meant to be an insult. I just feel both the major party’s haven’t planned well for transport, so while one team may have done a worse job the other certainly shouldn’t get away without criticism
Apparently population growth is more significant West of Ipswich and the Southern end of the Gold Coast.
Population increases around Beaudesert are secondary compared to what’s occuring West of Ipswich and on the Southern end of the GC Not to mention SC as well.
My point here is yes preserve corridor but a train line here is not needed until 2045.
BRT to and from Brown Plains will fill the void here.
They could duplicate and build the line to Parkinson and Greenbank if demand remains strong with buses not coping from that area.
Priority should be to OOL as well as MCY and Toowoomba. Far more beneficial and will take some toll off the Warrego Hwy It’s better to have a train line than adding another lane in each direction to and from Toowoomba.
So Scenic Rim Council reckons there’s the potential for ~10k additional lots in Beaudesert-Gleneagle Corridor.
The original Flagstone Development Scheme estimated 40k lots could be developed in the Greater Flagstone Priority Development Area (translating into approximately 110k people). Obviously quite a few of these lots are already delivered around Greenbank (Everleigh / Covella estates) and in Flagstone itself, but theres still plenty more coming - and theres heaps of land left to expand.
If Springfield is big enough for a train - Flagstone is big enough for a train.
There is a difference between rates and levels though. BCC might have the highest population, but it’s perhaps not growing as fast as outer LGAs which don’t have the benefit of historical infrastructure.
) and Griffith uni. This is an idea we’ve floated before at RBot. How the tunnel gets into the city I have no idea. Connect to CRR or create a new inner city tunnel alignment, idk. Either way this solution would then mean ex-Beaudesert trains could use the now extra capacity on the inner Beenleigh line to reach the city, effectively taking GC line slots
