I saw this answer to a Question on Notice in the Qld Parliament
Question on Notice
No. 520
Asked on 20 May 2025
MS J PUGH ASKED MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT AND MAIN ROADS (HON B MICKELBERG)
QUESTION:
With reference to the upcoming rail timetable review for Queensland Rail Services—
Will the Minister advise (a) if the review will consider reopening Tennyson Station, to support
additional services for south and western Brisbane suburbs and (b) if not, why not?
ANSWER:
I thank the Member for the question.
(a) There is no upcoming timetable review for Queensland Rail services.
(b) The decision to close Tennyson line to passenger services in 2011 was made to enable
additional peak services on the Gold Coast, Beenleigh, Ipswich, and Springfield lines.
These additional peak services provide significant additional capacity and would not have
been possible if the Tennyson line remained operational, due to conflicts where services
must cross oncoming trains at Yeerongpilly and Corinda
The services that went via Tennyson, and the Corinda to Yeerongpilly shuttle were very handy. The demise occurred with the new timetables that were introduced June 2011. I travelled on the last revenue service ex Tennyson. Here was my ticket (I had go card but I wanted to get the last ticket as a souvenir on the day).
After the track re-configuration due to CRR, I believe an additional platform could be built at Yeerongpilly on the western most track to terminate passenger services coming from the Tennyson line, without any conflict with Logan or Gold Coast services. At least fairly certain there’s no conflicts, I’d have to Dig out a map
Corinda similarly has its eastern most platform free and ready for terminating services.
I don’t think it’s necessary to reopen Tennyson station, but having just a shuttle between Corinda and Yeerongpilly in a post CRR network could be possible at least
It would cost far more to tunnel under UQ than to construct a station on an existing alignment with little existing traffic.
Is this comment even particularly useful in the grand scheme of things. They are both concepts which have their own merit. We don’t need to be putting them head to head!
Well, its natural to make a comparison. Any reopening proposal would need to look at (a) why the line closed in the first place and (b) what alternatives are also on the table (including other modes).
Bus options aside, there are two rail-based possibilities:
A rail service via Tennyson with a station at Tennyson
A rail service via Tennyson without a station at Tennyson
The second option is easier to sell, because it only requires a train service to be funded (possibly minor works as well). It can also be done now (assuming train paths are available). A station could be built later (if at all).
Are train paths still limiting?
We know that Tennyson station, before it was closed, was a lightly used station. This leaves the main reason for reopening the Tennyson line as Ipswich-Beenleigh line cross-town connectivity.
Video: Brisbane’s Tennyson Rail Line - the forgotten passenger train line
Notes
Queensland Rail Acting Chief Executive Officer Neil Backer said Queensland Rail stopped using the Tennyson Line for passenger revenue services in 2011 and Tennyson station was removed in 2014.
“Prior to the closure of the Tennyson Line to revenue services in 2011, the number of customers using this line and station was not significant and there are multiple bus options available to service these communities,” he said.
“It would take significant funding to re-establish the Tennyson line for regular passenger services.
“While there are no current plans to re-establish the line, Queensland Rail will continue to work with Translink to monitor patronage levels and service needs for our customers as required.”
Even if the Tennyson line were to reopen, I’m not sure where a station could be built. I don’t think there’s anywhere close to the residential area with a long enough section of straight track where platforms could be built. The only straight section has multiple tracks, which precludes building a platform on the southern side.
Not sure Tennyson really needs to have a station tbh. And even if it did, you could honestly just build it as a single platform on the Northern side. I don’t think the frequency would need to be that high on such a short shuttle to even need two platforms.
The catchment is also so small. The line serves a more important role as a connection between the Western and Southern lines, moreso than it does providing a small suburb that isn’t growing an easier rail access
I feel like improving the already existing 104 service would be a wiser idea than to reopen the Tennyson line.
If it were to reopen I could only see it as a possible terminus for the Doomben Line instead of having the Doomben line start at Roma Street/wherever they wanna start it. However I’m pretty sure running it during peak would come in as an issue no matter which corridor you choose.
If an additional platform was built at Yeerongpilly on the western most track, post CRR (as I mentioned above), there would be no conflicts with gold coast and Beenleigh line services. At the Corinda end, the eastern most platform (platform 1) is currently joined to to Tennyson line only, so would see no conflicts as well
Just to clarify though, even if there are not conflicts (e.g. train paths crossing each other) are there spaces within the timetable to support the service (e.g. 4-6 train slots available in peak).
When the Tennyson service stopped in 2011, the Route 104 bus was boosted to replace it, however it simply did not attract patronage and was mostly empty from what I saw in a peak. This led it to being cut back.
The train was generally well used in peak time by school students.
I’m fairly certain it saw little patronage by virtue of it not being on the rail map. Most people (especially back then) didn’t use an online Journey planner so were most likely relying on maps. The SEQ Rail Map (incl. Metros and major buses now) is by far the most accessible map.
I am not a timetable man so I have no idea, but aside from dead running trains to/from the yards, and availability of rollingstock, a shuttle between Yeerongpilly and Corinda would literally not share tracks with any other passenger service in the post-CRR, Yeerongpilly-4th-platform future I am envisioning.
So aside from positioning out of revenue trains to/from the Tennyson loop to begin the shuttle, I don’t see how it will affect the existing peak timetable at all
Also doesn’t help that the 104 is slow (up to 19 minutes from Yeerongpilly to Corinda), infrequent (hourly off-peak, randomly 10-30 minutes peak), and doesn’t run nights or weekends.
I can’t imagine travel time from Yeerongpilly to Corinda being more than 6-7 minutes by train, and best of all, it should be consistent.
Thanks for clarifying, it sounds like the concept is a two-station rail shuttle (possibly a 3-car train) that would travel Corinda <> Yeerongpilly only. That sounds workable.
Post-CRR, I wonder if Doomben trains could travel to Yeerongpilly via Milton? This of course would bypass Corinda, but I don’t see this as a massive issue. It would mean the Platform 1 at Corinda generally remains unused, though.
