This thread is for the civil and polite discussion of the Doomben railway line and potential extensions, duplications, upgrades or BRT conversions.
The Doomben line is a 8km long suburban railway line which forms part of South East Queensland’s vast network of commuter railways. However, the railway used to extend much further to the suburb of Pinkenba, since then that section of the line was scaled down and now lies abandoned. In this video I will be exploring the history behind the entire Doomben and former Pinkenba line to see what happened, what went wrong and what can be done to revitalise this rail corridor for the modern day. Hope you enjoy this one!
Section Cars Australia - Pinkenba Branch Tour - September 2023
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia sectioncars.com.au
Proposal to run buses on or convert the Doomben Railway line to Brisbane Metro.
Brisbane better connected: Plans for major Brisbane bus expansion unveiled
Published Wednesday, 28 August, 2024 at 10:15 AM
JOINT STATEMENT
Premier
The Honourable Steven Miles
Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment
The Honourable Cameron Dick
Minister for Transport and Main Roads and Minister for Digital Services
The Honourable Bart Mellish
The Miles Government, Schrinner Council and Council of Mayors (SEQ) unveil new expansion plans for Brisbane Metro; and
Plans include a rapid detailed business case to expand Brisbane Metro south to Springwood, east to Capalaba, north to Carseldine and connecting to DFO and the Brisbane airport ahead of 2032
The Miles Government, Schrinner Council and Council of Mayors (SEQ) have unveiled a significant future expansion plan for Brisbane Metro, including a long-term plan for 22 new stations and stops in the north, south, east and Brisbane airport.
The partnership will expand the Metro bus rapid transit ahead of Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games to deliver fully-electric, high frequency, high-capacity reliable public transport to more destinations across Brisbane and neighbouring communities.
Brisbane Metro expansion map showing Doomben Railway Line conversion.
Using the North-West T-way as a benchmark, the 4 km section from Eagle Junction to Racecourse Rd/KSD would be about ~ $150 million. Possibly a lot less as the corridor is mostly there already. This figure does not include bus lanes on KSD.
That would get you high-frequency bus service every 5-6 min in the off-peak, and all weekend, late at night. Ordinary BCC buses could be used until dedicated Brisbane Metro BRT buses could be procured.
A higher frequency of a BRT bus every 5-6 minutes all day would stimulate patronage more than a 15-minute Doomben train on the line
A similar overall capacity to rail would be on offer 1,500 pphd, which could be scaled up or down as required.
Single seat trip to the Valley and CBD via Kingsford Smith Drive (KSD)
Likely lower operating cost over the life of the infrastructure (1 BCC bus driver versus 1 train driver + guard)
Funding
Given that we know that 20 new BUZ routes in BCC would be about $100 million per year to run (fix up the entire BCC bus network), and this project would be a one-off cost of say $150-$200 million to be generous, the whole thing could be funded by just rolling back 50c fares, which cost $300 million/year.
No new funding would be required to do both fixing up the BCC bus network AND this project if the budget for the 50c fares initiative were simply repurposed.
Notes
Peak Capacity - comparisons
500 pax train x 4 trains/hr = 2,000 pphd
1000 pax train x 4 trains/hr = 4,000 pphd
150 pax bus x 10 BRT vehicles/hr = 1,500 pphd (can scale up or down, such as during event days).
The Doomben line has light patronage, hence mode conversion would still be expected to accomodate peak patronage demands.
BUZ Routes
20 new BUZ routes x $5 million/year = $100 million p.a.
The existing BCC Eagle Farm depot could be expanded to hold either Light Rail or Brisbane Metro buses. As you can see from the image below, the depot is well placed in proximity to the existing Doomben line.
There are several examples of heavy rail conversion to a ‘lighter mode’ such as LRT. In NSW, for example, the Carlingford Heavy Rail Line was converted to LRT as part of the Parramatta Light Rail (new system)
Concept only - a more elaborate conversion concept using BRT (either Brisbane Metro, CityGliders or a mix of both).
The amount of railway to convert in this concept about 2.6 km (Eagle Farm - Ascot). Freight operations on the line would end under this concept, giving priority to passenger traffic.
- Brisbane Metro Line A: Start at Eagle Junction, stop at Clayfield, Hendra and Ascot (converted to BRT stations). Run on surface roads along Racecourse Road, enter Kingsford Smith Drive (option for bus lanes) then to the CBD (options for bus lanes).
- Brisbane Metro Line B: Start at Northshore Hamilton, Kingsford Smith Drive (option for bus lanes) then to the CBD (options for bus lanes).
- OPTIONAL Brisbane Metro Line C: Start at Brisbane Airport (subject to approval), then DFO, new bridge over Kedron Brook, Schneider Road (access to depot), then enter the Doomben Line corridor, Optional BRT station near Violet Street, then Doomben BRT station, then run on surface roads along Racecourse Road, enter Kingsford Smith Drive (option for bus lanes) then to the CBD (options for bus lanes).
Notes:
It is intended that numbers given to the lines, and the letters are simply placeholders.
Heritage is acknowledged to be a challenge for this concept, further investigation is required to determine what is or is not possible.
Doomben BRT conversion concept - click the thumbnail below to open this image in a larger separate window to zoom in.
Pulling over the Doomben line discussion from the Airtrain thread…
If we look at what’s done today we see that Doomben line trains cross at EJ (which is perfectly sensible). Then it’s something like 9 minutes to Doomben, 11-12 minutes’ dwell, 9-10 minutes to EJ, for a total cycle time of 30 minutes (the inbound train apparently leaves after the outbound).
We can plot this on a string diagram as below. (I’ve editorialised EJ a little so the cross happens at EJ rather than just outbound of it as the timetable implies; this might be incorrect but isn’t especially relevant to the key takeaway.)
The existing and infill trains cross between Ascot and Doomben!
Conveniently Ascot already has two platforms (perhaps P2 might need some upgrades). But we might not want to duplicate Ascot-Doomben with the two racecourse-entrance underpasses and the Nudgee Rd crossing.
Now, maybe it is possible to timetable the line differently, with a shorter dwell at Doomben. I understand QR’s shortest comfortable dwell is 8 minutes; let’s try that.
Now the cross is on the Hendra side of Ascot. The cross at EJ is also gone, moving between EJ and Wooloowin. This is probably OK as long as it doesn’t interfere with other services from Shorncliffe and Airport.
There’s swings and roundabouts with recovery time. An 8 minute dwell doesn’t have much to spare.
All in all, I think this argues for duplicating Ascot-Doomben to support 4tph (but it’s probably not necessary to duplicate Doomben itself).
Doomben is already duplicated. I have no idea how long it is since the southern platform was used, but I can’t imagine it would take a huge amount of work to bring it back into service. It certainly doesn’t have the issues of Ascot, for example.
Regarding conversion of the Doomben line to BRT/LRT, I think it is very unlikely to happen, because the line will increasingly be used for freight in the future. As an example, GrainCorp has a very large facility at Pinkenba. In addition to bulk grain, it handles mineral sands, and bulk fertiliser. The most efficient way to deliver this is by rail.
I’m not sure if any kind of hybrid heavy/light rail system exists, but if so, maybe it could be used in this corridor.
Considering Watco’s QLD operations are based in Warwick (where I live), it would be remiss of me also to not advocate for maintaining freight access to Pinkenba; but I do acknowledge the vast majority of our 2-4 weekly grain trains go to the port rather than the northside.
I had the chance to use the train/tram system in Seattle last year; in my experience that’s the closest thing I’ve experienced to a hybrid vehicle that could run comfortably on both heavy and light rail tracks - but the vehicles themselves definitely have a stronger light rail feel to them. It’s difficult for me to reconcile the idea that more fleet diversification is necessarily a good idea though, unless there was a plan to extend with LRT-style infrastructure to Hamilton, DFO/airport or whatever… but considering Hamilton foreshore is so close, if that were the terminus objective, I’d just extend the heavy rail and use the regular fleet anyway.
As a curiosity, and going by the QR line diagrams (last updated 2016), you still need a staff/token to proceed beyond Doomben into Pinkenba. I wonder if that would be retained if there were upgrades. I suppose they don’t want to allocate someone to have to manage such a small and infrequently used potential DTC area that’s so far from the next nearest DTC territories (i.e. beyond Toowoomba/Harlaxton/Harristown I think, maybe QPSR at Swanbank).
Completely agree with this one. If we want to reduce how car-centric we are as a society, we need to embrace freight rail is a key tool for getting trucks off of the road. Converting the Doomben line to LRT/BRT/another mode seems (to me) like a great way to shoot ourselves in the foot further down the line by closing off an existing freight terminal so close to the city.
We can still embrace freight rail by moving all freight operations to the Port of Brisbane, where they already have some port infrastructure there as well. This will free up the Doomben line for better passenger use.
Upgrading the line (either by rail duplication or conversion to LRT or BRT) will allow more frequent services to run all day. The main thing is that a study will need to be done looking at least five options side-by-side: Do nothing, do minimum, LRT conversion, BRT conversion and rail upgrades.
Bulk grain facilities (particularly storage) are presently inadequate at the port for peak season and with limited diversity. It’s why Pinkenba is the go-to overflow location and for some speciality grains. The port space may be constrained and bulk grain is at the bottom of the pecking order behind containerised freight and almighty coal (served by at least 3 coal trains daily from mines between Toowoomba and Miles). Under present circumstances, I suspect storage capacity at the port is overall a bigger constraint than rail access and will remain so for the foreseeable future. I’m not sure there is an easy solution. The Inland Rail Gladstone option would allow the coal that’s captive to the West Moreton system to go north, but that would seem even less likely than Inland Rail getting into SE QLD.
The grain terminal is pretty hemmed in at their current site with neighbouring bulk terminals. They could theoretically incorporate a second grain terminal further up the tip of the port in the expansion area, but doing so would put it so far beyond the rail line balloon loop, I doubt it would be considered.
Great opportunity for a Brisbane DLR type project, joint QldGovt/BCC/Private Sector operation 24/7 from day one, servicing what should be a “gangbusters” high-density growth corridor, all the way to the International Cruise Ship Terminal!
No, we can’t. Eagle Farm and Pinkenba are designated industrial areas in the City Plan. They will not become high-density, or indeed residential accommodation of any kind, other than the existing handful of houses in Pinkenba.
@Alexjago - I’m presuming that you are assuming the Doomben line is duplicated. The present operations is that the Doomben line is treated as a single track line from EJ to Doomben, meaning that all trains can only cross at EJ, no trains are permitted beyond EJ if there is a train already present on the Doomben line. From memory, and this may have changed since my days at QR, is that the second platform at Doomben can only be accessed via manually moving the points by station staff at Doomben, so has to be organised prior and authorised.
Are we to understand the the only reason why the Inner Doomben Line still exists is because it benefits one company using it as a freight line twice a week as they are too tight to relocate operations, or being too greedy by sending more of their stuff than the Port can handle, so they chose to dump the excess at a nearby facility instead. and as long as they are in operation, we are left with a single track passenger service that doesn’t run on Sundays, on a service that has less patronage, more expensive to maintain, and is less frequent than any nearby bus service.
