In general I want to throw my support behind Rowan here in that, as I’ve said in a different thread, as an advocacy group we need to have a focused message in order to actually be listened to.
@Metro: this is the third silly idea you’ve been harping on about recently (Centenary Rail, St Lucia Tunnel, now Doomben BRT conversion).
It is a waste of time. Can we have meaningful discussion around projects that have a) merit and b) some actual government support. And yes I know that BCC have floated this ridiculous Doomben conversion, but that’s a VERY different prospect to BCC developing bus infrastructure. BCC is at least involved with buses. It will be a cold day in hell when QR relinquishes control of any of their rail assets to BCC. The only reason BCC gets involved in LX removals is when the road that the rail passes through is a BCC owned asset. Otherwise, they should stay well away from rail.
There are sooooooo many more pressing projects we should be focusing our advocacy towards, rather than asking the government to do business cases about whatever flavour of the week project you’ve decided has merit today. For instance
Doomben line duplication (as mentioned above)
Hamilton extension (as mentioned above)
Eagle junction/airport junction fixes
Cleveland duplication
Redbank plains extension
OOL extension
Fighting for DSCRL to not be curtailed
Etc etc etc
Conversion is a proposal that has come from the BCC and the QLD Government. Plans are to look into it and deliver before 2032, so within a 7 year window.
Not discussing it isn’t going to make it go away. BTQ will be no doubt asked to comment on it publicly at some point in the future.
In addition, a converted line offers an efficient, high-frequency airport alternative during trackwork, as well as expanding services to Clayfield, Hendra, and Ascot.
I would like to compare the benefits of a conversion to that of the St Kilda tram line as well as the converted rail lines in Sydney such as to Carlingford and Dulwich Hill.
You can run an alternative service to the airport without cannibalising a perfectly good rail line, remember the proposal that keeps getting brought up also has another proposed line to the aiport bypassing doomben. I imagine international arrivals are going to rock up to a metro ‘station’ and be confused at the arrival of a bus which they and all the other luggage carrying patrons will have to cram onto, whilst wondering why the signage didnt refer to the railway station up above. Then, when they consult the map, they’ll see that the winding route the metro takes will take longer, and reconnects with the direct railway route anyway so wonder why bother with the metro
Conversion proposal is already in the public domain, has 2 levels of Government in alignment. Can’t avoid it.
Historical precedents exist for conversion.
Conversion proposal is contentious, highlighting the need for an even-handed rigorous process that considers all three competing modes fairly.
Stress test should be applied to all modes - Heavy Rail, Light Rail and BRT options. Same treatment for all.
Corridor does not necessarily need to go to Brisbane Airport, but extension into the Athletes Village at Northshore Hamilton / Portside makes sense.
If the Queensland Government ultimately decides on Heavy Rail upgrade after thorough and fair investigation, that is fine. What concerns me is picking/backing a winner before we have solid information to work on.
The Olympics has a hard deadline (2032) and the Athletes Village is likely to be at the terminus of the Doomben Line. For this reason it is a bit more pressing as there is a window of time on this project, unlike others. The same consideration and urgency should also be given to investigating the merits of Airport line rail duplication as it would be disastrous if Airtrain could not increase frequency to handle Olympic demand. Stepping off the plane at Brisbane Airport and getting a train is the first impression visitors to Brisbane will have.
Visualising Concepts
Out of curiosity, AI was used to generate an artist impression of what a converted station could look like. It is not half bad. Thoughts?
AI Artist Impression of Converted Doomben Line Corridor (BRT Option)
Is the ‘information’ whatever study is comissioned going to provide us with really going to be worth the multimillion dollar pricetag? You quoted 50 million dollars above. To take an argument from your book, how many BUZ routes could be implemented instead of funding the study? BUZ routes that could say, go via the airport to test the waters directly, or get the gold city glider up and running
Yes. It would give certainty to supporters for each of the various mode option(s).
I appreciate that a worry here in conducting a study might that it might not land on Heavy Rail upgrade as the preferred option. But the reverse is also possible.
It’s also the right thing to do, costs aside.
If Federal funding contributions were sought, submission of the business case to Infrastructure Australia would be a mandatory requirement I would imagine.
You’re misrepresenting what has actually occured. There is support from both levels for a study into additional metro routes which just so happens to have the conversion of the Doomben line as an option that someone in BCC came up with. The BCC network planners at the briefing didn’t make it seem like a very likely thing to occur, with them noting poor public support.
The ‘support’ from the QLD government is not support of this conversion, merely support for a study into future routes. It’s unclear where the QLD Government stands on this particular issue.
At the end of the day, its a line on a map. There is no pen to the paper actually providing details on such a proposal.
Yes, last we saw the RNA has done some sort of deal with blue team government to build the athletes village there. I would have preferred it at Northshore but that’s apparently what’s happening now
However keep in mind, in RBot days we had a meeting with Sally Stannard where we discussed Doomben line extension for the athletes village. We were disappointed that the rail line was not included in the athletes village proposal.
Stannard’s response was that the athletes would not be getting the train, in that usually they are provided private transport (charter buses) for their teams. This has precedent at most major sporting events. You would hardly want your athletes running the risk of train delays and missing their gold medal final.
We argued in response that the people living in the apartments after the Games was finished would however use the train. To which there was some positive response, but noted that therefore the building of the athletes village did not mean the train line needed to be built by 2032
I do think it’s worth being very mindful of freight on the line (as some have mentioned). Unless the objectives have magically changed without me noticing BTQ also advocates for freight transport, and rail freight for bulk goods which the Doomben line transports is a much better option than putting more trucks on the road. Whether we look at it from an environmental perspective, a maintenance perspective, or a quality of life perspective (the residents probably don’t want hundreds more trucks driving past!) pushing this freight off the line would be a bad move.
The port master plan suggests that they want to move more industry south of the river, but freight is hardly a past use. The reality is that the industry is there now, some of it is served by rail, and there is a push by business to get more freight rail using the line. We have terrible modeshare for freight in Queensland and I really don’t think we should hamper it further for a potential future that may or may not come to pass.
When GrainCorp needed to expand its operations, it chose to do that on the opposite side of the Brisbane River ($$). This suggests that the Pinkenba facility is not ideal and has some sort of expansion constraint.
Moving all freight to Port of Brisbane would move freight off the Doomben/Pinkenba line and onto the Cleveland line, which is still consistent with BTQ’s freight goals. Local residents would have all trucks currently originating from the Pinkenba facility removed from the area, not just some.
