Why should I take your negative banter seriously, if you have no solutions in sight.
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This was the intent but the financials suggest this cannot be. If the tunnel costs $10 billion to build but can only be sold for $2 billion (hence a BCR of 0.2 under the most generous assumptions that all benefits are financial) then the public sector will have to pay for most, if not all of it.
This is probably why the project was transferred from a company structure to now sit inside TMR where it can access public funding.
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There are so many assumptions. Despite these assumptions there is no harm in advocating for PT solutions alongside.
FYI- Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models in Australia typically involve long-term contracts where a private consortium designs, builds, finances, operates, and maintains public infrastructure and services. Common structures include Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) and Design-Build-Finance-Operate (DBFO) models. The private sector provides financing and expertise, while the public sector contributes to policy and regulations and pays for the services delivered, sharing the risks and rewards over the projectās lifecycle to achieve value for money and efficiency.
Because its reality! I have plenty of solutions and they are from cities that have implemented said solutions and achieved amazing outcomes! The same cities people visit and exclaim āWhy canāt our city be like thisā!
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Change the narrative and get BTQ to campaign on what if $10 billion was allocated for just public transport projects in Brisbane instead.
Propose counter solution(s) considering transport modes and options not yet explored.
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This is the first time Iāve seen members of the former āred teamā government post anything concrete about their position on the Gympie Rd Tunnel. This is very disappointing positioning from the Shadow Transport Minister.
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Thatās a really good suggestion. Imagine if $10b were spent on service upgrades or even $1b. It would make a huge difference.
Itās within sight of potentially being cancelled. The project is pricing itself out of existence. At $10b and coming up against the Olympics works itās just not going to fit within the program and with a BCR of 0.2 must be publicly funded.
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Its got to be part of a wider discussion and cant be approved on its own. If built, it needs to be in conjunction with the North West corridor discussion.
I would like to see the NW corridor be fast train but it is also tempting to use as a road corridor because Brisbane needs a Western Bypass from Carseldine to Darra / Springfield which will remove cars from those radial roads.
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The best thing that could happen from this project is its death.
Having said, have no doubt Labor is also on support of the project. It is, after all, a pet project from the then treasury (under Cameron Dick) that blindsided even TMR workers when announced last year.
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Both - a Western Road Bypass and RAIL, obviously that type of vision canāt happen in South East Qld!
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Update on Gympie Road Tunnel.
The obvious solution would be to build it at half the size as a busway. This would dramatically cut the cost and boost the actual peak hour capacity.
And given the delays, plus the fact that this is a Priority A corridor, the cost is going to be much higher than $10b now.
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No guarantee that it would cost half as much as a busway. Stations are expensive.
I donāt think it should be built at all. Use the money to build the missing Truro St missing link, make the transit lanes 24Ć7, bus priority signals at every intersection, and a bus right turn lane from the left at Hamilton Rd.
Compulsorily acquire that bit of carpark north of Chermside interchange to extend the interchange, and run M3 directly to a railway station, probably Carseldine, with turnaround and charging facilities built there.
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What part of the this Ch 7 segment was considered newsworthy?
Its just the same rumours, gossip, and opinions with the tired format re-aired.
Portray Red Team as whingers, Blue Team as saints, scare people with traffic footage, and end with a business owner crying over nothing. Zero mention of public transport.
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I think a busway should be built for the simple reason thatās what was planned for the area before it was watered down.
We donāt have the money do do both a busway and a road tunnel, so prioritise the PT option which is likely to be much cheaper and gives bigger throughput during peak hour when itās needed most.
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Couldnāt agree more. It would also allow the Metro Extension.
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I think tunnelling a busway when thereās plenty of surface road space available, but being poorly utilised, is wasteful.
If weāre going to bore a big tunnel, make it Brisbaneās first proper (i.e. rail-based) metro with 40k pphd capacity.
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For a high volume corridor like this, Priority A is not inappropriate. And it would plug into the existing busway at Kedron Brook.
The surface lanes could be given over to exclusive cycling lanes connecting into Chermside.
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I would actually build a new express rail tunnel under Gympie Road. The new Sunshine Coast line will shove even more trains onto the Petrie to Northgate corridor and Northgate to Mayne Express tracks. This current route is quite indirect and could become a future choke point.
So starting from the Cross River Rail tracks at Maine, I would have a new line dive into a Tunnel with new underground platforms at Albion for an interchange with the existing northside lines. Then I would have the tunnel turn and head to another stop at Kedron (cant build it at Kedron Brook because of the AirportLink and also flood zone). I would extend the busway from Kedron Brook to the new Kedron station (which would be roughly around this location: 282 Gympie Rd - Google Maps). Then the next stop would of course be Chermside around this location (5 Playfield St - Google Maps) and it would be connected with the neighboring Westfield Chermside.
Then I would have it go up to emerge at a northern portal near Zilmere station at (460 Zillmere Rd - Google Maps) where it would then join up with the existing line which will be upgraded from 3 to 4 tracks from Zilmere to Petrie (Redcliffe all stations services to get its own track pair seperate to the Caboolture & Sunshine Coast lines.
Then from Petrie to Caboolture, I would upgrade from 2 to 4 tracks to allow Sunshine Coast trains to speed express past slower Caboolture trains. 4 might be a bit excessive but at least triple tracking from Petrie to Caboolture will be needed unless we want to combine Caboolture and direct Sunshine Coast services which would be easier but the Caboolture line and Nambour services especially are already quite loaded during peak under the current service arrangement. Not to mention making the direct Sunshine Coast line stop all stations would also slow down the journeys.
Routing it through a Gympie Road tunnel though wont make too much difference because excluding Albion its only making two stops, Kedron and Chermside. It already makes those two stops currently at Northgate and Eagle Junction. Think of it as something more or less like what Melbourne did with its regional rail link to seperate Geelong Vline trains from the Werribee suburban line.
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