The forestry area to the East of the zoo (owned by HQPlantations) on either side of the new alignment is slated to become a future housing development and as part of that there will be provision for a future Beerwah East station to be built at a later date.
One of the key design features of the new line is also maximum possible track speed to reduce trip times so I imagine at some point the decision was made that the zoo will be adequately served by the redeveloped Beerwah station (and the potential new East station). The shuttle bus ride as it stands now is only about 3 minutes.
The journey from Aroona Station to Beerwah Station could take just under 15 minutes, while a trip from the planned Caloundra Station, just to the south of Aroona, to Roma Street Station in Brisbane could take 1 hour and 23 minutes during the morning rush.
Interesting to see the 83 minute trip time from the business case surface again. I was hoping for slightly better trip time (sub 1h20m) especially with B2N, ETCS2 and Cross River Rail creating a quicker path into the CBD but still not too bad.
It would be nice for the entire rail portion (Birtinya ā CBD) to be an even 1h30m but realistically I imagine they might just fall short of that goal.
Agreed - although would still be a MASSIVE improvement over the current offering, and I could see that running time being at least competitive with cars in peak.
" ā¦ Contracts for The Wave (Rail) ā Stage 1 (Brownfield and Greenfield packages) will be awarded soon and station precinct consultation is being planned for mid-2026. We will keep you informed of these important milestones. ā¦ "
One of the biggest opponents of the wave (specifically the redevelopment and new carpark at Beerwah), the company who currently occupies some of the land it will be built on, has formally been advised that their lease on QR land is being terminated as of June 2027.
Suggests that major construction probably wonāt be significantly underway before then which is disappointing, especially as the TMR site claims major construction will start at the end of this year.
We will have to wait and see, but the timeline on this project is so tight that any significant delays will mean it wonāt be delivered in time for the 2032 games.
I still maintain the opinion that Stage 1 will be delivered to Caloundra by 2032 with Stage 2 being delayed indefinitely, and a temporary bus or BRT system will run in place of those stages. Or they may even go as far as replacing Stage 2 with BRT as well and claiming it as an improvement to heavy rail.
The state have been very quick to blame lack of federal funding for The Wave in Tuesdayās budget and the transport minister specifically referenced it in a media conference today. If I was a betting man Iād say they will use this a scapegoat to shelve Stage 2 - noting neither state or feds have funded or even committed to fully funding the insanely complex rail build for that stage yet.
Time will tell. I was already skeptical when this project was announced and Iām even more skeptical now.
This outcome would be nothing short of embarrassing. I suspect they are in talks with the feds about funding, as the transport minister for QLD, did not go off as much as I expected. I hope and suspect for an announcement in the next 6 months.
Iām guessing that maybe Catherine King and the staff at Infrastructure Australia might be reticent about funding BRT in general, in part due to BCCās hissy fits about Metrobus expansion.
I donāt think they ever intended to build a dedicated BRT along the stage 3 corridor. This was just a ruse to enable the MRI upgrade to progress without needing to worry about dedicating space for a rail line. Note that the MRI project is the only one of the āpackageā actually being constructed at present, and with any definite timeline.
Likely they intend to run buses along existing roadways/motorways north from Caloundra, including on one of the planned roads through the MRI. There may be some bus priority, but I doubt any priority will remain after the Olympics.
If we actually get the train as far as Caloundra under this government I will be surprised and relieved. It will be about the only piece of critical infrastructure they wonāt have cancelled or seriously downgraded.
Theyāve already hinted that they will cut or severely diminish the planned cycleway along the corridor (in line with their abysmal handling of active transport access in the LGCFR project).
The LNP will always cut active transport and will only implement public transport if it was an unambiguous election promise to win a particular seat. Weāll get lots of fossil fuel and highways though.
Yeh the current Government have cut cycling and pedestrian connectivity from stations, not entirely but definitely Iāve been informed on this after inquiring about the changes to the Shorncliffe Train station upgrades (they removed a wombat crossing and change of bike boxes to a shelter). If you come at me saying both sides, youāre full of shit because the last Government put bike cages at stations and allowed bikes on trains and designed trains to carry bikes, something Newmanās Government never did (Tim Nicholls openly opposed the NBB Stage 5 do not tell me itās both sides I swear to god).
Thereās nothing to fund though - no project is currently underway for GCLR 4, not even business case development, and even The Wave is at very early stages. I think the outcome would be the same no matter who is running Queensland in these circumstances (although of the 2 parties of government obviously only one of them has gone as far as cancelling).
I think the days of the feds parking a few billions in the budget somewhere on the off-chance a state decides to play ball are over (eg the funding originally put aside for things like Melbourne Airport rail, Epping to Parramatta, East-West Link and what have you).
Is that what those waving the blue will think will deter the red from extending GCLR4?
Think of it like thisā¦ if they finish GCLR4 to Coolangatta then it will be a permanent monument of defiance against stupidity to all those NIMBYās and those from blue that opposed it. They are forced to look at it, drive past it, hear it, every day and night.
People using the G:link to get around do not care about theses petty things.
Also, as pointed out by some, when it comes to station locations simply do not build them in areas where the NIMBYās are. It save on travel time and costs - win/win.
