Gold Coast Public Transport (incl Light Rail Projects)

[BrizzyChris]

The less attention an ignorant baffoon like that gets, the better isn't it? I was actually tempted to write a comment on it, but thought better of it. It is people like him though, that you just hope stay as far away from any kind of influential roles in city councils, governments, town planning etc.

[SurfRail]

Found this today. I've previously seen some of the concept work, they were leaning towards something fairly simple like a stylised hook that fits around the top end to keep it upright against the wall.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/...lans-on-track/

Surfboard trek to put Gold Coast tram plans on track
By Charmaine Kane, ABC
Updated December 6, 2012, 12:03 pm

A surfboard is on its way to Germany to help ensure surfers will be able to take their gear on Queensland Gold Coast's new light rail network.

The symbol of fun in the sun will be carried through snow half a world away to the factory where the first of 14 Gold Coast trams is nearing completion.

Phil Mumford, the chief executive of the consortium, Goldlinq that is responsible for building and operating the network, says the inaugural light rail journey will be from Parklands to Broadbeach from 2014.

"In Germany they don't have too many surfboards so what they are going to do is ensure the facilities that are built on the trams for the surfboards make sense," he said.

"The first 42-metre tram will be tested in Germany next month, shipped to Brisbane and trucked to the Gold Coast by the middle of next year."

Mr Mumford says trams should eventually run from Parkwood to the Coolangatta airport.

He says the group has a broader vision.

"The people that make up the company Goldlinq are investors from throughout the world who have chosen to invest here on the Gold Coast," he said.

"[They] certainly have a vision that this form of transport will be a success here on the Gold Coast and in fact they are very much wanting to be a part of future extensions going forward."

He says tram travel will cost no more than other forms of public transport.

Mr Mumford says TransLink will set the prices and commuters will be able to buy tickets or pay with Go Cards.

"The Gold Coast will have a number of zones that you will travel in," he said.

"If you travel in one zone you pay a particular fare, if you travel in up to two, three or four zones you will pay a different fare again.

"If you hop on a bus and then straight on a tram it will be fully integrated with the Go Card system."

[OneMelbGuy]

And into Nerang Street it heads! (Cnr Queen & Nerang. Via the Railbot Forum.)

[crowd65]

Ok well been a little slack of late.
Went out tonight and got some shots of the third span of the Smith St Viaduct being lifted into place over Smith St


















There is heaps happening all along the route with track going down in Queen St, Nerang St,Paradise Waters and just about to lay track in Surfers South on Highway

[zoomwhoosh]

Does anyone have an estimate of the time it would take for the light rail to travel from the airport to surfers?

The present section is 13Km and 37 minutes. That's just 21Km/hr

Given the route from the airport to surfers would be about 21Km and the bus takes less than an hour..

How are they going to speed it up?

[SurfRail]

Originally Posted by zoomwhoosh

Does anyone have an estimate of the time it would take for the light rail to travel from the airport to surfers?

The present section is 13Km and 37 minutes. That's just 21Km/hr

Given the route from the airport to surfers would be about 21Km and the bus takes less than an hour..

How are they going to speed it up?

I've already answered this earlier in the thread. Basically, the current stretch features stops much closer together than will be required south of Broadbeach, where the passenger and urban densities are going to be lower.

The bus has stops every 400 metres or so all the way to Currumbin and then runs express to the airport. LRT running with signal priority and with stations every 800-1,000m should be comparable. It should be around 30 minutes duration, so I would expect that with a Parkwood heavy rail connection you could travel from the airport to Parkwood end-to-end in about 70-75 minutes.

I understand that the 37 minute timing is a conservative estimate. I think they are aiming to get it down by a few minutes.

[Aussie Bhoy]

Thanks for the latest update photos, it's really taking shape. I may have to drive to the coast for a look-see myself.

[Elijah B.]

Thanks for keeping us updated with pics about the progress. I'm encouraged that fixed rail is being developed in a new area.

[zoomwhoosh]

Originally Posted by SurfRail

I've already answered this earlier in the thread. Basically, the current stretch features stops much closer together than will be required south of Broadbeach, where the passenger and urban densities are going to be lower.

The bus has stops every 400 metres or so all the way to Currumbin and then runs express to the airport. LRT running with signal priority and with stations every 800-1,000m should be comparable. It should be around 30 minutes duration, so I would expect that with a Parkwood heavy rail connection you could travel from the airport to Parkwood end-to-end in about 70-75 minutes.

I understand that the 37 minute timing is a conservative estimate. I think they are aiming to get it down by a few minutes.

So your best estimate surfers to the airport is 30 minutes. That's 40Km/hr. That would be better than the bus.

I thought the rail connection was meant to be at Helensvale?

[SurfRail]

Originally Posted by zoomwhoosh

So your best estimate surfers to the airport is 30 minutes. That's 40Km/hr. That would be better than the bus.

I thought the rail connection was meant to be at Helensvale?

No, 30 minutes Broadbeach South interchange to the Airport. I expect it would be virtually the same as the bus now, and by the time its built the bus would probably be slower.

Of the 2 route options previously assessed as part of the current project, one was Helensvale to Harbour Town to Griffith, the other was to Parkwood with no heaby rail station but actually mirroring the railway for 4km to Helensvale. (The 2004 PB study originally assumed a connection at Parkwood.) They settled on the Harbour Town option as the favoured plan, but nothing is set in stone.

There is a growing body of thought that the first priority should be to provide a connection to the Gold Coast line at Parkwood at the preserved station site. GCCC are taking that seriously and I know the government is interested. It would be cheaper and faster to build, and avoids taking a much longer "dead" route through the Coombabah wetlands. Harbour Town would be an interim terminus for a northern extension from Griffith which would ultimately push towards Paradise Point and Hope Island (including rezoning Olsen Ave/Oxley Dr for greater densities), and Helensvale would most likely continue to be serviced by high-frequency buses running to Southport via Labrador/Frank St. None of that precludes a line to Helensvale in future. With 3 branches you would need to be running 12+ services per hour per branch before the traffic started causing even minor issues. A tram every 5 minutes west/north of Griffith Uni is going to be overkill, particularly in the dead bits around Coombabah and Gaven.

The disadvantage for the train is the journey time inflates by a few minutes, but I think the advantage (faster journey to Griffith and Southport, connection built more quickly etc) probably outweighs it slightly.

You can recover a faster journey time on the Gold Coast line in other ways, like building Cross River Rail (take 10 minutes off), realigning the railway around Sunnybank to consolidate Runcorn, Altandi, Sunnybank and Banoon into a single station at Pinelands Rd on a direct cut/cover route, doing something similar through Woodridge, running 160kph south of Beenleigh where possible, having 2 separate stopping patterns etc.

[DAJAN]

Originally Posted by SurfRail

Of the 2 route options previously assessed as part of the current project, one was Helensvale to Harbour Town to Griffith, the other was to Parkwood with no heaby rail station but actually mirroring the railway for 4km to Helensvale. (The 2004 PB study originally assumed a connection at Parkwood.) They settled on the Harbour Town option as the favoured plan, but nothing is set in stone.

There is a growing body of thought that the first priority should be to provide a connection to the Gold Coast line at Parkwood at the preserved station site. GCCC are taking that seriously and I know the government is interested. It would be cheaper and faster to build, and avoids taking a much longer "dead" route through the Coombabah wetlands.

As I recall, when the options were narrowed down to Helensvale via Harbour Town vs. Helensvale via Parkwood, the claim was that neither option included a station at Parkwood, since the cost of building the station would outweigh that of running the LR the further distance to Helensvale (regardless of which Helensvale route were to be adopted). Has more recent study determined that is no longer the case?

[SurfRail]

Originally Posted by DAJAN

As I recall, when the options were narrowed down to Helensvale via Harbour Town vs. Helensvale via Parkwood, the claim was that neither option included a station at Parkwood, since the cost of building the station would outweigh that of running the LR the further distance to Helensvale (regardless of which Helensvale route were to be adopted). Has more recent study determined that is no longer the case?

I honestly think that was a garbage claim. There's no way even a gold-plated $50m station is cheaper than 4km of duplicated light rail track.

Parkwood (no pun intended) also allows you to put a whoppin' great park and ride where it will do the least damage - right next to the motorway, in a place which will never be developed and to serve a catchment of relatively low density.

At this stage its only GCCC who is proposing it. The "official" corridor is still via Harbour Town, but watch this space - different climate about spending on major projects these days.

[SurfRail]

Interestingly, catching Route 702 from OOL to Broadbeach tonight leaving OOL around 8:00pm took around 40 minutes. Seemed much busier than when I have caught it during the day, although by that time of the evening a lot of of the other highway buses have stopped running.

It was still a much more positive experience than with the (absence of) New South Head Road services down in Sydney earlier in the day, I can tell you.

[zoomwhoosh]

Have they considered a connection to rail by starting at Pacific Fair and basically following Nerang-Broadbeach Road?

That looks to me like it would join up a lot of dots...

[SurfRail]

Originally Posted by zoomwhoosh

Have they considered a connection to rail by starting at Pacific Fair and basically following Nerang-Broadbeach Road?

That looks to me like it would join up a lot of dots...

Same problem as going via Coombabah - too much dead space, not enough density, no prospect of that ever changing. You would be more likely to see light rail from Southport to Nerang, but either outcome is very unlikely in my view.

With the bus kilometres saved elsewhere it would be easy enough to run a very frequent level of service which would suit the current environment.

[KJBrissy]

Agree Surfrail. If the patronage is massive on the buses then you may start thinking about it.

[SurfRail]

Originally Posted by KJBrissy

Agree Surfrail. If the patronage is massive on the buses then you may start thinking about it.

My preferred outcome for Nerang is:

- Route 735 (as currently proposed by the bus review) - Southport to Nerang Station, every 15 minutes 6am-9pm Mon-Sun minimum
- Route 740 - current route extended over the M1 to the council chambers - same parameters but maybe no service west of the station after maybe 7pm
- Route 745 - current route with the bit after Pac Fair chopped off and rerouted to the new LRT interchange.

Plus other local routes running generally half-hourly during the same hours of operation.

I would also be running the 747 (Southport to Robina) at the same parameters as the 735/740/745.

[nathandavid88]

I'd also add that the 740 would be a much better service if it didn't leave over 20 minutes after the train arrives!

The whole reason for the introduction of the 740 (as I understand it) was to provide some relief to the 745 by giving people going to Surfers an alternative route (because the 745 was often packed on weekends). But because there's almost 15 minutes between the 745 leaving and the 740 leaving, nobody uses the faster-to-surfers 740, and overcrowding on the 745 continues.

[SurfRail]

Originally Posted by nathandavid88

I'd also add that the 740 would be a much better service if it didn't leave over 20 minutes after the train arrives!

The whole reason for the introduction of the 740 (as I understand it) was to provide some relief to the 745 by giving people going to Surfers an alternative route (because the 745 was often packed on weekends). But because there's almost 15 minutes between the 745 leaving and the 740 leaving, nobody uses the faster-to-surfers 740, and overcrowding on the 745 continues.

It's a brilliant cross-town route with plenty of attractors en route, and a faster way to Surfers than the 745.

I recall that the timetabling was arranged so only 2 buses were required, and so that was all those buses did all day long. No idea why they did what they did with the times, and we raised that as an issue from day dot.

The 747 was also originally designed to run independently of other rosters. The first northbound one was originally formed by the first south-bound one after it arrived at Robina.

I'm looking forward to the review being implemented, as it appears the Gold Coast will be the winning region in terms of improvements delivered, and then the LRT line opens a year later.

[Gazza2]

Originally Posted by SurfRail

I honestly think that was a garbage claim. There's no way even a gold-plated $50m station is cheaper than 4km of duplicated light rail track.

Parkwood (no pun intended) also allows you to put a whoppin' great park and ride where it will do the least damage - right next to the motorway, in a place which will never be developed and to serve a catchment of relatively low density.

At this stage its only GCCC who is proposing it. The "official" corridor is still via Harbour Town, but watch this space - different climate about spending on major projects these days.

I could see the station being expensive if you had to muck around with the GC line and build LRT flyovers so you had cross platform interchange with LRT and QR trains.

But then again, you'd want to do that at Helensvale anyway if you were doing it properly.