Like trains through the hourglass: Brisbane’s transport problem – and solution

For all of Brisbane’s claims of being a New World City, our public transport system emits some real Old World vibes.

Sure, the new trains (and buses, for that matter) are nice and shiny, but the fundamental structure on which the network is built belongs to the past.

Which platform? Catching Brisbane trains requires some thought.Credit: Tammy Law

Picture Brisbane’s train network as an hourglass and you can see the problem. Just as an hourglass slows the sand’s descent from one bulb to another, the convergence of rail lines in and around the CBD creates a pinch point.

That’s why the Gold Coast will lose its direct connection to Brisbane Airport when Cross River Rail comes online later this decade (and it’s why Cross River Rail is being built in the first place – to take pressure off the Merivale Bridge pinch point, thus freeing up capacity).

This spoke-and-hub system makes operations across the network inflexible and, for irregular train passengers, can cause confusion. Which platform do I need to be on? What train is this? Where the bloody hell am I?

Now, there is no quick, easy or cheap fix to this situation, which goes back many, many decades, when Brisbane would have barely qualified as a big country town.

The pinch point in Brisbane’s rail network is obvious.Credit: Brisbane Times

But, just maybe, the next step towards that fix is contained within 2011’s Connecting SEQ 2031 document, released by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in her previous life as a transport minister. Just maybe, that document is worth another look.

Just maybe, it’s time to dust off the Brisbane Subway.

The high-frequency underground train line would have linked Toowong and Newstead-Bowen Hills in the first instance, before future expansion under the Brisbane River to Bulimba (which would be a godsend for residents of that poorly served peninsula), Hamilton Northshore and, finally, the airport.

It would use dedicated lines, independent of the rest of the network, and link commuters to existing rail and bus networks by having stops within a comfortable walk to those stations. Those dedicated lines would also mean you would know what train was coming next. Always.

Which platform do you need to be on? The same one you always are. What train is this? It’s the same train it always is. Where the bloody hell are you? You’re in a reliable, high-frequency train service of the kind so ubiquitous in the Old World Cities across the globe.

London. New York. Paris. Moscow. Newer metros, such as Doha and, closer to home, Sydney.

The Bligh government wanted it built by 2031 – and that was before anyone even had an inkling the city would host an Olympics the following year. You’d imagine such infrastructure would come in handy at a time like that.

Olympics or no, south-east Queensland’s population growth shows no sign of slowing – just last week, the updated draft SEQ Regional Plan predicted 2.4 million new residents by 2041.

Eventually, other lines would be introduced, intersecting with what former deputy premier Paul Lucas wanted to be called the “Meanjin Line”. A London Tube-style system, right here in Queensland.

As one high-level former government official involved in Connecting SEQ 2031 told me last year: “There are only so many more surface transport options in a city like Brisbane.”

Importantly, it would be an actual Brisbane metro (while it’s a laudable project, Brisbane City Council’s planned mass transit system is no metro) that would make it deserving of its self-proclaimed “New World City” status.

Of course, this is the ultimate in wishful thinking.

The near $1 billion blowout in the Cross River Rail delivery that was announced earlier this year would be a drop in the ocean compared with a multi-line Brisbane subway system.

But every journey starts with a first step.

In the long term, the cost of not doing something so bold could well end up being much more.