Toowoomba leaders unite in major push for Brisbane passenger rail link
Toowoomba's leaders will unite at a landmark summit to campaign for faster passenger rail, as the growing region faces pressure to improve connectivity before the 2032 Olympics.
Toowoomba’s most prominent voices have declared they won’t let go of the region’s passenger rail dream, ahead of a major summit designed to create a unified campaign.
Local and federal politicians, economic stakeholders and key business leaders will meet at Thursday’s Rail Summit at City Hall, including Toowoomba mayor Geoff McDonald and his Lockyer Valley counterpart Tanya Milligan, TSBE’s Dr John McVeigh and Groom MP Garth Hamilton.
A representative for the powerful Wagner and Gardner families will also be attending.
The landmark event, organised by The Chronicle with the Toowoomba Regional Council, will explore how the city can achieve the decades-long goal of being part of Brisbane’s rail commuter rail network.
Such an achievement would not only create a new link between Toowoomba and the state’s capital and take pressure off the Warrego Highway, it would also allow residents to effectively travel to Brisbane to work for just a $1 a day if the 50c fare guarantee was extended west.
While the Olympics in 2032 has put Toowoomba on the clock to ensure it has the infrastructure to welcome an estimated 60,000 tourists for equestrian events, vocal advocates are looking beyond the next seven years.
Both Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley are expected to welcome more than 100,000 new residents over the next two decades, creating potential congestion nightmares along the western corridor’s only transport route.
The council has already started putting momentum behind a plan to extend the Ipswich/Rosewood line to Withcott before creating a special interlink station there to connect Toowoomba with bus services.
Toowoomba Mayor Geoff McDonald said the proposal, which he has dubbed The Range, deserved consideration from the state government given it is modelled off The Wave transport plan on the Sunshine Coast.
“We maintain and have pushed for something similar to what the state government has done for the Sunshine Coast with the rail connected into what’s called the Wave, which is effectively a co-ordinated bus-rail service,” Mr McDonald said.
“We do feel that a solution should be found for a regular, on-time passenger service that links Toowoomba to Brisbane, albeit a co-ordinated service with perhaps something like The Range instead of The Wave, something that can work for people travelling both ways.”
This model was not explored in the state government’s $15m business case into Toowoomba passenger rail, which was shuffled out prior to last year’s state election and was met with stinging rebukes from state and federal politicians.
Currently stuck with some of Australia’s slowest trains, Toowoomba leaders have taken inspiration in the transformative impact of rail on other regional centres like the Blue Mountains.
Ballarat, which is a comparable to Toowoomba in terms of size and distance from its capital, enjoys more than 400 90-minute trips to and from Melbourne every week.
In comparison, the Westlander between Brisbane and Toowoomba is a nearly-five hour journey just four times a week.
It comes as economists have backed the push for reliable passenger rail, arguing it could deliver major benefits for the region and its residents.
The University of Southern Queensland’s head of business school Fabrizio Carmignani said he was particularly excited by the potential of 50-cent fares, while urging more research into the proposal.
“The outcome is going to be a faster connection between Toowoomba and Brisbane, then this will be promoted by narrowing the distance between Brisbane and Toowoomba and therefore facilitating logistics and giving more options for transportation,” he said.
“There will be an improvement in the easing of doing business in Toowoomba.
“There might also be an opportunity in terms of attracting talent or improving the way in which we can attract talent and we can attract skills in Toowoomba.
“If the monetary cost of moving between Toowoomba and Brisbane was effectively 50 cents one way, so $1 a day, that in my opinion would have the potential to strengthen the essential economic benefit.”
The summit is also expected to discuss how to ensure the troubled Inland Rail reaches Toowoomba as quickly as possible.
“I would encourage all parties involved to not cut any corners, absolutely not cut any corners – do this properly, but make it a priority and pick up the pace wherever possible,” Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise executive chairman Dr John McVeigh said.
“By the time we get to Toowoomba we technically have a Melbourne to Brisbane connection because of the existing western railway line, let alone the Warrego Highway and bypass that connects Toowoomba and Brisbane.”
The Chronicle editor Jordan Philp called the summit an important first step to achieving a long-held dream that would unlock the region’s economic potential and strengthen its liveability.
“Today begins a united push from Toowoomba’s leaders to campaign to the State and Federal Governments to bring regular and faster passenger rail to the Lockyer Valley and Toowoomba regions,” he said.
“The Inland Rail becoming a reality is not just a desire to boost the Toowoomba region’s economy through freight rail; it’s a need for a growing Queensland and Australia to ensure we have connectivity for our country’s surging population.
“The long-held goal of Inland Rail is not only important for our region’s economy, but the wider Queensland and Australian economy.
“The gathering of rail, political and business leaders from across the two regions is to ensure we have a clear, consistent and united voice to advocate for better connectivity that our surging city and towns deserve.
“There is no doubt there are many steps ahead in this journey to create better passenger and freight rail services, but this is a monumental step forward that will be foundational to this campaign being a success.”
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Originally published as Toowoomba leaders unite in major push for Brisbane passenger rail link
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