Budget fails to fund removing 52 level crossings in southeast

A transport advocacy group said Tuesday’s State Budget has completely overlooked 52 dangerous level crossings in need of fixing in the southeast.

Rail Back on Track said there was no funding in yesterday’s budget to remove 52 level crossings in the southeast.

A transport advocacy group has called for more funding in the State Budget to fix dangerous level crossings at 52 roads south of Caboolture.

Rail Back on Track’s Robert Dow welcomed the commitments to rail in yesterday’s State Budget but noted there was no funding for more level crossing removals.

He called on the state government to commit to eliminating at least two open level crossings every financial year in southeast Queensland.

He said the Victorian Government had removed 43 level crossings in the last few years and planned to remove 75 by 2025, while Queensland had not removed any.

“The removal of level crossings has stagnated in southeast Queensland,” he said.

“The last level crossings removed were done in 2014 and since then there has been none.

“Contrast that to Victoria, which in that time has removed 43 level crossings and is working towards removing a total of 75 by 2025.”

Mr Dow said removing the crossings was imperative ahead of Cross River Rail, when there will be increased train service frequencies including five-minute services on the Gold Coast line during peaks.

The level crossing at Trinder Park on the Beenleigh line.

He said the impact of the added frequency on level crossings would be profound with the four most dangerous level crossings on the Gold Coast and Beenleigh line.

They are at Warrigal Rd in Fruitgrove; Old Beaudesert Rd in Salisbury; Trinder Crossing at Trinder Park; and Stones Rd in Sunnybank.

In June, a Rail Back on Track report found that road traffic from suburbs including Woodridge, Logan Gardens, Kingston and further north at Sunnybank, could be held up for 40 minutes every hour during peaks after Cross River Rail was built.

After yesterday’s state budget announcements, Mr Dow said the crossings could create a “potential catastrophic situation” as frustrated car drivers were tempted to race boom gates.

“When you take into account the Gold Coast services, the Beenleigh all station trains, and the counter-peak services, it is likely that the boom gates would be down for around 40 minutes at a minimum in the hour during peaks. Clearly unmanageable,” he said.

In June, the state government announced plans to remove level crossings at Beams Rd, Carseldine; Boundary Rd, Coopers Plains; and an investigation into the crossing at Lindum.

They were the first crossings earmarked to be removed since 2014 on southeast lines.

The state government said removing the Coopers Plains crossing would cost upwards of $200 million.

Boom gate rules applied to motorists and cyclists and fines for breaches are $1067 and four demerit points for obstructing a train.

Last year, pedestrians and motorists had 127 “close calls” with trains at level crossings in the southeast, up from 120 in 2018.