Left in limbo: maps prompt call for passenger train corridor details

Hundreds of southside residents want the state government to release crucial details of a train corridor, which could swallow their homes.

Track near Veresdale and near Beaudesert.

Hundreds of southside residents will be left in limbo for another two years before they find out if their homes will be bulldozed to make way for a passenger and freight rail corridor.

The state government’s Transport Department said details of land resumptions would not be available until December 2022 when a business case was completed for the proposed Salisbury to Beaudesert passenger line.

Maps published last month as part of the South East Queensland Regional Transport Plan 2021 fanned fears for residents in suburbs including Flagstone, Forestdale, Hillcrest, Boronia Height, Parkinson, Greenbank, New Beith and Algester.

Maps from a study on the Salisbury to Beaudesert passenger line, showing the proposed line in red.

Other maps from a Salisbury to Beaudesert Rail Corridor Study, fail to list streets and addresses, but show the train corridor could be wider than 30m to 40m.

The $20 million federal and state study is designed to gauge future passenger and community needs for emerging suburbs such as Flagstone and ensure the passenger line fits with the broader rail network, including Inland Rail and Cross River Rail.

RELATED STORIES

CO-ORDINATOR GENERAL ON RAIL LINE

INLAND RAIL TUNNEL PLAN CLAIMS

SENATE HEARING SUPPORTS ALTERNATIVE ROUTE

MAYOR’S INLAND RAIL THREAT

HOUSING ESTATE BUILT ON INLAND RAIL

Residents of some southern Logan suburbs, including Forestdale and Hillcrest, who have already endured two years of fear, want confirmation of where the train lines will run.

They say they have been left in limbo while the state withholds the route details which are expected to be within the same corridor as the proposed Inland Rail freight line.

One of the latest maps from the SEQ Regional Transport Plan 2021 showing future passenger transport routes for 2041 in red and existing routes in purple.

Exact routes of both tracks are yet to be published, leaving potentially 200 or more families fearing their properties may be seized to make way for the rail links.

Civil engineer and member of a community consultation committee watching the Inland Rail Max Hooper called for the state to immediately issue clear maps showing the possible routes.

He said residents and businesses had the right to know how the passenger and freight lines would share the existing train corridor from Acacia Ridge to Bromelton.

Max Hooper says residents deserved to know where the passenger line will go.

“The state government already knows where the passenger line will go as it has already said it was ‘finessing’ details,” Mr Hooper said.

“We already know they are looking at between Salisbury to Beaudesert via Greater Flagstone, using the same corridor as the proposed Inland Rail track.

“The state government’s intention to use the existing rail corridor for the Salisbury to Beaudesert passenger rail service predated the ARTC Inland Rail project.

“Catering for a main line freight track in each direction, in addition to the passenger rail that was already proposed, will result in significant additional land resumptions and property impacts.

“The state government and ARTC should be consulting with the affected residents and stakeholders as part of the current environmental impact statement process for the inland Rail freight line from Kagaru to Acacia Ridge and Bromelton.

“Community consultation and planning to acquire the full corridor should be done once, and done properly. Otherwise, we fear residents aren’t being told the full story,” Mr Hooper said.

Australian Rail Track Corporation, which is developing the Inland Rail freight line for the federal government, has not released final details for any section of the freight line in Queensland.

One of the maps showing the locations of some of the 11 new train stations that will have to be built as part of the new passenger rail.

State government officials from the Transport and Main Roads Department told Logan City Council in 2019 it would be prudent to build the two tracks side by side, but that no work would be completed before 2041.

Calls for more details about the rail plans were made last month at a community forum to address residents’ fears about Inland Rail.

Dozens of southside residents aired their discontent with plans to build the Inland Rail freight line from Bromelton through to Acacia Ridge and Logan suburbs, with trucks then used to move export freight to the Brisbane Port, from Acacia Ridge, via the heavily congested Brisbane Urban Corridor.

A Transport Department spokesman said the Salisbury to Beaudesert corridor had been identified in state planning documents since the 2007.

“Cross River Rail will enable the Queensland Government to consider network enhancement projects to support an increase in services across the wider rail network, including between Salisbury and Beaudesert,” TMR said.

“We are working with Australian government agencies to ensure the works planned for the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail project will complement the future delivery of passenger services in the Salisbury two Beaudesert rail corridor.”