Flashback: Remembering the Gold Coast’s 1980s H-Bahn monorail proposed for Glitter Strip

AS light rail looks set to cross the border, look back to the 1980s and plans for a German-style H-Bahn suspended monorail to run from The Spit to Broadbeach.

Artist impression of proposed Gold Coast Monorail April 1986

MUTLI- billion plans to take trams across the border to NSW has thrown momentum behind the city’s light rail system.

The idea, which dates back nearly a decade is back on track, with governments on both sides of the border excited.

This year marks 20 years since the light rail was first proposed by then-Mayor Gary Baildon but it was not the first citywide rail system.

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Monorails were all the rage in Queensland in the 1980s, first coming to the state at Expo 88. This monorail later ended up at Sea World.

A decade earlier, an ambitious plan was hatched to develop a German-style suspended monorail

The “H-Bahn” model monorail was revealed by the Gold Coast Bulletin on April 23, 1986 as the Bjelke-Petersen Government prepared for what would be its final successful election.

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Transport Minister Don Lane revealed the Cabinet had approved a submission t for a study into the feasibility of building an H-Bahn.

Transport Minister Don Lane (pictured at the Fitzgerald Inquiry in 1990) put the proposal for a monorail system to cabinet in 1986.

The study looked at whether the monorail would become white elephant or burden to taxpayers as well as its route.

The initial proposal would have seen the rail travel from The Spit to Broadbeach.

Mr Lane told media he had travelled on the H-Bahn monorail and it was “a quiet, smooth and fast system that was fully automated”.

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“The vehicles are suspended from elevated beams and it’s computer-controlled, there’s no driver in the cab,’’ he said.

But not everyone was happy, including incumbent Gold Coast Mayor Denis Pie who said there would be “mind boggling’” problems to be overcome.

“There are a few problems associated with the project which I’m sure Mr Lane would be first to admit in relation to compensation to people, not only for the land taken, but any view and access it might take,’’ Ald. Pie said.

Gold Coast Mayor Denis Pie.

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“There are lots of complications with it and I think that’s what the feasibility is all about — to work out whether it’s economical.”

It came as the Gold Coast City Council considered multiple ways of reducing traffic “chaos” including

* A proposal for a water transport system from Paradise Point to Nerang using specially designed hydrofoils with minimum water displacement to be operated as a bus-type service at pick-up points dotted along the Nerang River.

* An autobahn-type fast lane for buses, and shuttle services to outer city car parks.

* A tunnel under Surfers Paradise.

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Following the completion of the study in mid-1986, the Gold Coast monorail’s proposal was unveiled.

The Gold Coast Highway in Surfers Paradise circa 1986. The proposed H-Bah would have travelled this route between The Spit and Broadbeach.

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Under the original plans, the $186 million monorail would run 9.3km from the Spit to Broadbeach, passing through the centre of Surfers Paradise.

Its 20 cars were to be suspended from tracks carried by pylons set every 40m along the route.

But by 1987, Mr Lane had begun to doubt whether it would be a success.

“The track and cars would proceed down roadways and pass close to buildings and may affect the amenity of land owners,’’ he said.

The 1985-1988 Gold Coast Council, including future Mayor Lex Bell (bottom row, far left) voted unanimously against the proposed monorail.

By this time, the Gold Coast City Council’s support for the system had shifted, with planning boss Lex Bell confirming a unanimous vote against it.

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Public opinion also swung against, it led by Broadbeach lawyer Kerry Smith, who campaigned against the project.

The monorail was approved by the Ahern Government in 1989 before it lost power to Wayne Goss’ Labor Party the same year.

Lawyer Kerry Smith held rallies against monorail in 1987. Her campaign against it eventually led to her election to the Gold Coast City Council in March 1991.

The Gold Coast Monorail Company was selected as the preferred proponent but discovered several major problems and setbacks at the dawn of the 1990s.

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Among them was the new Indy race which began in March 1991 and the technical issues, including the need to deal with 28 separate local authorities from the Gold Coast and Albert councils, Main Roads and Telecom, through to the fire brigade.

The project was ultimately shelved in the early 1990s, ending plans for a widespread monorail system in the city.

While a citywide monorail failed to eventuate, Broadbeach’s Skylink ran from 1989-2017. It is pictured here on its first day in August 1989.

Two smaller monorails were built at Sea World and in Broadbeach between the Oasis and Jupiters Casino in the late 1980s.

The Broadbeach Monorail closed earlier this month, leaving Sea World’s as the last of its kind in Australia.