Gold Coast heavy rail stalls on airport link as new study reveals holdup

A new report warns that the heavy rail extension to Coolangatta is heavily stalled — and will not happen for at least another two decades. Here’s why.

THE heavy rail extension to Coolangatta is stalled and will not happen for at least another two decades, warns a new report

The Bulletin has learned the holdup is the Government’s proposed $5.4 billion Cross River Rail project in Brisbane, with the current Gold Coast line at full capacity — causing transport experts to caution that extending it south will only create more congestion.

The last extension south from Robina to Varsity Lakes was completed in 2009. Work on the route to the Gold Coast Airport might not start now until after 2026.

Overcrowding at the car park at Coomera Railway Station.

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“Trains on the Gold Coast line are already near full capacity and extending the line would add to overcrowding,” the Robina to Tugun impact assessment study brief says.

Consultants say the solution is Cross River Rail, which would be the equivalent of creating a 30-lane highway along with new Brisbane CBD stations and a new river crossing.

“This increased capacity will allow for expansion of the rail network, including the extension of the Gold Coast line,” the report said.

The M1 and its blocked arteries. Roadworks continue on Foxwell Road. Picture Glenn Hampson

Transport Minister Mark Bailey said Cross River Rail was the Queensland Government’s highest priority infrastructure project and scheduled to be operating by 2024.

“A heavy rail alignment from Varsity Lakes to the Gold Coast Airport was identified in 2009 and continues to be protected,” he said.

“The 2017 South East Queensland Regional Plan also includes a high frequency public transport link to Coolangatta in 2041.”

A detailed business case for Gold Coast Light Rail stage 3A would be completed next month for consideration by the Government early next year, with the cost around $670 million, Mr Bailey said.

Coomera MP Michael Crandon concerned about traffic on the M1.

But he confirmed no detailed planning had started for a future stage of light rail south of Burleigh Heads. The trams reaching Coolangatta could be at least another ten years away.

Coomera MP Michael Crandon, who has met with Mr Bailey to detail the transport concerns in his electorate, predicts building new stations promised for heavy rail in the Gold Coast’s northern suburbs would also be delayed.

In the lead-up to the 2017 election, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced Labor had committed to building three new stations — at Worongary-Merrimac, Helensvale North and Pimpama — at a cost of $120 million.

Transport Mark Bailey has sat down with Coomera (AAP Image/Glenn Hunt)

“It was an election promise with no date on it. One would have expected it would have been in this term of government, by 2020. It’s just a furphy,” Mr Crandon said.

“We won’t be seeing it before 2024. It’s a deception. It’s all porky pies.”

Mr Crandon wrote to Mr Bailey in April about an infrastructure crisis in the Coast’s north after lodging petitions in parliament.

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“It is simply impossible for someone, in the Ormeau-Pimpama area, to travel by bus to Ormeau station, travel to Brisbane, work a full day, return to Ormeau by train and expect to catch a bus home,” Mr Crandon wrote.

“This is so because the bus services do not run long enough.”

If a commuter decided to travel by car, they would be forced to park in an unlit area without security camera surveillance, he added.

Mr Bailey said the Government had committed to three heavy rail stations at Pimpama, Helensvale North and Worongary-Merrimac but declined to give a timeline.

“The Ormeau Park‘n’Ride upgrade is now in the design phase and construction is expected to start early next year,” he said.

Mr Bailey said Coast residents were benefiting from 75 new trains on the network, the duplication of track from Coomera to Helensvale for the Commonwealth Games, and ultimately Cross River Rail.

“With these benefits for the Gold Coast, it beggars belief that the LNP still oppose Cross River Rail,” he said.