Shock M1 traffic jam fix: Gold Coast developer Norm Rix offers surprise deal to State Government

An experienced Gold Coast developer has offered to build a train station immediately in one of the city’s busiest suburbs to reduce M1 traffic jams — but the State Government isn’t playing ball.

NORM Rix, one of the Gold Coast’s most experienced developers, is offering to build a train station at Pimpama to fast-track a way to relieve the city’s worst M1 traffic jam.

Mr Rix, who officially opened the $100 million Pimpama City shopping centre in September last year, is in private talks with the council and government bureaucrats about road and rail solutions on nearby land.

The 84-year-old businessman believes starting work immediately on the railway station on his land next to the shopping centre and connecting roads to an overhead railway bridge will solve the Coast’s worst traffic nightmare.

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The block of land next to Pimpama City shopping centre that developer Norm Rix wants to put a train station on. Picture Glenn Hampson.

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Frustrated residents are taking 23 minutes to travel 150m from their homes on to gridlocked Yawalpah Road, and can neither reach Exit 49 to the west nor shops to the east.

In an email to a senior council officer on Monday, Mr Rix wrote: “As mentioned to you on the phone, we could be interested in building the station or the car park and leasing it back to Queensland Rail.”

On Wednesday, Mr Rix was contacted by a Transport Department officer involved in plans to complete the railway station by 2023.

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Denise and Norm Rix at opening of Pimpama City Shopping Centre, Pimpama. Picture: Regina King.

Negotiations will include building a road on Mr Rix’s vacant land, which connects to an overhead bridge built when the railway was constructed more than 25 years ago.

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The bridge, which on both sides is surrounded by a dirt track through scrub, is a key connection between Gainsborough Greens to the Old Pacific Highway and the shopping centre.

Mr Rix is prepared, as part of an infrastructure agreement, to negotiate the future of his block on the western side which would see a new road linking with the highway.

“I’m prepared to build that road and get started next month. The plans are done. We can have that bridge works done in two to three months,” Mr Rix said he told the bureaucrat.

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Yawalpah Road at Pimpama during morning peak hour just off the M1.

He told the Bulletin the Government’s deadline of 2023 for the railway station was too late for thousands of commuters caught in the city’s biggest traffic jam.

He said 2023 “won’t do the job’’.

“I want the traffic relieved now. People are trapped in traffic queues,” Mr Rix said.

“To hurry this up, I’m prepared to build the railway station on proper commercial terms. This issue cannot wait. It must be done immediately.”

After months of negotiations, Mr Rix could not be more pleased with the response from senior council officers.

But he remained stunned by the silence of Transport Department staff.

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Pimpama City shopping centre sits next to the proposed block of land. Picture Glenn Hampson

“The Gold Coast City Council has worked very hard to make the bridge operational. I’ve never met with the railway department,” he said.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey said planning was underway for three new stations including Pimpama through the $5.4 billion Cross River Rail project.

“There are a number of ways private industry can put economic development and planning ideas forward to the government, and I encourage Mr Rix to consider those if he wishes to pursue his proposal,” Mr Bailey said.

“Fundamentally though, public assets like train stations should be owned by the government on behalf of Queenslanders.

“There are a number of ways private industry can put economic development and planning ideas forward to the government, and I encourage Mr Rix to consider those if he wishes to pursue his proposal,” Mr Bailey said.

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“While I have no doubt private developers could get the job done, our stations need to be designed and built to meet the complex needs of the transport network and its passengers.”

Deputy Mayor and area councillor Donna Gates agreed that both the bridge and the railway station would ease traffic chaos.

“I’ve fought as strongly as I could for that bridge to be connected to the Old Pacific Highway. It’s imperative we have opportunities for residents to access that road,” Councillor Gates said.

Coomera MP Michael Crandon strongly supported Mr Rix’s plan, saying “2023, which is when they (the government) said they would build the railway station, is just too far away’’.

“We’re in a hell of a mess,” Mr Crandon said.

“It would make absolute sense for a railway station to go there. We desperately need it. Norm Rix would obviously have the capacity to build it. There’s room for a car park.”