Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 4: Where trams will go after Burleigh to border extension is completed
The Gold Coast light rail is tipped to cross the Queensland border by 2034, the same year planning for at least two future extensions in the city’s western suburbs ramps up. SEE WHERE
Transport
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The Gold Coast light rail will be linked with a Tweed Heads tram system and future routes on the drawing board by 2034.
That’s the view of Light Rail Business Advisory Group head Stephen Harrison who tips the network, which celebrates its 10th anniversary on Saturday, will expand beyond the reaches of the city and coastal route by 2034.
First to Tweed, he says before going out west.
It comes as new data reveals more than 83 million passenger trips have been recorded on the trams during its first decade.
Mr Harrison said the network was a proven success which had the potential to go much further.
“It will be exciting to get it to the border (ahead of the 2032 Olympic Games), and with the NSW government doing a business case which would see trams south into Tweed we can see they are also very supportive,” he said.
“As is extended with future stages, it will provide access to a greater proportion of the Gold Coast for people to experience, recreate and enjoy.
“In 10 years time it will be exciting to see where it is extended to next because it will create more opportunities to rescue congestion on the network and it could well be operating through Coolangatta and into the Tweed.”
Future east-west spur lines are planned to run from Burleigh Heads to Varsity Lakes train station and from Miami to Robina.
Both are expected to be decades away, with the council instead focusing on delivering rapid transit electric buses as an interim measure.
The first stage of the project launched in July 2014, running from Broadbeach to Griffith University, with the second stage following in December 2017, running north to Helensvale.
Construction is underway for Stage 3, running south to Burleigh Heads.
Debate is now raging over the future of Stage 4, which will run from Burleigh Heads to the border, via Gold Coast Airport.
City and state leaders are pushing for the project to be completed ahead of the Olympics, with Mayor Tom Tate this week warning that without the airport extension, the city’s transport system will be in chaos during the Olympics. He threatened to pull pin on hosting any Olympic events if trams were not completed to the airport prior.
The Bulletin in a report in April revealed the cost of Stage Four would be more than $3 billion and at least $4 billion with an official upper estimate – considered by experts to be at the extreme upper end – at $7.6 billion.
Both the costing and Opposition vowing to put a “brake” on the project and completely review it if elected in October, has led to speculation it will not be delivered as a top Olympics legacy item.
State Transport Minister Bart Mellish, on a visit to the Gold Coast to inspect Stage 3 light rail works from Broadbeach to Burleigh, said Labor was committed to the trams.
“It was really disappointing to hear the LNP’s position on light rail to the airport but that shouldn’t be a surprise, at every step they have tried to have it both ways — they have tried to oppose it, while claiming victory when it has been completed,” Mr Mellish said.
“As a government we are completing a detailed business case with the Gold Coast City council that’s due back in 2025 and we really want to see what it comes back with.
“Of course we are keen to extend the light rail but it all depends on the business case whether it stacks up, the costs and the benefits.
The anniversary is a moment to reflect for long-serving GoldlinQ CEO Phil Mumford who said the trams had “become part of the fabric of the Gold Coast in the past 10 years” and said it would prove critical in the future.
“Each day, about 30,000 people travel around the Gold Coast using the trams,” he said.
“More than 100,000 people have relocated here since Gold Coast light rail started operating in 2014 and it is hard to imagine the city continuing to move without it.
“We are really proud of how the network has changed how people travel around the city, as it continues to grow.
“We thank Gold Coasters for their support over the past decade and look forward to the next stage of the light rail between Broadbeach and Burleigh Heads opening.”
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