Light rail Gold Coast: Where are the stations? When will it be built?
A leading figure is not only backing a new light rail route, he has plans for exactly how it will get there. And now a leading community group has chimed in. WHAT DO YOU THINK? VOTE >>>
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A TWEED MP is not only backing light rail running from the Gold Coast to Tweed Heads, he wants to get it down the Pacific Motorway - as calls also mount to get it to Byron Bay.
And now a leading Tweed community Facebook group has chimed in.
Tweed MP Geoff Provest in June 2020 backed calls to bring the light rail into the Tweed and said it was more important now than ever with southeast Queensland tipped to be the likely 2032 Olympics host.
Meanwhile, the Tweed Mayor Chris Cherry has backed the light rail roll south - and is musing about getting it all the way to Byron Bay.
The New South Wales and Queensland governments last year agreed to investigate bringing the light rail to the Tweed.
Regional Transport Minister Paul Toole in March announced the State Government had committed $1 million into a Multi Modal Corridor Study to identify the best route for the light rail extension.
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Mr Provest said the study would look at the best 5km corridor to bring the light rail from the Gold Coast Airport to Tweed City Shopping Centre.
“Hopefully by early next year, the plan is to announce the findings of the study and take it to community consultation,” Mr Provest said.
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“The NSW Government is committed to rolling out light rail in regional areas … particularly on the Tweed where approximately 30,000 people cross the border each day.
“There’s new emphasis on it now that Queensland looks to be successful in securing the Olympic Games and the Gold Coast Airport will become a centre hub for the Games.
“I can see well into the future that the light rail will track along the M1.”
Mayor Cherry said it would be incredible to bring the light rail across the border and would like to see it continue as far south as Byron Bay.
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However, she said getting a corridor for the light rail along the coast as Mr Provest suggested would be hard to do.
“We have the corridor going through the hinterland of our Shire so it would be a lot easier to keep it there and get the link from Murwillumbah joined up with the coast,” Cr Cherry said.
“Light rail would offer a convenient and future thinking model of transport for our community, particularly for all those elderly residents and the youth. This short trip transport alternative would be very useful for our community.
“The biggest concern would be with getting that corridor secured and making sure our youth and elderly feel safe on it.”
Tweed Chamber of Commerce president Warren Polglase said it was “futuristic” to suggest the light rail would track south on the M1 but it wasn’t out of the question.
“You will need to look at the topography, and getting it past the river again would require a lot of engineering, but it’s not beyond not happening in years to come and it’s a good way to be thinking,” Mr Polglase said.
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Mr Polglase said there were plenty of people on the Tweed who would use the light rail to head north because the shire’s only public transport was a bus.
“There’s a lot of people on the Tweed who go north to shop and to attend medical appointments and work. From our point of view it is quite advantageous for the light rail to continue to the Tweed.
“Transport here is all buses and there’s enormous delays. To catch a bus from Pottsville to Robina, you need to change buses once or twice to get there. It will be a big convenience with the light rail going straight through.”
The Tweed Tourism Co general manager Bradley Nardi fully supported Mr Provest’s push to bring the light rail south particularly since the Gold Coast Airport was a major hub for bringing visitors to the region.
Mr Nardi agreed there could be a future where the light rail would track south along the M1 to connect the Tweed and Gold coasts.
“From a tourism perspective, connectivity to the larger accommodation-based townships including Kingscliff, Salt Village and Cabarita is worthy of consideration, especially as this would have the potential to alleviate some traffic congestion concerns which are already emerging in peak periods,” Mr Nardi said.
“Light rail has the potential to give the Tweed region a modern and efficient public transport network which would efficiently connect the townships. Additionally, this is potentially a transport network that would befit the region’s personality as an eco-destination.
“The biggest concerns for light rail would be short-term effects on businesses along the carriageway as it is developed, with inevitable small business pain while works are being completed.
“We would be committed to assisting with communication for these displaced businesses and mitigating these risks as much as practicably possible.”
Tania Phillips, the founder of the Kingscliff Happenings Facebook group with nearly 30,000 members, said she would support the State Government bringing the light rail to the Tweed but only if it ended at Pottsville.
Ms Phillips said extending the light rail down the Tweed Coast gave tourists the opportunity to jump straight on the light rail from the Gold Coast Airport and head into the Tweed.
She said it would also help local residents access the new $673 million Tweed Valley Hospital when it opens to patients in 2023.
However, she was concerned the rapidly increasing property market would be accelerated by the project.
“Tweed has already been growing quickly, rents are rising, locals are being priced out of the market, houses are being bought up by outsiders and used for Airbnbs,” Ms Phillips said.
“I worry such a link will accelerate this. We have, so far, gone a little under the radar – the slightly quieter place between the glitz of the Gold Coast and the glamour of Byron Bay.”
Originally published as Light rail Gold Coast: Where are the stations? When will it be built?
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