IT’S A TRAMPEDE
●Light rail jam-packed for stage two opening ●Bring on stage three
THE Gold Coast’s new tram link was on track to take more than 40,000 passengers on its first day, as locals and visitors piled on to the light rail yesterday.
Crowds kept the 15 trams and their staff busy from Helensvale to Gold Coast University Hospital and Broadbeach stations from 5am.
Political leaders are all aboard to make the $600 million third stage from Broadbeach to Burleigh a reality by 2021.
AFTER 40 months of planning, 18 months of construction, two prime ministers, two premiers and plenty of sleepless nights, tram No.5 rolled into the station and changed its destination board to Helensvale.
It was 5.08am and as the sun rose over the Gold Coast University Hospital’s station, the G-link welcomed aboard the first of more than 40,000 eager passengers two months ahead of schedule.
Just 20 people were aboard the tram, one of the workhorses of the fleet for the past three years; as it left the station heading north on this historic journey. The crowds soon swelled to more than 100 as it reached the end of the line.
By 10am, several hundred tram fans flooded the 16 stations, eager to get a taste of the free travel and soak up the atmosphere of a day some city leaders thought would never happen.
Fears the closure of the Gold Coast railway line for schedule maintenance would keep the crowds away failed to materialise as passengers from as far away as Japan and France came to enjoy the public transport linking the beach directly to Brisbane.
And the relief on their faces was palpable, most of all that of GoldLinQ chairman John Witheriff, who oversaw the project since day one.
Still receiving messages from colleagues at 2.30am yesterday morning, he had little more than an hour of sleep before waking to hear news of the first tram’s journey.
“I have to say it is beyond our expectations and you look at how this will integrate with the 2018 Games; it, frankly, is better than I thought,” he said.
“We were working on 40,000 people and that was how we staffed it.”
The 7.3km, 11-minute journey included three stations and is the first time in Australia that light and heavy rail are directly connected.
Deputy Premier Jackie Trad was a key player in securing the extension and hailed its historic nature, saying it had changed the city forever.
“Because of light rail we have seen something like a 30 per cent jump in the number of people using public transport,’ she said. “It will change things forever.”
Among those who enjoyed it most were Arundel residents Alan Heywood and Bev Ford, the first passengers to board the tram
“It is a whole new thing, which is part of the Gold Coast and here to stay hopefully,” he said.
“We just wanted to be part of something different and it is amazing you can go all the way from Broadbeach to Helensvale and on to Brisbane.
“There’s no traffic, it’s nice and easy and I have never seen any graffiti on it. It’s good for the Gold Coast.”
Federal Tourism Minister Steven Ciobo hailed the tram as a “game changer for the city”.
“I am confident that this investment in stage two will be the day we look back on as the game changer for the Gold Coast and all three levels of government recognise this is just the beginning,” he said.
“It is only now and then do you get a project of such significance.”
IT IS AMAZING YOU CAN GO ALL THE WAY FROM BROADBEACH TO HELENSVALE AND ON TO BRISBANE
ALAN HEYWOOD