I NOTE that Mark Bailey continues to promote the Cross River Rail (CCR) project as the government’s signature project going forward and stresses the project’s importance to the Gold Coast.

In this context I would appreciate it if Mr Bailey could answer the following questions:

1: CCR is claimed to cut 10 minutes off the travel time for Gold Coasters. Could he explain how the 10 minutes is calculated, that is, is it from Varsity Lakes, the furthest station and therefore longest length of travel and probably the least popular journey or is it from say Helensvale?

2: Is the claimed saving of 10 minutes before or after allowance has been made for the three new stations on the route (Nerang, Helensvale North/Hope Island and Pimpama with the subsequent deceleration, stopping and acceleration delays)?

3: Will commuters wishing to travel to Southbank station and/or South Brisbane have to change trains at Boggo Rd/Park Rd or only be able to catch specific trains from the Gold Coast to avoid the need to interchange (that is, not catch trains using the CCR)?

4: As Boggo Rd station is destined to be the second busiest transport interchange in SE Queensland (website claim) , can he explain why the then Labor government wasted several hundred million dollars building the Boggo Rd Busway which was predicated on Park Rd as one of the primary interchange points on the network and which does not directly link with the Boggo Rd station?

5: Given the increasing tendency for people to work from home (at least for part of the week), what impact will the consequent reduction in patronage have on the benefits side of the business case? BILL TURNER, HOPE ISLAND