Heavy rail ruled out early

Light rail to border evaluaton report reveals trains not on short list

Heavy rail was never seriously considered as the immediate next step of public transport for the southern Gold Coast, with the project failing to make state government’s options short-list.

The government’s preliminary evaluation report into the gigantic Stage 4 extension of light rail from Burleigh Heads to the NSW border reveals 13 options made a long-list of ways to take pressure off the roads in the face of significant population growth.

But extending the heavy rail from Varsity Lakes to Gold Coast Airport was ruled out early.

“One of the longlist options not progressed was the heavy rail extension of the Gold Coast rail line from Varsity Lakes to the Airport,” the report reads.

“Heavy rail is considered a complementary project for a mature transport network, not an alternative option.”

This was despite the results of community consultation of 1005 people in 2020-21 finding 87 per cent surveyed were in favour of trains, while 58 per cent were favouring the trams. Just 25 per cent of those surveyed were in favour of more bus lanes.

Heavy rail has previously been dismissed primarily because of its significantly higher cost than trams, while also directly linking to fewer people.

The Gold Coast Airport has long been in favour of both light and heavy rail, with its recently released draft masterplan naming trams as the priority which says it must be delivered in the next eight years.

A train station is in the airport’s long-term vision and expected to be built by the 2040s.

The state’s light rail preliminary evaluation report’s shortlist had 11 options, primarily focused around buses, including enhancing the existing network with more stations and bus lanes, road upgrades and bus rapid transit.

The report said rapid buses, similar to Brisbane’s Metro project, had a similar economic boost and benefit to light rail, however it was “excluded from further consideration” because it would require all-new technology and contractors, as well as greater spending on infrastructure.

“By 2026 there will be three stages of Gold Coast light rail operating along the coastal urban corridor (while) a bus rapid transit option in the Burleigh Heads to Coolangatta corridor would introduce a new public transport technology with a need for separate contracting, operating and maintenance requirements,” the report reads. “Associated development costs to establish a standalone Bus Rapid Transit depot, stabling and operating system (while) significant capital cost to construct the Bus Rapid Transit pavement for the length of the corridor and the integration of turnaround infrastructure.

“Additional land requirements (would be needed) compared to light rail transit as the bus rapid transit vehicle requires a wider corridor and the station platforms are wider.”

The report said the extra spend and requirements ruled it out.

“Given these considerations and a similar range of cost to implement, bus rapid transit does not present a viable alternative to the light rail transit within the context of this project and the surrounding public transport network and did not warrant further consideration,” it reads.

Rapid buses were previously among the proposals considered in the late 2000s when the light rail’s first stage was being developed, however it was abandoned in favour of trams.

State Transport Minister Bart Mellish this week unveiled cost estimates for Stage 4 with a range from $3.1 billion to $7.6 billion which City of Gold Coast CEO Tim Baker said was higher than they were expecting.