LIGHT RAIL’S BIG FIRST DECADE
The trams were always controversial but they didn’t take long to prove a popular addition to the Gold Coast
FOR many Gold Coasters, light rail only became real to them when fences went up and construction began.
By 2011, trams had been in the works for 14 years, yet the first serious objections only began the same year the first sod was turned.
In the finale of a three-part series on how the light rail came to be on the Gold Coast, the Bulletin today looks at the difficult construction of Stage 1 through the inner city and whether it has been worth it.
The beginning of major works more than a decade ago resulted in the resumption of more than 173 properties throughout Surfers Paradise and Southport.
Fury over this was largely directed at the Gold Coast City Council and the state government.
Both Ron Clarke’s mayoralty and Anna Bligh’s premiership were in their twilight, with both on the nose over controversial decisions such as asset sales and water entity Allconnex.
With both a council and state election months away, support swung behind candidates who made vague promises of reviewing or canning either Allconnex or the light rail.
Mayoral candidate Tom Tate said he was sceptical of the trams and would review the project if elected.
The Campbell Newman-led LNP surged to power in March 2012 followed by Cr Tate a month later.
But the hoped-for halt to the project failed to eventuate, with construction too far advanced to stop.
Cr Tate and his colleagues met with council CEO Dale Dickson and were soon won over by the project’s benefits while the LNP would refuse to commit to future stages during most of their near-three years in power.
After delays and cost blowouts through 2012 and 2013, the Gold Coast light rail finally launched on Sunday, July 20, 2014 and welcomed more than 100,000 people on its first day alone.
Patronage figures proved to be far higher than expected and agitation for a second stage immediately began.
Cr Tate was among the first to come out in support of the proposal. Mr Newman threw his weight behind an extension a handful of days before the LNP lost the 2015 election.
The new Labor government under Annastacia Palaszczuk immediately began planning for the 7.3km route between Griffith University and Helensvale for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
But there was a serious roadblock – Prime Minister Tony Abbott who had declined to commit any funding despite lobbying from his own party members.
Gold Coast MPs would later
cite his obstinance against funding the extension as a key reason for voting against him in the September 2015 leadership spill which installed Malcolm Turnbull as PM.
Funding for Stage 2 was approved three weeks later and construction began in early 2016. Key players in the project cited the Bulletin’s campaign as a key reason for the project’s approval.
After 2015 the light rail has effectively enjoyed bipartisan support on a state and federal level.
Because of the need to have the tramline completed by the April 2018 Commonwealth Games, contractors worked around the clock and completed Stage 2 earlier than expected.
It officially opened on December 17, 2017.
This moment brought frequent political rivals together to celebrate their achievement as planning got under way for Stage 3.
A Broadbeach-to-Burleigh extension had previously been considered to be Stage 2, having undergone planning in late 2009. It was put on hold because of the need to prioritise the Helensvale connection.
The re-elected Palaszczuk government and Cr Tate put their money on the table but it wasn’t until Mr Turnbull was dumped as prime minister in August 2018 that there was movement from Canberra.
Weeks after Scott Morrison became Prime Minister, it was
revealed the federal government would fund the Burleigh trams as part of its 2019 election commitments. Federal Labor had also committed to the funding before unexpectedly losing that year’s poll.
Despite funding from all three levels of government being locked in by 2019 and a contractor announced in late 2020, construction is yet to begin after a contractual dispute.
After a funding boost in this week’s federal Budget, work is now expected to begin late this year as planning continues to take trams from Burleigh Heads to the border via Gold Coast Airport.
Next year will mark
25 years since the tramline was first proposed
on the Gold Coast. Plenty has changed in that time but nothing has stopped its progress.