Passenger rail

I GREW up in the Blue Mountains, returning there regularly over the past 30-plus years for family and business reasons.

The quickest and most convenient way to get there is to catch the train from Sydney Airport to Central Station, and there change trains to the Intercity Blue Mountains service. This comfortable and, in places, picturesque journey gets me from the airport to my lower mountains destination in less than two hours.

I note that the article in a recent Saturday Chronicle about passenger rail to Brisbane quotes: “Toowoomba is the Katoomba of Queensland …” While agreeing with Peter Achilles’ sentiment, the comparison demands closer examination.

Katoomba is but one stop among many on the Blue Mountains line, plus the major suburban hubs along the way before the Mountains staand tions, such as Parramatta, Strathfield, Blacktown and Penrith, all of which see passengers joining and leaving the train.

For Toowoomba passenger rail to be successful it needs to pick up passengers in more places then just Toowoomba, and be a passenger service between these smaller centres, not just considered as a Toowoomba – Brisbane service.

Currently a rail corridor passes right through the heart of Toowoomba, connecting south to fast growing “dormitory” suburbs such as Wyreema and Cambooya, and ultimately Clifton, and, on a spur, Pittsworth. To the west another rail corridor connects to Gowrie Junction, Kingsthorpe, Oakey and Dalby.

Imagine a passenger rail service where you could catch the train from Cambooya, or Kingsthorpe, to a new platform at Grand Central; or imagine parking your car at Drayton, or Harristown, maybe at the recently vacated Council Depot, augmented by a new platform servicing Harristown Concordia schools, into the city centre, not having to navigate the mysteries and miseries of CBD parking.

What an opportunity to bind the region together, to facilitate population and economic growth for these outlying centres, and bring more customers into the city without increased parking and traffic pressure.

The passenger rail business case must consider parking around Toowoomba Station for the expected passengers, which has to be problematic if this is the only place to access the service.

One obvious solution is to spread the parking demand to suburban and regional stations on the existing rail network that feeds into Toowoomba.

The detailed business case must look at this network opportunity, including reinstatement of a passenger railway station at Kingsthorpe and development of a passenger railway station at Gowrie Junction, in fact these need to be provided for in the footprint of the Inland Rail before its new rail corridor and carriageway precludes these future passenger rail opportunities.

Let’s do this, but let’s do it fully, with vision and inclusion for the entire region, utilising existing railway assets. It will take a big change of attitude to public transport by residents of the region, but it will be worth the effort.

DAVID TOTENHOFER, Oakey