THE CASE FOR HEAVY RAIL

“Extending the heavy rail from Varsity to the airport should rocket to the top of the conversation about the public transport infrastructure that is needed for the Gold Coast.”

WITH the $5.4 billion Cross River Rail project progressing, it is again time to make the case for heavy rail extension for the southern Gold Coast?

The rail from Varsity to the airport should rocket to the top of the conversation about the public transport infrastructure that is needed for the Gold Coast, rather than the singular focus on light rail.

For years we’ve been told it was the bottleneck in Brisbane that needed to be fixed to free up capacity, cut travel times and ease rail and road congestion for the south east.

Well, funding has been committed and planning and procurement is set to progress, so we need to grab the priority spot on the ‘what’s next’ list.

Possible rail routes have been examined since the late ’90s and a preferred rail corridor between Robina and the airport was identified and preserved in 2009.

The Bulletin has consistently called on the government to deliver to the city’s southern end an effective, reliable public transport system.

Yet we have have only been thrown a measly bone with light rail options that will have little impact on the congestion on and around the M1.

That is not to say the light rail connection to the airport lacks merit. To the contrary, it is equally critical to delivering a broader public transport solution.

But it seems policymakers have somehow duped Gold Coasters into believing only one of these two projects is possible.

As a result, many have looked at the political landscape and decided to make a hue and cry about light rail. But only because getting ‘something’ is better than nothing.

Demographer Bernard Salt says Census figures show 31,000 workers travel from the Gold Coast to Brisbane every weekday.

Many of those commuters are from the southern end. Many live west of the motorway. And many are over being told that serious public transport on the Gold’s Coast’s southern end may one day look like a seaside tram.

Our southern citizens join a grind of bumper-to-bumper traffic that slowly rolls up the M1 like a rugby maul formed around Stewart Rd Currumbin every morning, commencing with tradie rush hour and only easing after the commuter congestion and school drop-off chaos.

They know the 10km trip from Palm Beach or Elanora to Varsity Lakes station can take 40 minutes of staccato stops and starts – and, drats, they’ve missed the 6.25am and maybe the 6.40am train again.

The only meaningful public transport solution for the Gold Coast’s south is one that encourages residents there to consider leaving the car at home when they need to move within and beyond the city.

And they are desperate for options to help alleviate traffic on the M1 – to free up the road for people who really need to drive.

Light rail is all that seems to be on the table. With all the benefits that come from linking Gold Coast and Brisbane airports, connecting our evolving Southern GC business, health and knowledge hub to the rest of the Coast, and helping ease M1 congestion at its most southerly crunch point, Transport Minister Mark Bailey needs to push go to get heavy rail to the airport back on track.