PIMPAMA ON RIGHT TRACK
A NEW Pimpama railway station will be built just south of the community’s major shopping centre as part of the Cross River Rail project, the State Government will today announce.
Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones said the Government would begin month-long community consultation in October, with two more stations soon to be announced. The project will enable trains in the morning to leave the Coast every five minutes.
THE State Government will today reveal the new Pimpama railway station is to be built just south of the community’s major shopping centre.
Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones will announce the Government will start a month of extensive community consultation in October in a bid to fast-track Labor’s election commitment.
In the following weeks, the Government hopes to unveil the location of the other two stations. The new Merrimac station is likely to be on a site east of the Elysium Drive interchange in the industrial estate at Merrimac, and the Helensvale North station will be off Hope Island Road.
The new stations are part of the State-funded Cross River Rail, to enable trains in the morning peak to leave the Coast every five minutes.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced the stations in November 2017 as a pre-election commitment to take pressure off the congested Pacific Motorway, but funding for the $120 million project could only occur if the $5.4 billion Cross River Rail went ahead.
Ms Jones, who has taken over Cross River Rail from Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, is expected to discuss the Pimpama site today with the major landowner, Pimpama Shopping Centre owner Norm Rix. The experienced developer and the Bulletin have campaigned for the station to be built to end a bottleneck on the M1 and its exits in the Coast’s fast-growing northern suburbs.
“The Gold Coast is one of the fastest-growing cities in Australia,” Ms Jones told the Bulletin. “These new stations are an important part of our commitment to improving public transport on the Coast.
“With the population expected to grow by an extra 350,000 residents over the next 25 years, better public transport is crucial on the Gold Coast.”
A government source said the community consultation would include providing basic station designs and residents could offer suggestions.
Assistant Tourism Industry Development Minister and Gaven MP Meaghan Scanlon said patronage on the Coast line had grown by more than 5 per cent for the past five years.
“Through Cross River Rail, we’re creating an extra 3150 seats. This means trains to Brisbane will leave as regularly as every five minutes during the morning peak period,” she said.
Ms Scanlon said the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority was working with the Department of Transport and Main Roads and TransLink to develop planning work for the new stations.
“We want to hear from Gold Coasters about what they want to see at these stations.’’