Railways in Brisbane

Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland, has a network of suburban railways that carry commuters, long distance passengers, and freight. Suburban and interurban passenger services are operated under the Citytrain brand of QR Limited, while long distance trains are under the Traveltrain brand. QRNational operates freight services, as well as Pacific National and their narrow gauge Pacific National Queensland division.

History

The first railway in Queensland did not actually run to Brisbane, but ran from Ipswich to Grandchester. Opened in July 1865, the line into Brisbane was not completed until the opening of the Albert Bridge in July 1875. Branch lines in the city itself did not start until the next decade, with the branch line to Sandgate opened in May 1882, and the branch from Eagle Junction to Racecourse in September the same year. The North Coast line opened to Petrie in 1888.

Steam operation was used on all services, with electrification first proposed in 1897 when the Chief Engineer of Queensland Railways was sent to study electrified railways in Europe and America. At the time the technology was cutting edge, but the costs outweighed the benefits, with the capital having a population of just 120,000. Further studies were carried out in 1915, but it was not until three decades later that more investigations were carried out.

After World War II the Brisbane suburban network had become run down, and coal shortages were affecting the ability to run regular services. A committee was appointed to investigate, delivering their report in November 1947. It recommended the electrification of the suburban network by 1959 with the 1.5 kV DC system. of single track including sidings would be involved, covering the lines to Shorncliffe, Yeerongpilly, Ferny Grove, Petrie, Pinkenba and Kingston. The report was adopted in February 1950 and preliminary works started.

However, the General Manager of QR's South Eastern Division decided track amplification was more important, with quadruplication of the line from Corinda to Zillmere given priority. A cutback in load funds in 1952-53 slowed the works further, and a change of state government in 1957 saw the scheme abandoned in 1959. The main legacy of the project was the 112 stainless steel locomotive-hauled SX carriages, that were intended to be converted to electric multiple units at a later date. Built by Commonwealth Engineering between 1961 and 1963, they replaced older wooden stock and were the first stainless steel carriages in suburban traffic, a great leap forward for passenger comfort.

In 1965, a transport study recommended the closure of the entire suburban railway network except for an electrified corridor between Darra and Zillmere. In 1970, another study recommended the electrification of the entire network with the 1.5 kV DC system, and the construction of a link between South Brisbane and Roma Street (later realised as the Merivale Bridge).

Electrification project

In 1973, the Federal Government under Gough Whitlam offered the states a two-third subsidy on approved public passenger transport projects. The Queensland Government announced that it intended to electrify and modernize the Brisbane suburban network, but the Federal funding did not materialise and the state ended up funding the project itself. In 1974, Elrail Consultants and Transmark were engaged to advise of the design of the system. Tenders were called in 1975 for the electrifying of 150 route kilometers (93 mi) (250 single track kilometers (155 mi)) of lines.

As well as stringing overhead wire, room needed to be made for the overhead, and track amplification was also carried out. A new four-track capable tunnel was built between Brunswick Street and Bowen Hills stations, and between Central and Brunswick Street, and Central and Roma Street the tunnel floors needed to be lowered. A new operations centre was opened at Mayne and the city sections of the network were resignalled. A flyover was built at Mayne to permit the Ferny Grove line to diverge without conflicts, and to serve the new electric car sidings. Work was also started on the Merivale Bridge to link the two halves of the network, split by the Brisbane River. The Petrie to Caboolture section of railway was rebuilt with five deviations to permit 100 km/h running speeds over the entire line, with similar deviation works carried out for the line to Beenleigh.

Work begun on string wires on 16 May 1977, where a ceremony for the digging of the first post hole was carried out at Ferny Grove railway station. The Ferny Grove to Darra section of line was chosen to be first due to the steep gradients and frequent stops. The contract for the trains themselves was let awarded in 1977 to a consortium of Walkers of Maryborough and ABB of Sweden. Known simply as EMUs, their acceleration of 0.75 m/s² (2.46 ft/s²) and braking of 1.0 m/s² (3.28 ft/s²) enabled an all-stops train to operate a Ferny Grove service in 25 minutes, an eight minute saving over diesel-hauled services.

On 8 May 1979, the first section of the new system was energized, from Roma Street to Corinda to permit testing and driver training. On November 17 the same year, the Darra - Ferny Grove was officially opened. Only four three-car sets were available for traffic at the time. Commissioning of the remainder of the network was as follows:

• 19 November 1979: Darra to Ferny Grove and Mayne Depot
• 20 September 1980: Darra to Ispwich
• 3 March 1982: Roma Street to Brunswick Street (via Normanby and city relief line)
• 18 September 1982: Bowen Hills to Shorncliffe, Roma Street to Kingston, Corinda to Yeerongpilly (down line only)
• 23 April 1983: Northgate to Petrie
• 15 October 1983: Park Road and Dutton Park to Thornside
• 3 November 1984: Kingston to Beenleigh, Yeernongpilly to Corinda (up line), Indooroopilly to Chelmer (via main lines)
• 28 June 1986: Petrie to Caboolture
• 26 July 1986: Thornside to Wellington Point
• 24 October 1987: Wellington Point to Cleveland
• 6 February 1988: Engale Junction to Airport (Eagle Farm)

The Roma Street to Mayne connection via Normanby enabled the operation of electric trains to the 1982 Brisbane Exhibition. The line to Yeerongpilly enabled the operation of trains between Sunnybank and Ispwich for the 1982 Commonwealth Games.

Other than electrifying existing lines, the line from Lota station was extended to Thorneside in 1982, then another to Cleveland in 1987. Despite the coming of electric trains, the diesel hauled services continued, such as the train to Pinkenba which continued beyond the end of the wires on the Doomben line until September 1993.

In 1983, the State Government promised to investigate the reconstruction of the Gold Coast railway as far as Robina, but it was not until 1991 that work was actually given the go-ahead.

Passenger services

Suburban and interurban passenger services are operated under the Citytrain brand of QR, and are co-ordinated by TransLink. Long distance passenger services operate from Roma Street around the state by under the Traveltrain brand, while an interstate service to Sydney is operated by New South Wales operator CountryLink using their XPT fleet.

In a city with a population of 1.2 million, passenger traffic on the suburban network doubled in the 10 years from 1979 to 1989 to reach 50 million journey a year in 1989, and by 1992 it had increased by another 10%.

Freight

QRNational operates the majority of freight services on both the standard and narrow gauges, with Pacific National on the standard gauge and their narrow gauge Pacific National Queensland division also operating services.

The main rail freight terminal is in the southern Brisbane suburb of Acacia Ridge, located off the Beenleigh suburban line at the northern end of the Sydney-Brisbane rail corridor. A freight line was opened from Acacia Ridge to Fisherman Islands and the Port of Brisbane in 1980, running alongside the Beenleigh line from Salisbury to Dutton Park, then follows the Cleveland line to Lindum. Dual gauge access on the line was promised by the Federal Fraser Governemnt in 1983, but it was not until 1997 that the work was carried out, eliminating the break-of-gauge and enabling trains to run direct from the port across the New South Wales border.

Approximately four million tonnes of freight is moved from outside South East Queensland to points within it; 1.1 million tonnes was to interstate destinations. One of the largest internal traffic flows is the movement of coal along the Western Line to the Swanbank Power Station and the Port of Brisbane.

The Fisherman Islands intermodal terminal was opened in 1994. Other rail freight terminals have been located at South Brisbane, Park Road, Yeerongpilly, Clapham, and Salisbury.

References

Further reading

• The Suburban Railways of Brisbane Knowles, J Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, February to September, 1964