Fast Rail has been used successfully both internationally and domestically to resolve the challenges that come with population growth and achieving regional connectivity. It also enables regions to unlock a range of social, economic and environmental benefits.
In many ways, South East Queensland is behind the times in relying on one tier of rail to service both the inner-city urban network as well as the needs commuters in the outer rings of South East Queensland.
Fast Rail is not a new or untested technology. South East Queensland can learn from lessons in regional connectivity from comparable regions to help inform its decision making processes in the future.
Region of Paris, France
Paris is an example of a region with a mature strategic road (motorway) network and mature public transport system – offering multiple route options with strong and complementary road and public transport networks, as well as redundancy and resilience in the transport system.
The basis of all international world-class cities with mature, efficient and effective transport networks (road and public transport) is the “hub and spoke” concept – where major road and public transport links are both radial and circumferential.
For instance, Paris has the “Le Périphérique” (an inner ring road in a dual-carriageway arrangement) and the A86 (outer ring road), radial arterial and motorways (Autoroutes) combined with “Le Metro” (Metro) and regional express rail routes (REX) and High Speed Rail (TGV).
This transport network services Paris and the Greater Paris Region of approximately 10 million people as well as nearby regional centres within a 115km radius including Rouen, Orleans and Amiens – with estimated populations of 110k, 115k and 132k respectively.
The figures below highlight radial and circumferential “hub and spoke” concept.
In Paris, the options for regional rail travel would be to use a Regional Express Service or High Speed Rail. These alternative rail options (urban versus regional) do not currently exist in South East Queensland.
The existing passenger rail service in South East Queensland (CityTrain service) has, over time, attempted to evolve to a system that fills the gap between an urban passenger rail service, originally provided within the Greater Brisbane area, to one that sought to expand its reach over time with connections to locations such as the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.
These locations are well beyond the normal range for an urban passenger rail service when compared to other systems internationally. An alternative operating model with two tiers including a local and intra-regional service (e.g. faster rail in addition to CityTrain) may help address this connectivity issue.
The figure below shows a map of the broader Paris region (background) with South East Queensland overlaid (foreground) – highlighting the comparative distances that the urban passenger rail system traverses.
Lesson: In Paris, regional travel by rail is served by a two-tier system whereas in South East Queensland the CityTrain service is being “pushed to the limit” to provide for both local and significantly longer distance regional trips.
Region of Kent, England
The region of Kent is situated about two hours by road south east of London.
Kent was previously shutting down, with no job opportunities and little prospects for the industry that had previously operated there. With the implementation of the inter-city rail connection, professionals were attracted to move into coastal centres in Kent, such as Margate and Canterbury.
These professionals did not wish to commute to London, rather they desired a better quality of life along the coast with a convenient and reliable “umbilical cord” transport connection back to London.
Following the implementation of the regional rail corridor, property prices in Kent increased, there was uplift in development and significant economic activation.
The economic growth in centres such as Canterbury and Margate was strong. For every person that moved out of London, two additional jobs were created in Kent in roles that supported these professionals, such as teachers, builders and others.
Within the 13 years following the implementation of the rail service, the line had paid for itself in the form of economic growth and activation within the Kent region.
Lesson: Regional rail corridors, such as the London to Kent example, often support regional economic growth by providing significant density and improved social and economic mobility by transforming access between existing and future population centres.
Region of Perth, Australia
The Perth-Mandurah rail line is a faster rail solution which replaced an express bus service system connecting Mandurah to Perth’s inner-city region along a 72km corridor.
Opening in 2007, patronage levels have consistently been higher than forecast with 70,000 users daily in 2013.
The faster rail system has a maximum speed of 137km/hr with average speeds of 90km/hr. This has provided a reliable travel time saving of at least 20 minutes from the express bus service, with journey times improving from 68 minutes to 48 minutes.
Travel times are reliable and highly competitive to travel by private vehicle (estimated at just under an hour). ‘Turn up and go’ frequency during peak period, every 15 minutes in off peak provides flexibility and convenience to rail passengers.
Park ‘n’ Ride and feeder buses have supported the line’s success through providing greater accessibility to surrounding low-density areas and convenient connections to the network.
A report by Infrastructure Australia (2018) Outer Urban Public Transport: Improving accessibility in lower-density areas identifies the challenge in providing public transport infrastructure in low-density areas and the risk where existing services are poorly patronised.
This leads to governments not spending money on new infrastructure or service upgrades which in turn leads to poor service levels and performance, further deteriorating ridership and cost recovery. These challenges can be overcome with appropriate planning and foresight as demonstrated by Perth’s Mandurah rail line.
Region of Melbourne, Australia – a case study accelerating regional connectivity
The Regional Rail Link (RRL) was a $3.6 billion rail project in Melbourne that commenced operations in mid-2015. The aim of the project was to improve the capacity and reliability of rail services by providing a new rail track on the Geelong corridor across the west of Melbourne.
The Regional Rail Link (RRL) was a $3.6 billion rail project in Melbourne that commenced operations in mid-2015.
The project provided a dedicated, faster speed corridor for V/Line trains to access the inner urban areas of Melbourne. The main benefits provided by the project include:
- Provision of a reliable public transport service for residents living in western fringe suburbs to access the Melbourne CBD.
- Relieving regional rail bottlenecks allowing for additional train paths to cater for more frequent metropolitan services.
- Development of two new stations at Tarneit and Wyndham Vale.
- Upgrades to three stations at Sunshine, West Footscray and Footscray allowing capacity for future track expansion.
RRL was designed to enable and support the significant growth areas to the west of Melbourne and provide reliable public transport alternatives.
Population growth at greenfield and brownfield areas along the rail corridor leading up to its opening (prior to 2015) was steady and continued growing following the opening of RRL in mid-2015. Following RRL delivery, the Geelong line experienced a significant patronage increase, as shown below.
Data from V/line shows that the new stations at Tarneit and Wyndham Vale have been major contributors to this additional growth in passenger trips on the Geelong Line. In 2016-17, these stations collectively accounted for around 1.43 million trips, accounting for around one-third of all patronage growth on the line since 2014-15.
Census data also suggests significant mode shift between 2011 and 2016 for the Tarneit and Wyndham Vale SA2 areas, enabled by improved public transport connectivity as a result of RRL.
| Location | Share of trips to work by PT – 2011 Census | Share of trips to work by PT – 2016 Census |
| Tarneit SA2 | 12.1% | 19.2% |
| Wyndham Vale SA2 | 10.6% | 19.1% |
The approach implemented by the Victorian Government and the delivery of the RRL to supporting growth areas through integrated transport and land use planning has continued to support and drive growth in the region, as well as support increasing adoption of public transport as a transport mode.
This case study demonstrates the potential that the development of greenfield rail corridors, as well as investment in upgrades to brownfield rail corridors, can have on the uptake of public transport services within key growth areas.
Rail networks often support regional economic growth by providing significant economies of scale and improved social and economic mobility by transforming access between existing and future population centres.
Lesson: Enhanced connectivity amongst communities surrounding the faster rail corridor and adjacent region provides an alternative and viable transport mode choice, encouraging mode-shift to public transport services and improving the sustainability of the traffic network.
Region of Sydney, Australia
The NSW Government has announced their vision to make higher speed rail a reality in the Sydney region, beginning with the Wollongong to Sydney rail corridor. The current travel time between Sydney and Wollongong is 1 hour 25 minutes but with the implementation of High Speed Rail the NSW Government envisage this journey could take as little as 30 minutes.
The first step in this vision would be to simply optimise the current rail which is in place now, whereas the longer-term vision is to design and create a completely new set of tracks with new rolling stock.
Sadly, this comes at a significant cost.
In February 2016, Infrastructure Australia deemed the regional connectivity between Wollongong and Sydney CBD as well as between Newcastle and Sydney CBD as a “Priority Initiative” of national significance.
Slow regional passenger rail speeds along the Wollongong– Sydney and Newcastle – Sydney rail lines result in lengthy travel times that are generally longer than car travel. Express services take 1 hour 28 minutes between Wollongong and Sydney, and 2 hours 37 minutes between Newcastle and Sydney.
This service level reduces accessibility to the Sydney employment market from the Wollongong and Newcastle regions, which have above average unemployment. It also limits opportunities to develop greater economic synergies between the three cities, which would benefit productivity.
Uncompetitive rail services also add to road congestion on key roads linking the three cities.
The current level of rail capacity and quality of service reflect a range of operational and infrastructure constraints, including winding alignments across the Hawkesbury River (Newcastle– Sydney) and the Illawarra Escarpment (Wollongong–Sydney).
The regional connectivity challenges above are not dissimilar to those experienced by South East Queensland, with access to key activity centres across the region becoming increasingly difficult for the established population base as well as the emerging growth areas.
If South East Queensland continues on its current trajectory of growth, then it will be the same size as Sydney by 2041.
Unfortunately, the Sydney region missed an opportunity to capitalise on the travel behaviour change brought about by the hosting of the Olympic Games in 2000, shifting significant numbers of users away from private vehicle travel in favour of public transport modes as well as walking and cycling.
If these travel behaviours and public transport investments were in place in Sydney today, the region may be benefiting from even higher accessibility and economic productivity.
Lesson: The Sydney region is an example of a growing region that didn’t forward plan transport to accommodate population growth. Sydney is now retrofitting transport at significant cost – also somewhat missing the opportunity to capitalise on the behaviour changes driven by hosting an Olympic and Paralympic Games.
