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Navigating a sensitive path through town

By Tom Richman - posted Thursday, 29 June 2006


It is also suffering ever-increasing truck traffic congestion (resulting in noisy rat running through adjoining residential streets), while the ongoing fragmentation of larger parcels has compelled a significant number of big logistics users, like Coles and Woolworths, to relocate elsewhere, usually to the Australia TradeCoast or further south or west.

Conversions of large sheds with long sidings into multi-unit complexes have forced the loss of the numerous spur lines now unable to accommodate longer trains and shunting has become too expensive and disruptive. As space reduces and limits to usage increases, it’s not unreasonable to believe this yard will soon be relegated to servicing only second and third-tier freight companies, with their smaller, more manoeuvrable vehicles and more modest rail needs.

Assuming the inland rail link becomes a reality, it raises the question of where to put a marshalling yard when it’s time to supercede Acacia Ridge. While all agree this has to be further to Brisbane’s west, there have been some ongoing differences of opinion as to whether the location should be at Parkinson, Greenbank, Bromelton or Purga. Recently Parkinson has been eliminated due to citizen protests, limited space and environmental issue, Greenbank is not really an option because it’s owned by a Defence Department with no clear intention of selling. And Bromelton, preferred by some in the Department of State Development and Pacific National, which has bought up some land there, suffers from issues of topography, a lack of road infrastructure, water and gas availability, broadband access, fragmented ownership and reliance on an antiquated standard gauge rail line.

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This leaves Purga, a 520 hectare area to the south of the Cunningham Highway, which, with impeccable timing and forethought, is under investigation for use as a future rail marshalling yard in a Site Investigation Study by Maunsell/Aecom commissioned by Queensland Transport.

According to the South-East Queensland Regional Plan, Purga’s “potential is based on the area’s accessibility to interstate highways, supported by the connector between the Cunningham and Warrego Highways and the proposed dual-gauge freight railway linking the area to the standard gauge line north of Bromelton”. It also would link to the existing rail corridor at Rosewood, via a relatively easy connection to the inland rail, and can, as per our proposal, provide a direct rail freight link with the port by way of a south-west corridor to Larapinta either onto Acacia Ridge, then to Dutton Park or continuing along the Logan, Gateway and Port Motorways. Larapinta would also act as an interchange for the rail to Sydney, using a sliver of Greenbank as a crossing loop.

Aside from these virtues, Purga also enjoys the ability to service some of Queensland’s most significant parcels of land designated for industrial uses, including the 3,350 hectare Ebenezer Industrial Park at Willowbank, the 700 hectare Swanbank Enterprise Park, the 200 hectare Bremer Business Park in Bundamba, while to the north, and straddling the Cunningham Highway, 183 hectare of land abutting the Amberley air force base is being examined for aviation and aerospace uses, possibly to commence before 2010. Its anticipated 2,800 additional employees will be working here over the next 10 years, logically necessitating an extension of a passenger link from Ripley Valley, where many would be residing.

As a green fields site, Purga’s owners have the added benefit of being able to set the ground rules from Day One, including the number of terminal operators and their relationship with the lessor, that is going to be the best manager and what are the most efficient points of access. The new entity also would have clear rein to institute the best methods of interfacing with the industrial users to move here to be near a rail link, including the provision of single and cluster based rail sidings, multi-user terminals and spur lines.

These sidings and the rail yard generally would be able to accept trains up to 2,000 metres, the optimum length for profitability, as well as provide narrow gauge track and sidings where needed. Most importantly, it can be planned for the distant future, a century hence if necessary. But no matter when Purga and its associated links are earmarked to come on line, urgent consideration must be given to setting aside and maintaining the requisite land for buffer zones and rail corridors, as well as forbidding residential development to get anywhere near them. Land banking these areas now would also be much cheaper.

The Department of State Development and Innovation has also been investigating two additional rail freight corridors. The first is a dual gauge set of tracks linking Purga to the existing Brisbane-Sydney line by going from Kagaru west along Woollamar Creek south of Flinders Peak. While looking good on a two-dimensional map, unless someone’s up for a very long and expensive tunnel this concept is severely impeded by the need to cross the 200 metre high watershed between Purga and Woollamar Creeks.

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The second one also tries to link Purga with the Brisbane-Sydney line but by paralleling Beaudesert-Boonah Road. Problems with this option include the fact that the planned Wyaralong dam will flood a significant part of the Teviot Valley and the road near where the tracks were to go.

We would also like to see a standard/dual gauge line hook up from the Centenary Motorway to Darra, one that would have the advantage of providing a back-up route to the port should there be a problem along the Logan Motorway leg. This implies the ramp currently being worked on at the intersection of the Centenary Highway and Ipswich Road should be built to allow an extension of the standard/dual gauge tracks as well as the planned narrow gauge passenger rail from Darra to Springfield to Ripley. This could also be lengthened another few kilometres through Ebenezer, across the Bremer River to Rosewood then onto Toowoomba.

It’s essential that work on the on/off ramps onto the Logan Motorway at Larapinta Junction be built to allow sufficient height for double-stacked containers, as should all the other bridges and overpasses along the route to and from the port. Similarly, current planning for the Paradise Road on/off ramps to the Logan Mororway should incorporate the future provision of dual and/or standard gauge tracks east and west along the Logan Motorway Corridor as well as Acacia Ridge.

The only question now is: where will the $3 billion needed to fund the project come from? In our opinion, it should be financed solely by federal and state governments as part of a national rail freight system, which would be an investment in our nation’s future. Needless to say, this view stands in opposition to those who would rely on arrangements such as public-private partnerships for funding, but we believe this is an option that is not in the best public interest, let alone to the economic benefit of users and operators.

We hope the House of Representatives’ Inquiry Into the Integration of Regional Rail and Road Networks and their Interface with Ports will help provide a rationale for the construction of an Inland Rail Link, or, at the very least, might encourage some political backbone to that end.

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Article edited by Lynda White.
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About the Author

Tom Richman, writes and edits the King's Counsel, a biannual newsletter of King & Co Property Consultants. He holds a BA, MA and M. Phil (Oxon) and is a member of the Property Council of Australia (QLD), the Infrastructure Association of Queensland as well as the Brisbane Development Association.

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