Kippa-Ring railway line, Brisbane
Encyclopedia
The Moreton Bay Rail Link (also known as the Kippa-Ring rail line, Redcliffe railway and Petrie to Kippa-Ring railway) is a $1.15 billion railway project, that will result in 12.6km of dual-track rail line between Petrie
Petrie, Queensland
Petrie is a suburb north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Moreton Bay Region. It is located in the North Pine River section of its local council 24 kilometres north of Brisbane City....

 and Kippa-Ring
Kippa-Ring, Queensland
Kippa-Ring is a residential and light industrial suburb of the Moreton Bay Region at the center of the Redcliffe peninsula, approximately north-northeast of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia.-History:...

 on the Redcliffe peninsula. The new line is to be part of the QR
Queensland Rail
Queensland Rail, also known as QR, is a government-owned railway operator in the state of Queensland. Under the control of the Queensland Government, Queensland Rail operates the inner-city and long-distance passenger services, as well as some freight operations and gives railway access to other...

 Citytrain
CityTrain
Citytrain is the brand name of urban, suburban and inter-urban electric passenger railway services in South East Queensland, Australia. Its network, centering in Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, is approximately in route length...

 suburban network, branching from the Caboolture line. The new line starts 200 metres north of Petrie railway station, extending from (27.5 km (17.1 mi) to 40.1 km (24.9 mi) north of Central railway station
Central railway station, Brisbane
Central railway station is, as the name suggests, the central railway station for the Queensland Rail City network in the Brisbane central business district, the state capital of Queensland, Australia...

).

The line will have six new rail stations: Kallangur, Murrumba Downs, Mango Hill, Kinsellas Road, Rothwell and Kippa-Ring. Funding for the project will consist of: $742 million from the Commonwealth Government, $300 million from the Queensland Government (plus another $120 million for land) and $105 million from the Moreton Bay Regional Council.

Early History

A rail line to Redcliffe was first proposed in 1895 when the Queensland Government
Government of Queensland
The Government of Queensland is commonly known as the "Queensland Government".The form of the Government of Queensland is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1859, although it has been amended many times since then...

's Minister for Railways, Mr Hon R Phillip, considered three proposals, one preferred route via North Pine (Petrie
Petrie, Queensland
Petrie is a suburb north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Moreton Bay Region. It is located in the North Pine River section of its local council 24 kilometres north of Brisbane City....

). In more recent times, the Redcliffe railway was more seriously identified and anticipated in the 1970s, and the land was purchased in the 1980s under a Bjelke-Petersen
Joh Bjelke-Petersen
Sir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG , was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, a period that saw considerable economic development in the state...

 National Party
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

 state government. This land is still owned by the government and preserved as a transport corridor. The issue of the proposed railway line seemed to always come up again when a state election was due, leading to a skeptical belief by many that the line would never actually be constructed.

Petrie to Kippa-Ring Public Transport Corridor Study

In 1999, the Beattie
Peter Beattie
Peter Douglas Beattie , Australian politician, was the 36th Premier of the Australian state of Queensland for nine years and leader of the Australian Labor Party in that state for eleven and a half years...

 Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 state government commissioned an investigative study into the transport corridor between Petrie
Petrie, Queensland
Petrie is a suburb north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Moreton Bay Region. It is located in the North Pine River section of its local council 24 kilometres north of Brisbane City....

 to Kippa-Ring
Kippa-Ring, Queensland
Kippa-Ring is a residential and light industrial suburb of the Moreton Bay Region at the center of the Redcliffe peninsula, approximately north-northeast of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia.-History:...

, conducted by GHD Group
GHD Group
GHD Pty Ltd is an engineering, architecture and environmental consulting firm.Established in 1928, GHD employs more than 6000 people across five continents and serves clients in the global markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation.The company...

. Key components under investigation included the mode of transport, the route and location of stations, future public transport usage, and the timing for construction.

The study was conducted in two parts. The first part was completed in June 2000. It aimed to meet the state government's obligations to identify or forgo rights to a transport corridor running through the North Lakes
North Lakes, Queensland
For North Lakes estate in New South Wales, see Cameron Park, New South Wales.North Lakes is a suburb north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Moreton Bay Region. North Lakes is located approximately 25 km north of the Brisbane central business district...

 residential development. This first stage was to identify the preferred mode of transport, the viability of public transport along the corridor, and the preferred alignment of the corridor. Four modes of transport were investigated: heavy rail, buses or a busway
Bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling...

, light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

, and monorail
Monorail
A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...

. Heavy rail was found to be the preferred mode of transport along the existing preserved corridor as it was the only option to give an acceptable level of economic efficiency – the study found that heavy rail had a benefit-cost ratio
Benefit-cost ratio
A benefit-cost ratio is an indicator, used in the formal discipline of cost-benefit analysis, that attempts to summarize the overall value for money of a project or proposal. A BCR is the ratio of the benefits of a project or proposal, expressed in monetary terms, relative to its costs, also...

 of 1.46, above the value of 1 when a project is considered economically viable – and provided the highest levels of patronage with its integration into the existing Citytrain
CityTrain
Citytrain is the brand name of urban, suburban and inter-urban electric passenger railway services in South East Queensland, Australia. Its network, centering in Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, is approximately in route length...

 network and no disadvantage with not having to change modes.

The second part of the study was completed in October 2003. It looked at the route of the corridor between Petrie railway station and Kallangur railway station at Goodfellows Road. The original, preserved route was recommended.

On 17 December 2001, the Minister for Transport, Stephen Bredhauer, announced public transport improvements between Petrie and Kippa-Ring, planned as part of a staged development of a new rail line in the area. This is after the Petrie to Kippa-Ring Public Transport Corridor Study had released a draft report with recommendations. The minister also said that the government was also investigating private sector involvement
Public-private partnership
Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...

 in the construction of the project. On 11 July 2003, the Minister said that the government had not made a commitment on the proposed line, and said that it may not go ahead as interest from the private sector in the project that they were looking for was negligible. This was at the same time as similar passenger rail public-private partnerships such as the Airtrain
AirTrain (Brisbane)
Airtrain is the privately owned commuter railway line that extends 13.0 km northeast from Brisbane , the state capital of Queensland, Australia, to the Brisbane Airport at both its separate International and Domestic terminals.The line is carried on an elevated prestressed concrete viaduct...

 to the Brisbane Airport and Airport Link to Sydney Airport were faltering and considered high risk at best by business and investors.

In June 2004, Queensland Transport released an assessment of the Petrie to Kippa-Ring Public Transport Corridor Study's Impact Assessment Study. This assessment claimed that the Impact Assessment Study only looked at costs of the Petrie to Kippa-Ring corridor, and did not take into account commercial-in-confidence costs involved with operating the trains, integrating the services with the rest of the Citytrain network, higher maintenance costs, and the costs of increasing capacity between the Brisbane central business district and Petrie. Based on these higher costs, Queensland Transport deemed the construction of the railway by 2007 could not be justified. The report also said possible savings with a public-private partnership were small and would not provide value for money. Queensland Transport said that they would preserve the corridor until it is required. Following from this, on 15 June 2004 the government announced $3 million on improving existing bus services along the corridor between Kippa-Ring (Redcliffe) and Petrie "in the short to medium term". It also again announced the further preservation of the corridor for future public transport use.

Recent History

Frustrated by a lack of action by the Government, the Redcliffe City Council
City of Redcliffe
City of Redcliffe is a defunct Local Government Area in South East Queensland, Australia. It is in the northern part of the County of Stanley. The council covers the suburbs of Clontarf, Kippa-Ring, Margate, Redcliffe, Rothwell, Scarborough and Woody Point – a total area of 38.1 km² with a...

 (now Moreton Bay Regional Council
Moreton Bay Regional Council
The Moreton Bay Region is a Local Government Area located in South East Queensland, Australia, immediately to the north of Brisbane, the state capital...

) unanimously moved on 4 July 2005 to support campaign to have the Petrie to Kippa-Ring railway built and write to the Minister for Transport to express concern over a recent decision by the Minister to not proceed with its construction. In 2007, the Pine Rivers Shire Council (now a part of Moreton Bay Regional Council along with Redcliffe City Council) purchased the old Tulip Town shopping centre land at Kallangur for $6 million, with the potential for it to be used with the proposed Kippa-Ring railway line. The site is nearby, but not immediately adjacent to, the location of a Murrumba Downs railway station. However, on 11 August 2008, the state Labor member for Murrumba
Electoral district of Murrumba
The district of Murrumba is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.The district is based in the outer northern suburbs of Brisbane. It includes the suburbs of Deception Bay, Kippa-Ring, Murrumba Downs and Rothwell...

, Dean Wells, whose electorate the proposed, unconstructed component of the line runs through entirely, said that there were no plans to construct the railway in the foreseeable future.

Regardless, the South East Queensland Regional Plan 2009–2031, released in December 2008, identifies the preserved corridor in its Transport Infrastructure Network Plan as a "quality rapid transit route". During the 2009 Queensland state election
Queensland state election, 2009
The Queensland state election was held to elect members to the unicameral Parliament of Queensland on 21 March 2009. The election saw the incumbent Labor government led by Premier Anna Bligh defeat the Liberal National Party of Queensland led by Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg, and gain a...

, the Liberal National Party of Queensland promised to start the construction of the line in its first term if it was elected, with the first stage of the line from Petrie
Petrie, Queensland
Petrie is a suburb north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Moreton Bay Region. It is located in the North Pine River section of its local council 24 kilometres north of Brisbane City....

 to Mango Hill
Mango Hill, Queensland
Mango Hill is a suburb north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Moreton Bay Region.The area was named Mango Hill on 1 September 1980, after the mango trees lining Anzac Avenue as it passes through the area...

 commissioned in 2014, and completed to Kippa-Ring
Kippa-Ring, Queensland
Kippa-Ring is a residential and light industrial suburb of the Moreton Bay Region at the center of the Redcliffe peninsula, approximately north-northeast of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia.-History:...

 by 2016. However, the incumbent Labor government was subsequently returned to power.

In July 2010, during the 2010 federal election, Prime Minister Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...

 announced that the Kippa-Ring railway line would be fast-tracked, with the project to be complete by 2016 at a cost of $1.15 billion dollars. On 3 December 2010, the funding agreement for the project was formalised, after being announced the day before. The agreement was signed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and Moreton Bay mayor Allan Sutherland.

Construction Timeline

Project schedule
  • October 2010 - Commence survey works
  • 15 November 2010 - Community consultation
  • February 2011 - Complete stakeholder and community consultation
  • Mid 2011 - Complete the final business case
  • 2012–2016 - Construction
  • 2016 - Completion

Proposed New Line

In the last study report, planned stations were in Kallangur
Kallangur, Queensland
Kallangur is a suburb north of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Moreton Bay Region. The area once belonged to Mrs. Griffin of Whiteside located west of Petrie which was acquired by a Scottish migrant by the name of Thomas Petrie in 1855...

, Murrumba Downs
Murrumba Downs, Queensland
Murrumba Downs is a suburb north of Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, Australia, and is located east of Kallangur on the Bruce Highway 24 km north of the Brisbane central business district...

, Mango Hill
Mango Hill, Queensland
Mango Hill is a suburb north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Moreton Bay Region.The area was named Mango Hill on 1 September 1980, after the mango trees lining Anzac Avenue as it passes through the area...

, Kinsellas Road in Mango Hill, Rothwell
Rothwell, Queensland
Rothwell is a residential suburb of the Moreton Bay Region in the west of the Redcliffe peninsula, approximately north-northeast of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia...

 and Kippa-Ring
Kippa-Ring, Queensland
Kippa-Ring is a residential and light industrial suburb of the Moreton Bay Region at the center of the Redcliffe peninsula, approximately north-northeast of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia.-History:...

. Passengers for/from the Caboolture and Nambour and Gympie North lines would change at Petrie, Shorncliffe line at Northgate, Airport
AirTrain (Brisbane)
Airtrain is the privately owned commuter railway line that extends 13.0 km northeast from Brisbane , the state capital of Queensland, Australia, to the Brisbane Airport at both its separate International and Domestic terminals.The line is carried on an elevated prestressed concrete viaduct...

 and Doomben lines at Eagle Junction, Ferny Grove line at Bowen Hills, and all other lines at Central.




External links

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