$212M Rail Contract to Boost SEQ Commuter Services

A $212 million rail contract to build 72 new Citytrain carriages will provide South East Queensland commuters with more frequent and expanded services within three years, Premier Peter Beattie said today.

At a special signing at South Brisbane Station today Mr Beattie and Transport Minister Paul Lucas announced that Queensland Rail had awarded the four-year contract to Maryborough-based joint venture EDI Bombardier.

Mr Beattie said the contract was good news all round for Queensland.

"Today we have given job security to the 246 Maryborough employees who work at the EDI and Bombardier plants and that's also great news for the local economy," he said.

"For commuters in Brisbane and on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, the 72 new, state-of-the-art carriages will allow us to introduce new and expanded train services to meet growing demand."

Mr Beattie said EDI had supplied all the electric passenger trains used on the Citytrain network.

"By the end of this contract in 2008, the company will have supplied 524 carriages under contracts worth more than $1.5 billion," he said.

"I'm proud to say all of them will have been built in Queensland at Maryborough."

Mr Beattie said new transport infrastructure to meet increasing demand for services from an extra one million people by 2026 was a key strategy under the Draft South East Queensland Regional Plan released last week.

"My Government is already investing an extra $1 billion over four years in new services and infrastructure for the Citytrain network in SEQ," he said.

Transport Minister Paul Lucas said the Beattie Government's investment included the $899 million MetTRIP program to upgrade the network to cater for more passengers.

"More people in SEQ are using public transport than ever before," he said. "Citytrain now carries about 48 million passengers a year.

"And since we introduced TransLink in July, 34.8 million passengers have caught trains, buses and ferries in SEQ - that's 8% or 2.55 million more passengers than for the same three-month period last year."

Mr Lucas said 48 of the new carriages would be designed for the longer Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast services and would include toilet facilities and more leg room.

"Commuters in the rapidly growing Gold Coast corridor will have less crowded and more frequent services when the first of the 24 new inter-urban cars is delivered in late 2006," he said.

"Last year, Gold Coast trains carried more than 2.8 million passengers. Patronage on these services has grown by an average 3.4% or 330,000 passengers since 2001," he said.

Mr Lucas said new inter-urban carriages earmarked for the Sunshine Coast would replace the suburban style trains currently in service and provide extra capacity and comfort to meet growing demand.

"Last year, Sunshine Coat trains carried about 830,000 passengers and patronage has grown by an average 1.5% over the past four years," he said.

"The remaining 24 carriages will be designed for future suburban services and will most likely be used on the Ferny Grove, Caboolture and Beenleigh lines.

"All 72 new carriages were expected to be in service by late 2008 and would have full disability access."

Mr Lucas said today's announcement coincided with the start of preliminary planning for the Gold Coast track upgrade, with major infrastructure work planned between Kuraby and Salisbury and between Ormeau and Coomera.

"The Beattie Government is investing $247 million within the next three years to upgrade rail services in the fast growing Gold Coast corridor," he said.

"This includes the new rollingstock, construction of a third track between Salisbury and Kuraby, a second track between Ormeau and Coomera and upgrades to station facilities at Coopers Plains, Banoon, Sunnybank, Altandi, Runcorn and Fruitgrove.

"Once completed, this upgrade is expected to increase capacity on the Gold Coast line by 50% which is great news for commuters."

Media contacts: Premier's Office 3224 4500 Minister's Office Sonya Gillece 3237 1947 / 0407 166 084