$1.25 billion hole in central element of LNP public transport policy

The credibility of the Liberal National Party’s public transport policy is in tatters following advice that one of its central elements will cost six times the estimated amount, Transport Minister John Mickel said today.

Mr Mickel said the LNP had costed a promised new train management and safety system for the Brisbane rail network promised at $250 million.

“According to preliminary advice I have received from QR, this measure would cost at least $1.5 billion.

“That leaves a $1.25 billion hole in the Liberal National Party’s trumpeted public transport policy.”

Mr Mickel called on said the Liberal National Party to release the costings for its policy, in particular the cost estimates for replacing the existing train management and safety system.

“In their policy document, the Liberal National Party said they would ‘replace the existing ….. system with the continuous Automatic Train Protection System at a cost of $250 million over three years.’

“The policy outlined how this new system ‘provides a continuous flow of information to control the braking and spacing of trains, to improve safety and to reduce headway between trains on the network.’

“The policy goes on to say:

‘Effectively this new safety system means the gap between trains could be cut from three minutes to as little as one minute, allowing more efficient use of the Citytrain network.

‘This allows more flexibility and capacity on the existing network because as the gaps between traps (sic) are reduced, there are more slots for trains.’

“On Monday, following the release of the Opposition’s policy, I said passengers and taxpayers should be gravely concerned that the Liberal National Party had seriously under-estimated the cost of their policy initiatives, and had failed altogether to explain how they were going to pay for them.

“I said then that initial estimates indicated that the cost of introducing the automated train management and safety system to the Brisbane rail network could cost at least double the estimate of $250 million.

“I have now received further advice from QR that the kind of system which would be needed to support the policy initiative as proposed by the Opposition would cost $1.5 billion.

“The ball is now in the Liberal National Party’s court to release full details of their policy proposal, including how it would be designed, how it would be operated, and the accompanying cost estimates.

“It would seem they are trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes, by promising a train management and safety system that delivers spacing between trains of as little as one minute, but estimating its cost at only a fraction of the expenditure that would be involved.

“This is typical of how the Liberal National Party is trying to deceive people into believing that they have a rolled gold public transport policy that merits public support.

“There are further examples of this, such as the policy postcard they were handing out at railway stations today with “free peak hour travel” highlighted, when in fact their policy proposes free rail travel for an hour either side of the morning and afternoon peak periods.”

“The ball also remains in the Opposition’s court to disclose how they are going to fund this policy.

“So far the Opposition has failed to rule out funding it through fare increases, borrowings or by cutting other transport projects and services, such as busways and purchasing extra trains.

“Most likely, it would be through a combination of all three of these – the fare increases would be astronomical, the borrowings enormous and the cuts to projects and services savage in order to pay for this deeply flawed and seriously under-costed policy,” Mr Mickel said.

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