Assorted Australian Adjuncts

 Problem Solved (1)

fbb was concerned that premium fares on the YELLOW Airport line might be unfair fares for passengers on the rest of the yellow line running south from the city centre.

Of course, his worries are unfounded because the Airport line does NOT continue past the city centre. At some ill-defined point the Airport line changes, like Cinderella's pumpkin, into, tada ...

... the YELLOW Gold Coast line, upon which the current 25c (50p) flat fare is suree valid.

Maybe the rubric should say the cheap fare is except fares to the Airport, rather then on the Airport line.

Problem Not Solved, Yet

Most long distance trains are tourist or leisure related. If you want to get anywhere further away in Oz, you fly. So Brisbane has THREE airports.

In the north there is one for the Sunshine Coast.

The rail map shows a bus link, route 600 ...

... but with no apparent link to the rail network- yet. A link to the GREEN Line is "approved", but so were trains to Portishead (in the UK) oodles of years ago!

Back at the southern end of the yellow line ...

... there is a link to another route in YELLOW. This is not a Gold Coast line branch but a tram!

It is called "G-link" (for Gold Coast - gettit!) and, as is so often the case with trams (see Manchester UK), you are not allowed a timetable.

The route is wiggly and not fast.

But, we hear you cry, surely we are making for an airport?

For that you need to change again ...

... to a route 777 bus.

Note that a tram extension is "under construction" but with no mention of a final progtess to the Airport.

The 777 runs every 15 min seven days a week and ...

... it is double deck!

The buses are what used to be known in the good old lorry driving days ...

... as a rare example of a "Chinese Six" (two axles at the front, rather than their usuaul location at the back).

Are these the only double deck buses in the Brisbane area?

The Olly doesn't  count!

It's a caff, not a bus!

Problems Solved, Possibly?

What about suburbs that don't have trains?

The train map shows "selected" bus routes with no explanation of why these particular services appear on a rail map.

And look, there is another bus to Carindale, additional to  the 200 previously blogged.

The 222 is also a BUZ services and appears on a 200 and 222 leaflet which is indexed as just the 222.

Each service runs every 15 (every 10 at peak).

The 222 leaflet map ...

... also includes a 217 plus the 200. So there is more to Carindale than initially appeared to fbb. That's why you need a proper network map! 

IF fbb ever completes his Carindale map ... 

... he ought to add the 217 and 222.

Problem Solved, Soon!

Remember that empty station on the loop line in Brisbane city centre.

The line and station ate opened to serve the annual "Ekka" exhibition. Once simply an agricultural show, it expanded to be a full-blown entertainment.

The train takes the strain of the happy crowds.

Other exhibitions are served from time to time.

But this loop line us now getting a major upgrade as the Cross River Rail.

The line's logo ...

... looks rather familiar.

Did Translink pinch it from Transport for London?

The new tunnel ...

... will serve an underground station at Roma Street ...

... and the business district at Albert Street

The line re-emerges to serve a rebuilt Dutton Park station.

Here is a geographical plan of the new line.

This new route is to relieve pressure on the congested city centre tracks.

Here is a video.

It seems Brizzy is making a better job of fully coordinated, integrated, rapidly developing public transport than anywhere in the UK. 

What has Oz got that the UK has lost?

Next week we survey changes in Brizzle, not Brizzy!

 Next Variety blog : Saturday 14 March 

Brisbane's Main Trains

 How It Was Then

Above is Queensland's rail network in 1925. Today's longer distance trains, for tourist travel mainly, can be compared with the above timetable cover.

It is the local services that have gone ...

... steam hauled mixed traffic trains with goods vans joining the single passenger coach.

As Brisbane grew, so did its suburbs and local routes.

Today's network was, for a while, branded 'Citytrain'. Here is the 1980 network ...

... with lines 2 and 3 being the equivalent of the two routes shown on the orange map above.

The first suburban line opened  from the Ipswich township ...

... but could not make it all the way to Brisbane until a bridge across the river was opened.

The Albert Bridge arrived in 1895 and it still stands, very much in use ...

... but with later road and rail additions. It now has a less colonial name being the Indooroopilly Bridge names after the station seen in the above picture.

Last year  a Heritage steam train was run over the pre-bridge route.

Electrification if the whole system was proposed in 1950 but abandoned in 1959 after a change of political colour!

The wires eventually arrived in 1979 with some shiny trains, a vast improvement on what went before.

The last of this stock was retired last year (2025).

How It Is Today

Antipodean train enthusiasts will recognise the different types of electric multiple unit operating in Brisbane.

They are similar ...

... but slightly different!

And new sets are on the way.

But there is something odd about these commuter trains.

Some of the interiors only have 2 + 1 seating; some are more conventional but with a very narrow gangway.

Then to accommodate wheelchairs only one-seat inward facing benches are on offer.

What is going on?

As the colonial territories began to develop, they were very precious about their particular train set. So different territorial areas in Oz chose their own gauges of track.

Through running, what's that?

Here is a map.

The black lines are standard gauge as in use internationally at 4 feet 8 and a half inches.

The orange lines are in the State of Victoria and have a distance between rails of 5 feet 3 inches, designated as broad gauge.

And so to Brisbane and Queensland in blue which has a gauge of three feet 6 inches - not metre gauge but good old UK measurements. We call it narrow gauge.

Here are the gauges in the new money.

So, at Roma Street station in Brisbane, 1435mm shares certain platform faces with 1067mm.

Timetables are line by line ...

So we have the Ferry Grove line ...

... which has a simple 15 minute frequency.

But trains run through to BNH or CEP.

BNH is, obviously, Beenleigh, hence Beenleigh Line.

Clever, eh!

But at off peak times half the trains terminate at Coopers Plains, CEP.

That seems a bit unfair on Beenleigh, does it not? Why does Beenleigh get less trains than Ferry Grove?

There may be an answer in tomorrow's  blog!

One Oddity

Most maps show an unusual loop missing three of the busy city centre stops.  Here's another version.

Only one station is sometimes shown in that loop, and here it is.

Not very busy is it?

Another reveal for tomorrow!

  Next Brizzy Trains blog : Friday 14th Mar