QR2075: A Railway Redefined.

 Queensland’s railway network has just finished turning 160 in 2025.

But what if we today used our inner Ron Christie (former NSW railway administrator, whose plans in 2001 (aiming at 2050), lest they were lines on a map, became the basis for Sydney’s ultimate rail rebirth (through the Sydney Metro rapid transit project) in the late 2010’s onward, which added the most significant boost to inner city rail capacity to their network since the completion of the Eastern Suburbs Railway in 1979, just twelve months ago) and started drawing the plans for the future of Queensland’s rail network, and what we could have if the political will exists, in fifty years, ten years removed from Queensland’s rail bicentennial.

QR 2075: REFRAMING QUEENSLAND RAIL AS A WHOLE.

Queensland Rail, as it currently stands in 2025, maintains the majority of Queensland’s rail network (with the exception of of various coal lines (inc. the Blackwater system, who utilizes the North Coast Line between Gladstone and Rockhampton, as well as the Central West line as far as Emerald) whose ownership were separated from Queensland Rail when the QR freight rail business, (ultimately privatized, today known as Aurizon) was separated from the passenger/network arm (which stayed in government hands) in 2010, as well as the Airtrain to Brisbane Airport, set to land in government hands in the mid-2030’s), while being the sole passenger rail operator in Queensland (with the SEQ suburban/interurban network, and the long distance passenger network in it’s hands.)

Our belief, is that by 2040-2045, Queensland Rail should be split into four passenger businesses (akin to the Japanese national railway system being split into seven businesses (six passenger, one freight) in preparation for privatization), and a government-owned network maintainer (that owns the tracks, infrastructure and potentially rollingstock: along with the reincorporation of the Blackwater freight system into the QR network proper) along the lines of Network Rail in the UK.

These “baby QR’s” would be the following:

-QR North: Centred around Cairns and Townsville, encouraging the growth of enhanced passenger services within the two centres and between them, while maintaining the Kuranda Scenic Railway, Savannahlander and Gulflander services. Would also be permitted to operate coach services in it’s own brand.

-QR Central: Stretching from Rockhampton to Townsville, this operator would become responsible for both the Inlander from Mt Isa to Townsville, and the Spirit of The Outback from Rockhampton to Longreach, as well as additional passenger services between Rockhampton and Townsville, and Rockhampton and Emerald. Would also be permitted to to operate coach services in it’s own brand.

-QR South 1: Centred around the SE corner of Queensland, and operating services between Brisbane and Rockhampton, Brisbane and Charleville (Westlander) as well as the existing SEQ suburban rail network and additional regional services from Brisbane to Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Toowoomba and Wallangarra. Would also be responsible for operating the Spirit of QLD on behalf of QR North/QR Central and the Spirit of the Outback in it’s own sector. Would be allowed to operate coach services in it’s own brand.

-QR South 2: Spinoff of QR South 1, designed to be offloaded as a private company, that would be responsible for funding and building longterm rapid transit improvements for SEQ, as well as acquiring properties, and operating it’s own rail replacement bus fleet upon opening of new rapid transit lines. Answerable to government, and fares are tied to government recommendations.

The four “Baby QR’s” would also be allowed to get into real estate management at both stations and surrounding them, akin to Japanese private operators (for example: one of the largest private rail operators in the Tokyo area: K’Sei, also owns 22% of the Oriental Land Company, the company that manages the Tokyo Disney Resort) or MTR Hong Kong (who now operates parts of the Sydney Metro, and Melbourne’s suburban rail system off their significant property revenue in Hong Kong) and  creating a new source of revenue for the smaller operations, to enable expansion. The longterm view, is that only QR South 1 remains in public hands, or potentially operated as a arms length subsidiary of the QLD Government’s investment arm QIC, to help the real estate arm grow exponentially.

In addition, a investigation should begin with both the NSW and QLD governments toward a joint venture private operator to negotiate to build future interstate rail connections into the Queensland network (priority should be Tugun-Ballina via the M1 corridor as a narrow gauge corridor, Wallangarra to Tenterfield as a dual gauge corridor, as encouragement to get Tenterfield to Armidale reconnected, as well as potentially linking NSW TrainLink services currently terminating in Moree to Toowoomba (as a extension via Inland Rail and a dual gauge upgrade from Gowrie to Toowoomba station.)

But, the most important project that needs to be on the drawing board, for the benefits it would bring to many outside the SE corner and also it’s power to ease the strain on SEQ growth: is quite simply what I’d call… NCL 125.

NCL 125:

NCL 125, is a game changer. And, we need to start planning for it (either as a alternative to a Bruce Highway duplication, or complimentary to one) by 2028 (incidentally: the 125th anniversary of Rockhampton being first connected to Brisbane physically by rail) at the earliest, and needs to be a rolling program until the 2040’s, free of government interference.

What NCL 125 needs to achieve:

-A standalone passenger corridor that can achieve a average speed of 125mph (200km/h) between Brisbane and Rockhampton, a travel time from Brisbane to Rockhampton of just over three and a half hours (allowing for station stops). Currently, the average speed between Brisbane and Rockhampton is 77km/h (for a eight hour journey), in comparison: the top speed on the Bruce Hwy outside towns, is 100km/h, and from Curra south to Caboolture: 110km/h, and on a good day can get you to Brisbane in seven hours (not inc. rest stops along the way).

-Brisbane to Gympie by rail times slashed to two hours. Currently, it’s four hours.

-Rollingstock that can achieve 180-200km/h in service, and potentially even faster in trials, similar to what was run in May 1999 using the existing Electric Tilt Train rollingstock (210km/h, and still: 25yrs on: the Australian rail speed record, regardless of gauge).

And: most critically, be able to extend future ETCS in-cab signalling operations (currently only planned as far as Gympie North as part of the post CRR ETCS rollout) onward to Rockhampton, on a ETCS-ready passenger corridor, a revolution akin to the electrification of the Caboolture-Rockhampton segment of the NCL in the late 1980’s, that paves the way for far more regional rail services than what exists today in the long term.

A faster train service between Brisbane and Rockhampton, can then also be used as a encouragement to increase residential and business access to parts of Queensland that currently are distant from Brisbane entirely, while opening up new job opportunities where people can live potentially double the distance north they do now from Brisbane… and still work in the CBD and surrounding areas as a daily commute, enjoying the benefits of living in locations like Bundaberg, Hervey Bay and Maryborough while retaining the 9-5 work-life balance (even if they work from home once a week) that a job in Brisbane’s CBD offers.

In addition: a possible investigation needs to be made toward routing NCL 125 via Maroochydore’s CBD and Sunshine Coast Airport via a new northern corridor to Gympie, and a new southern corridor to Landsborough (with a potential station at Sippy Downs) as a alternative to modernizing the passenger corridor between Gympie North and Landsborough.

But, the biggest present a new rail paradigm can deliver: can only happen when you get the freight out of the Gympie-Brisbane corridor.

BRISBANE FREIGHT RAIL BYPASS.

The bainmarie of the existing North Coast Line through the Sunshine Coast, is the mixture of Brisbane suburban services from Gympie south, intercity passenger services from as far away as Cairns and freight services from as far away as North Queensland, all converging on a single track corridor with limited passing opportunities between Beerburrum and Gympie North.

We all remember how much pain the NCL suffered when it was cut for sixteen days in early 2022, after a significant derailment of a Aurizon service at Traveston (as part of a major weather event which also triggered Gympie’s highest flood since 1999, the significant flood disaster in Lismore and a Brisbane river/creek flood event not seen since 1974): whose final report only just came out in early August 2025.

Although work is going on right now concerning duplication as far as Beerwah, the long term view needs to be to develop a alternate freight route, that frees up slots currently used for freight trains from Gympie North to Beerburrum for passenger services (more can be freed up if NCL 125 can connect into Maroochydore via new corridor), while also eliminating freight movements in Brisbane’s inner city: a remnant of the days when Brisbane’s main rail freight station was where Roma St Parklands currently sit, opening the door for new terminating long distance passenger options at Roma St (most likely, underneath the existing platforms thanks to the stupidity of past QLD Governments routing Cross River Rail via the Roma St end of Roma St Station, rather than a more central route which would have expanded the existing passenger subway, which in our view will not cope with CRR-fueled interchange in the long haul).

This alternate freight rail route, would be designed to run from Curra (north of Gympie) to Ebenezer (near Ipswich, where new transshipping facilities are set to be built for Inland Rail) and onward via the Ebenezer/Kagaru link, being planned as part of Inland Rail, into Acacia Ridge (existing transshipping facility for the Sydney/Brisbane standard gauge corridor down the NSW North Coast, and Brisbane’s main rail goods yard since the Roma St railyards closed), and the Port of Brisbane.

This alternate freight route, would be designed to be a public/private undertaking, including tolls for freight rail services using it, whose proceeds can be utilised to deliver passenger improvements concerning NCL 125.

USING INLAND RAIL TO OUR ADVANTAGE.

The Queensland corridor for Inland Rail, between Ebenezer and North Star in NSW, will open up the first new standard gauge corridor between the two states since South Brisbane and Grafton were linked in the 1930s.

But, we believe it needs to be utilized for more than just freight. With a push toward dual gauging the line into Toowoomba Station from Gowrie (and new passenger stations along the Inland Rail corridor at Pittsworth, Millmerran, Inglewood and Goondiwindi) you could effectively open up the door to initially extend existing NSW Trainlink services from Sydney to Moree via Werris Creek, to Toowoomba (and ultimately, with dual gauge passenger rail between in place between Toowoomba and Brisbane, services extended to Brisbane itself).
The passing loops built for these new stations also have a second purpose: adding more capacity to the Gowrie-North Star section for freight services when passenger services aren't running.

BRISBANE-TOOWOOMBA PASSENGER RAIL.

The eventual passenger link between Brisbane and Toowoomba needs to be designed to the same standards as existing dual gauge tracks between Coopers Plains and Roma Street, able to handle both QLD and NSW rollingstock with ease. However, three key issues stand in the way, and can be easily done.

-1. Brisbane-Toowoomba rail must be routed through Springfield, with separate dual gauge platforms at Yamanto and Springfield Central, while the existing line from Darra to Springfield Central is upgraded to dual gauge.

This also has the benefit of providing a flood-free alternate route to the existing Ipswich line, to allow services to be as resilient as possible after a significant flood event (above 15m at Goodna on the Brisbane River/above 15m at Ipswich CBD on the Bremer River)

-2. Ipswich line between Darra and Roma St has two tracks upgraded to dual gauge, with provisions for entry to new underground standard gauge and narrow gauge termini underneath Roma St Station.

-And, finally: 3. Tennyson line is upgraded to dual gauge (and floodproofed), to allow a cross-country connection for standard gauge passenger rollingstock using the Sydney-Brisbane corridor to access Roma St station via Indooroopilly/Milton as a alternate to using South Bank/Merivale Bridge.

In addition, investigations should be made towards:

-addressing the chokepoint that is Toowong Station within ten to fifteen years.

-finally delivering a rail/bus interchange at Indooroopilly.

RAIL-BUS CONNECTIVITY.

Three visions need to be explored.

-Urban bus/rail interchanges need to be valued for what they are: trip and transfer generators. A key example is the severely underutilized Enoggera railway station bus interchange: built almost half a century ago: with some timetabling tweaks, and significant upgrade work (inc. lift access to both rail and bus interchange platforms) can be a heavy hitter. In addition: timetabling at some rail-bus interchanges (e.g. Carseldine) needs to favour the bus/rail transfer, opposed to seeing passengers scramble from a bus service to inbound/outbound services on the opposing platform… just because their bus arrived five minutes before their train departs.

-Regional bus/rail interchanges need to be established heavily along the NCL125 corridor, that don’t just serve locals, but extensive markets that would benefit from regular coach connections to major centres (e.g. coach connections between Bundaberg, Childers and Gin Gin: Gladstone, Calliope, Monto, Tannum Sands and Biloela: as well as Rockhampton, Yeppoon, and Biloela.)

These new coach services would be operated by the baby QR’s, as part of a community service remit.

-Investigations of potentially replacing some government-contracted coach services with government operated coach services surrounding SEQ, and establishing others. Kingaroy, for example just as much requires a Sunshine Coast coach connection as it would toward Toowoomba.

The sheer fact Queensland lacks a state-owned/state leased coach network (compared to NSW/Victoria, who have extensive coach networks operated by the state, tying into regional rail networks) is another embarrassment for a state where planning for the future has come second place to planning for the Olympics.

A NEW RAIL MODE: BRISBANE METRORAIL RAPID TRANSIT.

BMRT: A abbreviation you need to get used to. Brisbane Metrorail Rapid Transit, is the core product QR South 2 will develop and operate. The potential exists for three BMRT lines to be developed in the long term (and developed using the Sydney Metro model), to aid growth, and begin a process we should have been doing twenty years ago: decentralizing CBD office stock into the suburbs, alongside connecting major trip generators to the rail network for the first time, and will become the first fully standard gauge passenger railway built in Queensland, since the connection between South Brisbane and Kyogle in NSW was completed in the 1930’s.

The three lines, are as follows:

-Line 1: Brisbane Airport to Beaudesert via UQ-Newstead core.

This line creates a new rail connection to Brisbane Airport via Hamilton and Bulimba, before running through the CBD (with new stations at Newstead, Fortitude Valley, Queen St (forming a single station with the Albert St station being built as part of Cross River Rail), new underground platforms at South Brisbane and new stations at West End and the University of Queensland, before progressing toward the Mains Rd corridor (via underground platforms at Yeronga Station, and new stations at Moorooka Central, Toohey Cross (the Evans Rd, Toohey Road and Orange Grove Rd intersection) and at QSAC (integrated into the Nathan campus for Griffith University).

Along the Mains Rd corridor: new stations would be built at Sunnybank Central (Sunnybank Plaza), underground platforms at Altandi station, new stations at Pinelands (Pinelands Rd), Calam Cross (Calamvale Central, Sunnybank Hills Shoppingtown), Algester, Browns Plains, and Boronia Heights, with protection of corridor south, with stations at Greenbank, Flagstone, Veresdale and ultimately Beaudesert.

Line 1’s southern segment is designed to replace the current concept for Beaudesert-Brisbane rail, running through the transhipping yards at Acacia Ridge as a extension of the narrow gauge suburban rail network.

-Line 2: Waraba to Ipswich via UQ-Newstead core.

This line creates a new rail connection for Brisbane’s northern suburbs (as a high capacity alternative to the Northern Busway and other required projects), beginning in the new growth area of Waraba, with new stations at Narangba West, Petrie West, Warner, Eatons Hill, a interchange with the future NW rail corridor at Aspley, new stations at Chermside (with a possible people mover connection to Prince Charles Hospital), Wavell Heights, new underground platforms at Eagle Junction station and a new station at Crosby Park (near Albion) before running through the CBD: with new stations at Newstead, Fortitude Valley, Queen St (forming a single station with the Albert St station being built as part of Cross River Rail), new underground platforms at South Brisbane and new stations at West End and the University of Queensland, before headed to a new station at St Lucia, new underground platforms at Indooroopilly, a significant rail/bus interchange at Fig Tree Pocket Road, new stations at Kenmore, Bellbowrie, and Moggill (and protecting corridor for new standard gauge metro platforms at Bundamba and Ipswich to act as a second flood-free relief corridor.

Line 3: Cleveland to Boondall via UQ.

This line creates a line similar to Victoria’s Suburban Rail Loop, that links numerous transport options together with the wider network.

Beginning from new platforms at Cleveland Station, there are new stations at Alexandria Hills, Capalaba (designed to be a catalyst to unify Capalaba Park and Capalaba Central retail complexes), Bacton Park, Chandler (Sleeman Centre), Belmont, Carindale (Westfield Carindale), Camp Hill, Greenslopes Central, Ekibin Park (linked to Greenslopes busway station), new underground platforms at Fairfield Station, UQ (linked to line 1 and 2 station) underground platforms at Toowong, new stations at Mt Coot-tha, Bardon, Ashgrove, underground platforms at Enoggera station, new stations at Everford (halfway between Stafford and Everton Park), Prince Charles Hospital, underground platforms at Chermside (linked to line 2 station), new station at Newman Road, underground platforms at Virginia station, new standalone station at Banyo, and terminating at Boondall.

Potential investigations can be made potentially towards either a extension to Bracken Ridge and ultimately either Petrie or Kallangur stations or a Shorncliffe line conversion north of Boondall.

These three lines would be designed to reshape the suburban model of Brisbane into one of multiple CBD’s with a view toward evolving Veresdale (north of Beaudesert) along the model of Bradfield (a entirely new CBD from the ground up), and Capalaba along the model of Parramatta (evolving a retail hub into a business and leisure hub), in both attracting new residents and large floorplate businesses away from the Brisbane CBD.

ALL ABOARD THE NIGHT TRAIN:

The sleeper train renaissance from Beijing to Brussels is set to pass Queensland and Australia by if we aren’t careful. The stripping back of existing overnight services to seats and snack kits in Queensland (like what happened to the Inlander and Westlander last decade) needs to end, while the stupid decisions by Transport for NSW concerning the future of sleeper carriages on the Brisbane-Sydney service will need to be outright revoked, while the big fear is that eventually the only true sleeper services in Australia will only be for the rich (i.e. the railcruises Journeys Beyond provide), while the poor will be working around their flight plans and accommodation to travel anywhere at a ever increasing cost, and time spent.

Sleepers work, especially, in a state where distance is a tyranny and is costing lives on the road. But we need to look to a new vision for sleepers and the four key options for intrastate night trains that need to be investigated are:

-Sleeper stock returning to the Westlander, while taking advantage of travel time improvements that a Brisbane to Toowoomba passenger upgrade can only deliver.

-Sleeper stock returning to the Inlander, that is adaptable for a possible standard gauge upgrade of the Mt Isa-Townsville rail corridor as part of a wider project, connecting the Adelaide-Darwin line at Tennant Creek to the Mt Isa-Townsville rail corridor.

-Sleeper stock on the Spirit of The Outback modernized to today and tomorrow’s disability standards.

-Investigate a new sleeper service once NCL125 is near completion, to link Mackay to Brisbane overnight (likely regaining the Capricornian title, axed in 1993, when the original Rockhampton-Brisbane sleepers were merged into the Rockhampton-Winton Midlander to create the Spirit of the Outback), and potentially built off the design of the JR East E657 series sleeper conversion, due to launch in 2027.

The two key options for interstate sleepers are simple.

-The existing Brisbane-Sydney overnight service, via the coastal corridor must be retained, or potentially enhanced unlike the future the NSW Government is proposing for a XPT-less system: Sydney/Melbourne being the only route to retain sleeper trains, with Brisbane ending up as a daytime operation only, with northbound onward connectivity being little to non-existent.

-A new Brisbane-Sydney overnight service via Werris Creek/Moree (once the Brisbane-Toowoomba improvements and Inland Rail passenger enhancements are complete, replacing the current Casino sleepers/coach to Brisbane, while Grafton daily services are ultimately extended to Casino)

A third option awakens, if the NSW Government and Queensland Government work together to reopen the Toowoomba-Wallangarra and Wallangarra-Armidale corridors for passenger traffic, and a potential for the revival of Brisbane-Sydney service via Tamworth/Wallangarra.

In addition, the feasibility of affordable sleeper bus operations needs to be investigated for centres like Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Stanthorpe, Warwick, Dalby and Toowoomba to link to Brisbane, Brisbane Airport, the Gold Coast and Gold Coast Airport, as a alternative to current practices, and allowing the possibility of the sleeper bus concept to be expanded south (Gold Coast and Brisbane to Coffs Harbour, even Port Macquarie or Newcastle) if it is successful.

But the most important vision of a overnight future… is utilizing Inland Rail to run Brisbane-Melbourne overnight services… that do not require a day’s stopover in Sydney, allowing places along the Sydney-Melbourne corridor south of Junee in NSW to access a Brisbane passenger service for the first time, as well as the potential for Brisbane-Adelaide services running along Inland Rail, rather than via the congested Brisbane-Sydney coastal corridor.

THE FARES OF THE FUTURE.

The first key line we are going talk about, with the fares of the future is very much related to NSW Trainlink.

There needs to be serious thought, about expanding the NSW Trainlink Country Pensioner Excursion ticketing scheme to all Queensland pension card holders, much like what deals currently exist for Victorian, NSW and ACT pension cardholders (after all, QLD Senior Card holders already can use CPE ticketing to travel from Bay St Tweed Heads (the end of the QLD Translink network), to as far as Dungog (the end of the Sydney Opal network) as well as anywhere in between, while the RED dailies on local buses in NSW also are excluded to Queensland pensioners and senior card holders: despite the fact, QLD PCC holders and Seniors Card holders can use a Gold Opal in the Sydney Opal zone). In addition, the possibility of extending the CPE zone as far as Robina and Surfers Paradise must be explored, due to the close ties that exist between the NSW Northern Rivers (i.e. Lismore-Ballina-Byron Bay area) and the south east corner of Queensland, in particular: the Gold Coast. 

If NSW residents from as far south as Coffs Harbour are allowed to get “locals” pricing for Gold Coast theme parks, why the hell do NSW, VIC and ACT pensioners have to pay a additional $12.50 to go to either Robina/Surfers on a NSW Trainlink coach (when currently they can finish their GC journey (after getting off the coach in Tweed Heads at the end of the line of their CPE ticket) for as little as fifty cents on Queensland’s public transport network.)

That is something that needs to be urgently looked at.

The second line, is the potential to overhaul pensioner and seniors ticketing in QLD entirely.

A push toward a flat price daily fare product for seniors/pensioners in Queensland on the public transport network needs to be paramount (to replace the hole Queensland has fallen into, where pensioner/senior daily travel outside the Translink go card network is likely going to become cheaper (daily tickets costing just a dollar) than that within it, while picking up the slack from some senior discounts being axed, such as that on the Gold Coast.)

The goal should be to introduce the fixed fare pensioner daily product as part of a wider rollout of the “Translink Card” and contactless ticketing outside the SE corner. A fixed fare pensioner daily product also needs to include half price Airtrain ticketing, with the goal that once Airtrain is under state control, fares for Brisbane Airport services end up being the same as the rest of the suburban network.

The third line, is to do with ticketing on the NCL 125 corridor, where significantly improved services will open the door for increased usage (i.e. not just tourists, but potentially people living in places like Hervey Bay and Bundaberg commuting into SEQ for work and leisure) and reveal, that the current systems will no longer be viable.

A possible modification of the current pensioner voucher system can easily be designed.

Queensland should outright follow Victoria in expanding pensioner travel vouchers to senior card holders and potentially carers.

The longterm view of how many should be given out is as follows.

-QLD PCC holders living within SEQ, should be entitled to four return journey vouchers per annum, followed by a 50% discount off the adult fare once vouchers are exhausted.

-QLD PCC holders living outside SEQ and all QLD Seniors Card holders should be entitled to eight return journey vouchers per annum, followed by a 50% discount off the adult fare once vouchers are exhausted.

-Carer Business Discount Card holders should be entitled to eight return journey vouchers per annum, followed by a 50% discount off the adult fare once vouchers are exhausted.

-Companion Card Holders with a PCC regardless of whether they live in SEQ or outside SEQ would be entitled to apply for a brand new PCC+CC Railcard (borrowing off the Two Together Railcard used in the UK, minus the requirement for photo identification), with a entitlement of eight return journeys per annum for a PCC holder and a carer, followed by a 50% discount off the PCC holder’s fare once entitlements are exhausted.

This system would allow significant changes, including allowing pensioners with a Companion Card the ability to use 16 vouchers a year (8 for solo return travel, 8 for return travel with a carer), opposed to the current system, where vouchers are only used in one direction only.

In addition, costs would be streamlined in favour of future changes.

-Economy return voucher use, would cost $25 (inclusive of rail/bus connections in some locations).

 -Business return voucher use, would cost $50 (inclusive of rail/bus connections, and all food/drink when onboard once the NCL125 project is complete)

-Sleeper (inc. railbed) return voucher use, would cost $100 (inclusive of rail/bus connections and all food/drink onboard).

CLASS CHANGES.

Business Class in a future where there are 10-15 passenger services daily between Brisbane and Rockhampton will require new thinking and new options.

The first key concept will be the rollout of business/sleeper lounges (similar to airline lounges) throughout the NCL125 area, that allow business class and railbed/sleeper travellers to have access to pre-journey facilities on par with the best railway station premium lounges in the world, and then some.

The second key concept is to push for a move towards business class on the NCL125 corridor becoming all-inclusive travel (i.e. all drinks, meals included as part of the fare) to encourage more use of the higher end facilities by full fare paying customers.

After all, it is no longer enough, to just offer a Courier-Mail/Australian and a plastic cup of fruit juice as a “welcome” to business class travel, in a environment where there will be less of a focus on the tourist market: and more of a focus on the potential for intercity commuting.

Meanwhile, all classes on the NCL125 sets, will have access to onboard video and audio entertainment either within the seatback or tucked away in a handrail (akin to the old setup for the pre-Spirit of Queensland Brisbane-Cairns tilt services), world leading railway WiFi and the ability to access travel progress, even live arrival times of services connecting from Roma St on both the urban rail network, and other land transport providers (such as NSW Trainlink, Greyhound etc.) right from the back of the seat.

In addition, the possibility of reviving motorail services (potentially initially utilizing the doublestack network post-Inland Rail between Ebenezer and Melbourne, and encouraging the development of a doublestack freight route into outer Sydney, as well as a longhaul vision of motorail from Ebenezer to Townsville/Cairns as well as the potential for convertible motorail carriages to allow seamless travel between the NG network and standard gauge destinations) must not be discounted.

It is fitting that we close this, with a reiteration of QR’s finest hour as a unified freight and passenger operator: 1999, a year where the tyranny of gauge was beaten (by the Great South Pacific Express luxury train service between Cairns and Sydney (whose carriages changed from narrow to standard gauge bogies in Brisbane, and still the only service in this country’s post-1980’s (i.e. post-Indian Pacific launch, and The Ghan’s lengthy conversion to a single standard gauge service from Adelaide to Alice Springs in 1982) rail history to run on two separate rail gauges as a single service), a shortlived joint venture with what became Belmond), and the Australian rail speed crown was cemented in Queensland.

The commercials that sold QR’s approach to a brave new world of open access for freight and new horizons for passengers at the start of this century said it all.

“These people are creating something new in Australia”.

“A new kind of railway, one that is powered by 21 st century technology…”

“And 100% commitment…”

“One that will carry passengers and freight all around the nation.”

“You know these people. They call themselves QR”.

But we can use these lines of a increasingly distant past to reiterate the problems our railway in QLD is facing as we head into the second quarter of the 21st century, with the same challenges Sydney’s CityRail met in 2000 but failed to follow up on afterward, due to political pressure.

“These people are creating something new in Australia”, can be seen today as the building forces of Australia’s third underground rail revolution: the first being Sydney’s City Circle, conceived by Bradfield, the first limbs, at St James and Museum turning 100 in December 2026, the second limbs of Wynyard and Town Hall will turn 100 when the Olympic torch once again passes over the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 2032, and the most important piece of the City Circle puzzle: the piece that made it a full circle: Circular Quay station turns seventy in January 2026.

The second underground rail revolution in Australia happened in the wake of the Snowy Mountains Scheme tunnelling successes, and bookended in Sydney by the Eastern Suburbs Railway in 1979, and the Airport Line between Central and Wolli Creek in 2000… right in time for the 2000 Olympics, in Melbourne by the City Loop railway completed in 1985 and in the Snowy Mountains by the Skitube rack railway system, servicing Blue Cow and Perisher ski resorts, opened in 1988.

Although, two underground rail projects (the Joondalup-Mandurah railway connector in central Perth and the Epping-Chatswood line in Sydney) made their path in the 2000’s, the one thing preventing a revolution from happening was innovation.

The third underground rail revolution, was sparked in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne at the same time in the mid-2010’s: Cross River Rail in Brisbane, Sydney Metro’s first two stages (NW to Chatswood in 2019 (converting Epping-Chatswood to metro with new tunnel from Epping to the NW suburbs), and Chatswood to Sydenham in 2024, including a under harbour rail tunnel and adding the first new stations to Sydney’s CBD since 1979 in Gadigal (effectively now the main relief for Town Hall Station) and Barangaroo (Sydney's newest CBD business hub, sitting on the former eastern docklands of Darling Harbour) and the Melbourne Metro Tunnel (augmenting the City Loop with another two tracks through the CBD, this time north-south, and adding new destinations to the rail network (Anzac Station: a significant tram-rail interchange south of the Yarra, Parkville: adding a heavy rail connection to Royal Melbourne Hospital and the University of Melbourne and Arden: designed to be a urban renewal trigger) in late 2025, while Perth became the third Australian city to run a rail service to it’s airport (but the first to operate it as a public operation, unlike Sydney's Airport Link and Brisbane's Airtrain which were built under lengthy BOOT (build, own, operate and transfer) arrangements, which guaranteed significant fees to use the Sydney/Brisbane airport rail lines, while Perth's airport rail connection is completely fare integrated into the wider public transport network) via a significant underground extension which opened in 2022.

The innovation CRR, Metro Tunnel and Sydney Metro share is, simply that they’ll be the safest urban railways in Australia: all have platform screen doors, all are accessible (without the complicated upgrades Sydney’s City Circle had to make to it’s oldest stations) and all are iconic statements of their city.

But, unlike Sydney or Melbourne, Queensland has no plans to increase it’s rail network size in Brisbane or elsewhere (only spot enhancements: Kuraby-Beenleigh upgrades, a Sunshine Coast direct line that doesn’t even get to where it needs to go (we believe it should be running as far as Noosaville (terminating at a station at Noosa Civic), not as a political promise: but as a vision to improve public transport quality for those living north of Maroochydore, and most importantly: not truncated in the middle of the Kawana electorate, with no chance in hell of being extended north to Maroochydore, let alone Noosa) etc. while projects like Beaudesert rail (of which this piece has developed a better and more cost-effective solution) and Toowoomba passenger rail (which we have also developed a better solution, that doesn't just benefit Toowoomba, but the wider Western Corridor) become pipedreams that get cycled around so many times, the concept loses all meaning). 

The jobs working on CRR today, could well be off to work on Sydney Metro West fitout, building Sydney Metro extensions south from Bradfield and north from St Marys, early works for a New Cumberland Line in NSW or even the Suburban Rail Loop or a Melbourne Airport rail link in Victoria tomorrow. And, we are going to expect they’d build 2032 venues, especially if they get a better offer on a rail project in NSW/VIC? Where to for these workers afterward?

“A new kind of railway, one that is powered by 21 st century technology…” should rightfully be seen as the opportunity to learn from Sydney Metro and a lesser extent Victoria's campaign to eliminate level crossings in the metropolitan area: if you really want decent service on your suburban lines you need to make platform accessibility and safety top priority. This means following up on DDA backlogs, investigate feasibility of installing a mixture of platform gates and screen doors across the suburban network, and as part of any future long distance passenger upgrades like NCL125, that eliminate the risk of delays from passengers and items ending up on the track coming from a station platform, as well as making grade separation of railway tracks a fact of life, not a expensive drag, which has seen Brisbane in fifteen years produce just three significant grade separations of level crossings (all on the NCL: Telegraph Road Bracken Ridge, Robinson Road Geebung and most recently Beams Road Carseldine)... while Victoria has removed 87 level crossings in just ten years.

The first example of such a project, should rightfully be a wholesale upgrade of the Cleveland Line between Buranda and Cleveland, incorporating the following disparate projects:

-removal of level crossings at Cavendish Road, Stanley St East (Coorparoo), Barrack Road (Cannon Hill), Queensport Road (Murrarie), Kianawah Road/North Road/Lindum Road (Lindum), Wynnum North Road, Wynnum Road (Wynnum North) and Ronald St (Wynnum Central), and low underpasses at Burke St (Wynnum), Pine St and Berrima St (Wynnum Central).

-Raising of the Cleveland Line through Wynnum (between Lindum and Manly stations) to allow for more cross-suburb links (currently funneled through low underpasses and level crossings), and a better business case for station upgrades.

-Duplication and DDA improvements for the Cleveland Line between Manly and Cleveland.

-All stations on the Cleveland line between Buranda and Cleveland upgraded to include platform edge gates on every platform.

The four level crossing removals between Coorparoo and Lindum can easily be funded by state, local, federal and possibly ARTC (due to the vital link between Acacia Ridge and the Port of Brisbane) sources. while the Lindum-Manly corridor raising and  Manly-Cleveland corridor duplication and modernization can be seen as a state/federal/local project done in the same fashion as Moreton Bay Rail.

“And 100% commitment…” should be rightly seen as a funding call, where the state calls the shots, but the private sector delivers the lions share of funding, while the railway itself can become a major player in real estate development around stations: especially on the NCL125 corridor and in Brisbane’s suburbs.

“One that will carry passengers and freight all around the nation…” should be seen as a callout to take advantage of projects like Inland Rail, and create new projects (Ebenezer-Gympie freight corridor) that opens up other doors. Freight no longer going through the Brisbane CBD, opens up the door for passenger corridor modernization between Gympie and Beerwah, while Queensland Rail needs to be front footed concerning the passenger possibilities of Inland Rail, where the potential of a similar service to the Spirit of QLD (with upgraded track, etc.) could potentially link Brisbane and Melbourne, not just full time: but being affordable for the passengers that will most likely use it at the same time.

“You know these people. They call themselves QR”.

The Japanese did it best: when their national railways were privatized and split in 1987, their brand was tweaked from JNR to just JR. JR in just 40 years has become just as iconic as a passenger transport brand in that country as JAL (Japan Airlines): that is, if you want good quality city centre to city centre travel in any part of the main islands of Japan (regardless of whether it is on the Shinkansen network or not), it will most likely have the JR brand attached.

This can also be said for British Rail post-Beeching. Sixty years ago this year, the iconic double arrow symbol that first represented British Rail, was introduced. The double arrow has become a piece of Britain’s design prowess, and a logo so iconic that it eventually became the symbol to identify the railway itself in England (adopted by National Rail (a collective of the various operators as a whole), post-BR privatization, and is set to be the logo for the upcoming renationalization as Great British Railways)

Where you see a double arrow in Britain, you know straight away that it’s a railway, and how vital it is to the nation… where the government retained the trademark even after privatization.

A QR split along similar lines, including most critically the track network remaining in public hands for perpetuity, needs to have the same thoughts as Japan and Britain. We need to improve corporate design for the railway and it’s infrastructure that has not changed in Queensland in twenty years.

In fact, we have most likely missed the boat concerning the opportunity of Cross River Rail to redesign corporate identity, especially as there is already signage at Roma St for Platforms 11/12 (the new CRR platforms) in the existing look dating from 2004-2005.

Just look at Sydney: where they abandoned the idea of pictograph trains a decade ago in favour of a letter T in a orange circle: where stations are now known for their “lollipops” outside, not aging fading signage, as part of a wider reimagining of how the public transport network is promoted and looks in general,

And, it’s succeeded in it’s job as it makes the various modes in the Opal zone stand out, especially with the tram resurrection in Sydney’s heart and inner southeast, Newcastle (between Wickham and the beach) and most recently Parramatta between Carlingford and Westmead, with a ultimate goal of reaching Sydney Olympic Park) and most critically, the addition of Sydney Metro to the transport grid, although the bus network has had sporadic improvements (compared to QLD moving to J poles with location/zone on them as the default stop design in the mid 2010’s), while the Liverpool/Parramatta and North West T-Ways need a significant refurbishment job to bring them online to current standards (i.e. possible rebrand as B-Line North West, and B-Line Cumberland, in preparation for future roles being interim bus facilities connecting NW Sydney and Parramatta respectively to Western Sydney Airport)

Brisbane’s and Queensland’s public transport network corporate design needs three things.

-A proprietary typeface that it can call it’s own: e.g. London Transport has used and evolved it’s Johnson typeface over the last 110 years, Transport For NSW uses New Frank for signage almost everywhere on the network. Translink’s existing signage uses Helvetica: a common font used by dozens of transit systems globally, including the New York subway.

The last three summer Olympics hosts have their own typefaces for their public transport networks:

Paris Metro, trams, buses and RER (2024): Parisine,

Tokyo Metro/Toei Subway (2020): Shin Go for combined EN/JP language signage (alongside many other JP rail operators)

Rio de Janeiro Metro (2016): Wayfinding Sans.

Even Los Angeles: a city that has spent forty years rebuilding a public transport network it sacrificed to the car in the sixties… and is hosting the Olympics in four years… has it’s own typeface specific for public transport: FF Scala Sans.

Queensland needs to pay to develop a public transport typeface for itself, to save us Helvetica-related embarrassment in 2032.

-A push toward modal colour coding in Queensland, following the lines of Sydney (where blue represents the bus network (outside the yellow B-Line on the Northern Beaches), orange represents the legacy rail network, red represents the light rail network, green represents the ferry network and teal represents the Sydney Metro).

The potential colour scheme should rightly be:

-Red: Busway and bus rapid transit (reverting back the busway network to it’s pre-TL/fare integration colours, with “bus rapid transit” services losing all operator-specific liveries and branding)

-Ocean green: the rest of the bus network, replacing all operator-specific liveries on vehicles.

-Yellow: light rail.

-Teal: reserved for rail rapid transit (e.g. a standard gauge metro-style rail system).

-Orange: Legacy rail network.

-Blue: reserved for improved long distance rail operations and connecting coaches.

And, finally: a push toward numbering lines and stations on legacy rail, bus rapid transit and light rail, with line and station numbering being mandatory concerning the development of improved long distance rail and rail rapid transit operations.

e.g. The Brisbane “Metro” and CityGliders are rebranded as B1-B10, the proposed Sectors of post CRR rail operation are rebranded as follows: Sector 1 (via CRR): T1: Gympie to Varsity Lakes (with limited T1 services beyond Caboolture terminating at Roma St), T2: Kippa Ring to Beenleigh.

Sector 2: T3: Springfield to Shorncliffe, T4: Ipswich to Brisbane Domestic, T5: Corinda to Doomben.

Sector 3: T6: Ferny Grove to Cleveland/Cannon Hill.

Roma St Station is numbered 01 for all existing rail lines and the busway network (reflecting it's historic role as the heartbeat of Queensland's rail network) and CRR, with numbers radiating out throughout the network.

But it also gives us one last significant project as a result.

SECTOR 3 SEPARATION.
Separation of Merivale Bridge services in Brisbane's CBD (to potentially allow a rapid transit conversion once the conditions are met on the Ferny Grove and Cleveland Lines: total elimination of level crossings and significant low bridges and full DDA at every station on that corridor) is a major requirement for the future: something we need to start planning for now, and will outright need to deliver as early as the mid-2030's.

The first part was done in the 1990's with the expansion of the Roma St-Central tunnels to cope with extra traffic through the then new Platforms 5/6 at Central.

The second part, will need to be to plan for two more tracks between Central and Bowen Hills, that allow for full separation of the Ferny Grove-Cleveland corridor in the Brisbane northern inner suburbs.

This may mean a fourth bore for Fortitude Valley-Central, with ground level platforms connected via a separate concourse at Fortitude Valley, a reworked Bowen Hills tunnel, leading into new platforms at Bowen Hills and shifting the Ferny Grove Line flyover to connect into the new platforms, rather than the current Platforms 2/3.

It may also mean rebuilding Fortitude Valley station completely to fit a island platform underneath, directly connected to all four platform faces on the surface, while the tracks on the new platform are directly connected to a fourth bore between Central and Fortitude Valley and surface to access new platforms at Bowen Hills.

Whatever option is chosen, it will be a revolution: as it would pave the way for a fourth rapid transit line (likely to be a manned operation due to the requirements concerning the Merivale Bridge to preserve slots for standard gauge passenger operation, although a dual gauge Tennyson/Corinda-Roma St corridor could ultimately provide a alternative), albeit one running through our existing rail network's heart.

Well, that's it: a look into the future, of what can be done with the right political will, and a lot of luck. This piece, incidentally went live... on 4/12/2025: the first "Gunzel Day", a celebration of the railfan in all of us: the people who turned the opening of Sydney Metro's CBD extension into a party at Sydenham station at 4am in the morning in August no less, the people who staked their claim to be first through the Metro Tunnel in Melbourne, just last week, and the people of Queensland that are itching for a opening date for Cross River Rail... another TMR-driven project that has taken two decades to develop... (much like the Cooroy-Curra segment of the Bruce Hwy another proud "TMR project") when others (including Queensland Rail themselves) could have done it far faster, by making it a operation independent of government influence, and finding ways to make the stations in the CBD pay for themselves, to potentially slide significant costs off the project as a whole.

And, they are itching to stand in lines, wait at stations and the like to experience their investment... that has taken longer to bring to reality than the technology boom of the early twenty-first century, and most importantly, put pressure on government for significantly more investment in how they get places... especially without a car.

One Queensland will be back on the rails... in 2026 for a far different adventure... however, stay tuned in the next few weeks for two more pieces coming that will either make good summer reading... or sobering summer reading.