Rail delivery promises littered with broken assurances
By Sonia Isaacs
Sunshine Coast transport advocacy group spokesperson, Jeff Addison said while he welcomed the state commitment of $2.75 bn towards the Direct Sunshine Coast Rail Line, he remained sceptical of delivery outcomes.
Mr Addison said, given that two major rail projects to the Sunshine Coast, (CAMCOS and Beerburrum to Landsborough, now rebadged as Direct Sunshine Coast Rail Line and B2N respectively) had both been previously announced twice since 2005, he was not prepared to ‘count the carriages just yet.’
“This state government has a severe credibility problem over a long stretch of time, which is not ameliorated by yet another part-funded rail project,” he stated.
“It’s hard to believe the big news will ever come to fruition, and embarrassingly, won’t reach Maroochydore for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” he said.
Mr Addison said the fate of the DSCL project ultimately lay in the hands of the federal government.
“I welcome the state government commitment; however, their record on delivery of rail promises to us is littered with broken assurances. The Beerburrum to Landsborough rail project has not yet laid one rail sleeper since it was announced almost six years ago, on 9 June 2018.
“ In light of the long history, and big bold announcements unfulfilled, you can understand why I’m wary,” he added.
Acting Mayor Rick Baberowski said Council and the community would now be looking for a clear matching commitment from the Commonwealth to the funding announced by the Miles Government for Stage 1 of Direct Sunshine Coast Rail.
“We also want to see agreed timeframes, designs, plans and a starting date for Stage 1 and for the State Government to continue to explore methods of procurement that maximise the speed of delivery to ensure completion of Stage 1 by 2032.
“What also remains critical is that all levels of Government keep focussed on ultimately delivering public transport connectivity from Caloundra through to Maroochydore – our region’s capital and major commercial centre – so that the bulk of our community can easily access a reliable and efficient public transport system to get them to where they need to go.” Cr. Baberowski said.
Member for Caloundra, Jason Hunt confirmed Stage 1 would deliver a dual track from Beerwah to Caloundra, with a station at Aura.
“We’ve just completed the business case and submitted it to infrastructure Australia,” he said.
Federal Transport, Minister, Catherine King confirmed $1.6 billion for Sunshine Coast Rail following the Infrastructure Investment Program review had been retained, and the
Business case for the project was now being considered by Infrastructure Australia.
