Casino to Murwillumbah Transport Study
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Casino to Murwillumbah Transport Study Version 2.1 This page has been intentionally left blank. CONTENTS PREFACE 1 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 1.1 The Casino to Murwillumbah Transport Study 3 1.2 Study approach 4 1.3 The challenge: barriers to mobility and accessibility 5 1.4 Opportunities for future use of the rail line 6 1.5 Reviewing the reasons for suspending rail services 8 1.6 Public transport’s role in tourism 9 1.7 Key findings 10 1.8 Recommendations 15 2 INTRODUCTION 18 2.1 The purpose of this document 18 2.2 The study area 18 2.3 The Casino to Murwillumbah Rail Line 20 2.4 Previous studies and investigations 20 2.5 Terms of Reference 22 2.6 Methodology 23 3 CUSTOMERS AND STAKEHOLDERS 24 3.1 The importance of customers 24 3.2 Stakeholder engagement 25 4 RESPONDING TO THE NSW FRAMEWORK OF PLANNING AND INVESTMENT FRAMEWORK 27 4.1 NSW Planning Framework 27 4.2 The Northern Rivers Regional Action Plan 27 4.3 Long Term Transport Master Plan 28 4.4 Northern Rivers Regional Transport Plan 29 4.5 Regional land use planning 29 5 THE EXISTING TRANSPORT NETWORK 30 5.1 Road network 30 5.2 Bus network 32 5.3 Community transport 39 5.4 Taxis 40 5.5 Air travel 40 5.6 Key findings 41 6 CURRENT AND FUTURE TRANSPORT NEEDS 42 6.1 Current travel in the region 42 6.2 Future needs 51 6.3 Key findings 60 7 THE ROLE OF THE RAIL LINE 62 7.1 Background 62 7.2 The condition of the rail line 63 7.3 Technical analysis of options 67 7.4 Other options 79 7.5 Reviewing the reasons for suspending rail services 81 7.6 Key findings 83 8 CONCLUSIONS 85 8.1 Needs based approach 85 8.2 Condition based approach 86 9 RECOMMENDATIONS 87 9.1 Rail 87 9.2 Bus 87 10 BIBLIOGRAPHY 90 APPENDIX A TERMS OF REFERENCE 93 APPENDIX B SAMPLE COUNTRYLINK SERVICES 99 APPENDIX C DEMAND MODEL ASSUMPTIONS 101 APPENDIX D RAIL MODE OPTION ASSESSMENT 107 APPENDIX E DEMAND MODELLING 109 APPENDIX F ASSESSMENT AGAINST MASTER PLAN OBJECTIVES 115 APPENDIX G ASSESSMENT OF ROUTE OPTIONS 121 APPENDIX H COST ESTIMATE ASSUMPTIONS 123 APPENDIX I ESTIMATED REPAIR COSTS 125 APPENDIX J RAIL TRAIL CASE STUDIES 127 APPENDIX K PRELIMINARY COST ESTIMATES 129 PREFACE This Transport Study investigates the feasibility, benefits and costs of reinstating passenger services on the Casino to Murwillumbah Rail Line in the context of the current and future transport needs of people living and working in the Casino to Murwillumbah study corridor and the potential connections to the South East Queensland public transport network. This study has been conducted in accordance with the Terms of Reference developed by Transport for NSW in March 2012, following community feedback to the NSW Long Term Transport Master Plan. It will be used by the NSW Government to determine the future of the rail line and to inform the Northern Rivers Regional Transport Plan. Casino to Murwillumbah Transport Study Version 2.1 NOT YET GOVERNMENT POLICY 1 This page has been intentionally left blank. Casino to Murwillumbah Transport Study Version 2.1 2 NOT YET GOVERNMENT POLICY 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 The Casino to Murwillumbah Transport Study The Casino to Murwillumbah Transport Study (hereafter, Transport Study) investigates the feasibility, benefits and costs of reinstating passenger services on the Casino to Murwillumbah Rail Line in the context of the current and future transport needs of people living and working in the Casino to Murwillumbah study corridor and the potential connections to the South East Queensland public transport network. This study will inform the Regional Transport Plan for Northern Rivers, which is currently being developed, and refers to other detailed transport planning documents as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 The relationship of this study to other transport planning documents Casino to Murwillumbah Transport Study Version 2.1 NOT YET GOVERNMENT POLICY 3 Figure 2 Casino to Murwillumbah study area including the location of the rail line 1.2 Study approach This report is a summary of a number of investigations conducted by the Transport Study team during 2012 to enable the study terms of reference to be met. These investigations include: • Existing Rail Line Asset Condition Survey undertaken by consultants, Arup (Arup: Stage 1, 2012). • Current needs analysis including review of previous reports and existing studies and recently commissioned household travel surveys for the major towns. Casino to Murwillumbah Transport Study Version 2.1 4 NOT YET GOVERNMENT POLICY • Development of a high level strategic network model, to quantify potential travel demand between 2011 and 2031 associated with options considered for the Casino to Murwillumbah rail corridor. The purpose was to determine future patronage growth at a pre-feasibility study level. • Identification of public transport options to meet current and future travel demand. This included reinstating the existing rail corridor for a number of operating scenarios, use of the corridor for other modes (bus and light rail) and improvements to the existing bus network • Engineering feasibility assessment of heavy rail corridors to South East Queensland (Gold Coast Airport), connecting to the existing rail corridor at Byron Bay, Chinderah and Murwillumbah was undertaken (Arup: Stage 4, 2012), to inform the consideration of long term options. The Transport Study has adopted a ‘needs first’ approach, meaning that the current and future transport needs of the study area were assessed without influence of the findings of the assessment of the condition of the existing rail line. 1.3 The challenge: barriers to mobility and accessibility The Northern Rivers is a relatively sparsely populated region of around 287,000 residents. It borders South East Queensland, a region with similar area but with over 10 times the population (ABS, 2011). The population of the Northern Rivers is estimated to grow to around 367,000 in 2031 with an increase in housing units from 129,000 to 161,000 (Department of Premier and Cabinet, 2012). The majority of growth will be experienced in the coastal corridor in the area between Ballina and Byron, and in particular along the Tweed coast and in Tweed Heads. There are a number of challenges to efficient accessibility and mobility within the region including the study area: • Dispersed population. The region consists of several large towns separated by considerable distance with most social services existing in designated regional centres of Lismore and Tweed. Tweed Heads is also strongly linked to the Gold Coast for employment opportunities and economic growth • Widely dispersed social services, stemming mostly from the concentration of social services in towns, which is typical for regional areas. • A transport system reliant on private vehicle use, a consequence of low density population and large distances between regional centres. • An increasing dependent population. The Northern Rivers has proportionally the highest number of people not in employment in NSW. The unemployment rate is also higher than the State average. While requiring greater access to social services, those over 65 and under 18 are also less likely to have reliable private vehicle transport. This presents particular difficulties for young people in accessing education, training and employment, and participating in sport, recreation and cultural activities. • Worsening levels of transport disadvantage, where both the dependent population and unemployed people do not have regular access to cars, and public transport cannot provide a real alternative. • Existing public transport is limited. The Northern Rivers bus network consists of a number of private bus companies operating town to town services as well as within towns. Bus services are largely planned around school services, limiting public transport options to key social services such as hospitals and education facilities. There is also little timetable and service integration, and coupled with relatively high fares this provides further disincentive to potential customers to use public transport. Casino to Murwillumbah Transport Study Version 2.1 NOT YET GOVERNMENT POLICY 5 The principal public transport challenge facing the Northern Rivers can therefore be summarised as a need to provide reliable access to social services for an increasing dependent population, across a widely dispersed area, particularly for those who do not have access to private vehicles. 1.4 Opportunities for future use of the rail line The Transport Study team considered a range of potential opportunities offered by the rail line. These are summarised in Table 1, along with the outcome from each assessment. Table 1 Options considered in relation to existing and future study corridor transport needs Issue Long list of options Outcome Mode • Bus Rapid Transit, utilising the rail • Bus Rapid Transit, Guided Bus and Mode options that could corridor with road replacing the rail line. Light Rail Transit eliminated during utilise the existing rail • Guided bus, where modified buses can preliminary assessment. Bus options corridor and/or assets. travel on both road and specially built discarded because costs associated track. with converting corridor. Light rail does not provide any additional • Light Rail Transit, utilising the existing benefits to railcar shuttle. corridor and some of the infrastructure. • Service and staging options tested • Railcar shuttle, diesel powered light on heavy rail (XPT) and railcar vehicles operating independently of the shuttle only. main North Coast line. • Heavy rail, heavy rail cars similar to XPT. Service and staging • Base case: existing public transport Year 20111 Alternative service services (ie current bus services). • Options 1A and 1B result in a frequencies and • Option 1A: Once-a-day XPT service, reduction in public transport mode termination points. Casino to Murwillumbah. share. Passenger services • Option 1B: Once-a-day XPT service, • Options 2A and 2B generate more only.