Department of Transport and Main Roads

The Underground Bus and Train project A new way to travel

Great state. Great opportunity. The Underground Bus and Train project The Underground Bus and Train alignment

A new way to travel Kelvin Grove

A five-kilometre, double-decked tunnel Bottlenecks across the river are also affecting bus Bowen Hills for buses and trains beneath the services. Heavy congestion plagues the main bus routes across Victoria Bridge and Captain Cook Bridge and inner River and Brisbane’s Central Business parts of the popular South East Busway, impacting on Fortitude Valley District (CBD) will be constructed by the trip times and reliability. Inner-city bus stations and stops Government to meet growing are overcrowded during peak hour and buses are battling public transport demand in South East traffic through the CBD. Queensland. The Queensland Government Unlocking the public transport network is working with the Brisbane City Council Spring Hill to deliver the project. The Underground Bus and Train project will unlock Roma Street congestion on South East Queensland’s public transport Milton Station network and pave the way for future growth. With the In a world first, the Underground Bus and Train project will Underground Bus and Train project, public transport will combine a railway and busway in a single, 15-metre-wide become the best way to commute to the CBD. Almost 15 tunnel stretching from Dutton Park, south of the river, to minutes will be slashed from train trips from southern Victoria Park at Herston in the north. New underground suburbs while hundreds of peak-hour, CBD-bound bus stations will be located at Woolloongabba, George Street and train trips from across the region will improve by four Brisbane City and Roma Street. to 12 minutes on opening. New Farm

The Underground Bus and Train project will lay the Key benefits: foundation for a sophisticated, international-standard, George Street ‘turn up and go’ transit system at the heart of the public || Faster, more frequent, direct and reliable bus and Station transport network. train trips to the CBD from across the region.

The Underground Bus and Train project will more than || Better train services south of the river including extra double the number of buses and trains able to cross the Gold Coast express services, new Beenleigh express services and new peak-hour Cleveland services. river during morning peak hour. Buses entering the CBD from the north will be able to triple. Trips across region || Quicker CBD bus journeys across the region, with will be faster, more frequent, direct and reliable as a four-minute savings expected for trips originating as result, with better public transport access for thousands far out as Bracken Ridge, Brighton, Mount Ommaney, of commuters. Capalaba, the Logan Hyperdome, Runcorn Heights and Browns Plains. Fast-tracking the project will see early works begin in 2015 and construction completed in 2020. || An easier-to-understand bus network with less route numbers, more express services, clearer stopping West End patterns and more frequent services to common Transport for a growing region destinations. East Brisbane South East Queensland is the fastest growing region in || Opportunities to create new bus services travelling one of ’s fastest-growing states. More people from one side of the city to the other, for example, by using public transport is placing pressure on the network. combining the 111 (Eight Mile Plains to Roma Street) Inner-city sections will soon reach critical capacity levels and the 333 (Cultural Centre to Chermside) into a causing ripple effects across the entire network. single service. Woolloongabba Station Merivale Bridge is the only inner city rail bridge across the || The capacity to expand the regional rail network and and it is fast reaching capacity. Proposed link new regional centres such as Flagstone to the timetable changes to be introduced in 2014 will squeeze CBD by train. more capacity out of the bridge but this will be exhausted || A more resilient rail network that is less vulnerable by 2020. Without the Underground Bus and Train project, Woolloongabba to disruptions and incidents on the Merivale Bridge. improving train services south of the river will become Legend impossible. Overcrowding on the Beenleigh and Gold || Three, new underground stations to make Underground Bus and Train concept design Coast lines will become unbearable and there won’t be interchanging between rail and bus services as easy N Dutton Park any room for more Cleveland services. as moving between platforms. Underground Bus and Train station Existing Railway

|| Excellent public transport access to the education Existing Busway and government precincts at the southern tip of the Indicative Only CBD and new livng and business precincts at Woolloongabba. St Lucia

Fairfield The Underground Bus and Train alignment

Kelvin Grove

Bowen Hills

Fortitude Valley

Spring Hill

Roma Street Milton Station

Brisbane City New Farm

George Street Station

West End East Brisbane

Woolloongabba Station

Woolloongabba Legend

Underground Bus and Train concept design N Dutton Park Underground Bus and Train station

Existing Railway Existing Busway Indicative Only

St Lucia

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Fairfield The Underground Bus and Train project A city-changing project

Moving buses underground through Brisbane’s city centre will free up space for motorists crossing the river and give CBD streets back to pedestrians. Almost 200 buses will shift off CBD streets during morning peak hours alone.

Underground stations at Woolloongabba, George Street and Roma Street will spark inner-city redevelopment and take public transport into new parts of the CBD.

The new George Street Station will become the cornerstone of the redeveloped government precinct at the southern end of George and William streets, close to the Queensland University of Technology’s Gardens Point campus. Average 15-minute walks from the university to the closest rail or busway station will drop to just two minutes. Conceptual image showing Woolloongabba Station’s Stations will integrate platforms for bus and rail within possible design and layout. a functional, attractive layout, supported by real-time passenger information and off-board ticketing. Getting to key destinations such as universities, hospitals, sports stadiums, event areas, parklands and workplaces from across the region will be quicker and easier.

Building the tunnel

The Underground Bus and Train project is an affordable, innovative solution. It offers the combined benefits of and Brisbane City Council’s Suburbs 2 City project, which were separate cross-river projects to expand the rail and bus networks, at a much more affordable price. Environmental investigations for the tunnel will soon be The Underground Bus and Train project will be carved underway with a full Environmental Impact Statement from the earth by the largest hard-rock, tunnel-boring (EIS) expected to be released for public consultation machine ever used in Australia, enabling two bus lanes to in 2014. The EIS will incorporate a reference design be comfortably stacked over two railway lines. outlining the exact tunnel alignment, station locations, construction sites and other project details. Construction The Underground Bus and Train project’s current design work is scheduled to begin in 2015. makes use of government land so it has no private property impacts at surface level. Dutton Park railway The Queensland Government is working with the Brisbane station, however, will need to be closed in order to keep City Council to deliver the project. the tunnel within the existing rail corridor rather than on private property. Although it is one of the least patronised For further information on the project: stations on the network, the project will accommodate displaced commuters using the station—most of whom Web: www.tmr.qld.gov.au/ubat are travelling to the hospital—by constructing a direct Email: [email protected] pedestrian link from the Princess Alexandra Hospital to Phone: 1800 010 875 (Monday to Friday during business hours.) the Park Road railway station. Social: www.facebook.com/UBATbrisbane or twitter @UBATbrisbane Current as at 23 December 2013

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