VLC with subconsultants Hannover Consulting were appointed by the Department of Transport and Main  Roads to assess the impact to regional passenger services operating in the South East Queensland network as a result of structural changes and increased frequency of suburban passenger services. The study included evaluation of the Spirit of Queensland, Spirit of the Outback, Westlander, Rockhampton and Bundaberg Tilt Trains and the Sydney to Brisbane XPT.

 

Client requirements

TMR is preparing for major rail network changes across South East Queensland enabled by the opening of Cross River Rail. Impacts to regional passenger services have been identified and TMR required a further detailed assessment of the scale and nature of these impacts and the identification of low-cost and low–impact solutions to ameliorate these impacts.

 

Delivered outcome

Our team developed a dedicated RailSys model to identify and rank ‘at-risk’ regional passenger services which would then require further evaluation of options to mitigate impacts. Primarily, solutions were focussed on timetable shifts which required consideration of platform capacity, suitable pathing through the network, repositioning of trains, customer impacts and consideration of longer-term solutions. Engagement across the Department of Transport and Main Roads and Queensland Rail was undertaken to inform the evaluation of options.