Rail services and infrastructure
Quick links:
- A Community Service Obligation Framework
- Public Benefit Test of Queensland's Rail Safety Legislation
- South East Queensland Infrastructure Program
- Draft Brisbane–Cairns Corridor Strategy
- Integrated Regional Transport Plans—Current rail studies
- Rail corridor direction statements.
Queensland Transport develops rail policy advice and is the agency that oversees the provision of rail services and infrastructure.
Queensland Transport also hold the perpetual lease over all rail corridor land in Queensland (about 9550 km) and is the custodian and protector of these corridors.
We sub-lease the corridor to rail operators such as QR, Airtrain and heritage railways. Under the sub-lease arrangements, the operator has a 'duty of care' for the land. We also approve third-party use of the corridors for things such as telecommunications, advertising, and other commercial and community uses, as well as associated tenure arrangements.
We also approve new crossings of the corridor. As owner of the corridor for the purposes of the Integrated Planning Act 1997, we can give owner's consent for any development applications that affect the corridor.
We are a constructing authority for the purposes of the Acquisition of Land Act 1967 and acquire new rail corridors for QR and other rail operators—provided all environmental issues have been addressed. We also preserve disused railway corridors in case they are required for future transport use. In the interim, they can be made available for recreational and other community uses such as walking or riding trails.
The Community Service Obligation (CSO) framework
The Queensland Treasury has developed a policy called Community Service Obligations: A Policy Framework, for the provision of CSOs by the Queensland Government.
The Community Service Obligation Framework for Public Transport in South East Queensland (PDF**, 162KB) has been developed to fulfil the requirements of the policy framework when providing public transport in south-east Queensland. This framework is designed to identify those areas where government support of public transport services is appropriate—as well as determining the most effective means of providing this support. To ensure that the rail safety provisions of the Transport Infrastructure Act 1994 are in the public interest, we have reviewed the relevant provisions by undertaking a short form public benefit test (PDF**, 369KB) prescribed as part of the government's response to national competition policy.The review found that Queensland's rail safety framework is cost efficient and the legislation on which it is based sustains rail safety.
South East Queensland Infrastructure Program
The Premier announced the South East Queensland Infrastructure Program 2005–2026 (SEQIP) on 27 April 2005 which identifies a total investment of A$32.3 billion in infrastructure projects.
For the rail network, projects identified in the SEQIP include: additional rolling stock and tracks, new rail corridors and corridor extensions, improvements to existing track infrastructure to meet an increase in use.
Find out about these projects and more on our SEQIP Rail Projects page.
Draft Brisbane to Cairns corridor strategy
The federal government Minister for Transport and Regional Services, Warren Truss, and Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Paul Lucas, released a draft joint study of transport options and issues for the Brisbane to Cairns corridor for public comment on 15 June 2006.
This study is the first of 24 corridor strategies being developed for the AusLink National Transport Network—the national transport plan for the principal road and rail system linking capital cities and major population centres. All the strategies will be completed by mid 2007. The document is available at Auslink's Draft Corridor Strategies page*.
Integrated Regional Transport Plans—current rail studies
Studies are currently being undertaken for the Eastern Downs and Border regions—they are almost completed. Findings are incorporated into the Integrated Regional Transport Plans for these areas. A technical feasibility study into the capability of the existing interstate standard-gauge rail corridor to accommodate more rail infrastructure, for future passenger or freight requirements, will also be undertaken and completed in 2005. Find out about these projects and more on our Projects and Initiative page.
During 2005, Queensland Transport also commenced the following rail studies:
- North Coast Corridor Study
- Brisbane Metropolitan Capacity Study.
Rail corridor direction statements
Rail corridor direction statements provide a vision for the management and ongoing development of the rail network, and help the Queensland Government's achieve its objectives, including those relating to regional development.
**While this department has taken every possible precaution with the creation of these files, they are downloaded and used at your own risk. Adobe Reader is required to open and print Portable Document Format (PDF) files and is free to download from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Various tools to enable access to these files for people using a screen reader can be found at http://access.adobe.com. Further information is available from our "Help with downloading, reading and printing PDF" web page.
*The content found by using this link is not created, controlled or approved by this department. No responsibility is taken for the consequences of viewing content on this site. This link will load into a new window.
Last updated 31 October 2007
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