Merivale Bridge
Brisbane had had what might have been seen as two separate suburban rail networks, though there was a join through a freight line at Tennyson.
But the South Side system, isolated as it was, still was an important part of the operation. And the South Brisbane terminus was also the terminus of trains from NSW.
At its peak, lines reach Cleveland, Fisherman Islands, Southport, Tweed Heads, Casino in NSW, Wooloongabba, Canungra, Beaudesert, the main system at Corinda and Belmont via a Shire Tramway.
By the time of Joh the system had retreated back to Beenleigh, Lota, the NSW connection and the freight-only lines.
For the system to have any future, it would need connecting at the city end into Roma St and Central.
Announced separately from electrification and not dependent on it, a massive double track arch bridge would be built along the alignment of Merivale St in South Brisbane, and then curving round towards Roma St Station so that trains could join the Ipswich line trains into Central and north.
It made an instant difference from Day 1, though as the electrification scheme rolled out the benefits would grow. As noted above, the electrification did not come until 1982.
It was not originally planned to have the Sydney trains cross the bridge, but with the rebuilding of parts of Roma St Station prior to Expo 88 (see below) a standard gauge rail was added to both tracks across the bridge, and South Brisbane station had its standard gauge platform and yard removed.
This project not only gave the South Side a future in QR, but also readjusted the scales away from BCC who dominated that area. They would get the chance to tip them again after Joh.
And in more recent years, with such growth on the system south of the River, and lines extended back to Cleveland and the southern Gold Coast, extra capacity is needed beyond the Merivale Bridge. This will be covered in another post.
Cleveland Reopening
Some more specific projects benefited from this period, though in this particular case, it was less to Joh’s credit and more to the credit of the local shire, Redlands, who never gave up on the line they once had to Lota, and retained the corridor.
Special legislation was required for the Council to contribute to the cost of reopening.
The line reopened in 3 phases:
- Lota to Thorneside, which was not electrified when opened in 1982. Electrification took another year, and the interesting consequence of that was the construction of a triangle at Thorneside for the inevitable diesel loco reversals. (An option not used was just to keep the line to the 2000 Class Rail Motors still in use, which did not need the triangle.)
- 1986, the line was extended with two stations at Birkdale and Wellington Point.
- 1987, the line was completed through two more stations, Ormiston and Cleveland (the former Raby Bay station). The line to the original Cleveland was not rebuilt and is unlikely to ever be.
One might have hoped that this enthusiasm for local government involvement might have spurred others, for example, the long past due Redcliffe line in the shire of that name, or on the Sunshine Coast, or in Townsville or Cairns, but it was not to be.
Nonetheless, Cleveland opened a chapter in not just fixing up the Brisbane as it was, but extending it, so that in the period since it now extends to Varsity Lakes, Kippa-Ring, Springfield, and with future works planned to Ripley, Flagstone, Maroochydore, Coolangatta and other places.
Roma St and Central
While Joh was busy destroying the Brisbane of the verandahs and iron lace, ugly modernist buildings started appearing at all major state government sites.
Roma St ended up with a multistorey Brisbane Transit Centre, comprising bus terminal, food court ad some ground level shops leading into the existing rail platforms.
More helpfully, Platforms 1 and 2 were rebuilt into a standard gauge terminal for the Brisbane Ltd from Sydney. Later they would only be used by XPTs.
The long process would start of removing the rail yards at Roma St for replacement with parkland, but after Joh’s time.
These buildings have not endured, the 1980s Roma St is being demolished and rebuilt for the new underground.
Central would also be rebuilt into a modern enclosed semi-underground station, accessed not from its street entrance but from overhead walkways that spanned the city.
The effect was that between Roma St and Bowen Hills, most of the line was now either actually underground or overbuilt by buildings.
Other Major Station Upgrades and New Stations
Brisbane underwent a raft of upgrades and new stations, some that are worth calling out were:
- A new, ugly and very utilitarian station was built for Bowen Hills, replacing Mayne.
- A new Doomben station was built at a different location from the former one and in place of having a major station at Airport/Eagle Farm.
- Toowong, built as four platforms and electrified from the start for all four platforms, even as the main line to Corinda was not always electrified. A shopping centre development was placed over the top of the station and some attempt was made to integrate rail and bus into the retail precinct. Very modern in the 1980s and even looks good now.
- Ipswich, was both a major centre for QR itself but also intended to be a retail centre and bus interchange. A lot less pleasant than Toowong.
- Brunswick St (now Fortitude Valley). Was always the station for Fortitude Valley, and was rebuilt as a four platform station with shopping centre above, notable for having signs in Chinese as well as English.
- Beenleigh, was rebuilt south of its previous location and following a grade separation, was a preparatory project for extending the line to the Gold Coast.
- Holmview, was built as a temporary station while Beenleigh was being worked on, but became a permanent station with that name. Adjacent to some cattle sidings that kept freights visiting that part of the network.
- Bray Park and Carseldine were added new to the Petrie line, which prior to that, had very long intervals between its outer stations.
- Edens Landing was also added to the Beenleigh line.
- A deviation of the southern part of the Beenleigh line took place in the early 1980s.
- Boondal was opened for the Commonwealth Games, but was not the first station with that name, the other being renamed North Boondal.
A few stations were notably closed, including Gloucester St, Doboy and cessation of formal passenger services to the Ipswich Workshops.
The Queenslander and New Rolling Stock
In the 1950s QR set the pace with a fleet of air-conditioned loco-hauled cars called M series for use on new trains (consolidating a host of other routes) called Lander, namely Westlander to Cunnamulla and Quilpie, Midlander to Winton, Inlander to Mt Isa and Sunlander along the coast.
In an era when few people flew and the drives were long and difficult, these trains set a high standard on their routes.
More surprising, though, was that by the 1980s one might have expected to see them scaled back, as was occuring in Victoria (Vinelander) or had occurred in WA.
Instead QR bought new but similar rolling stock called L series for these routes, and a new, upmarket train called the Queenslander. It would supplement the Sunlander to Cairns, though less frequently.
As a tourism product it was a welcome addition, but like all such products it was not clear if it would be able to justify itself financially.
At least this was a somewhat sensible attempt to give passengers prepared to pay first class fares and ‘just going for the ride‘ – rather than other journey types a dedicated train that gave them a better level of service. Rather than riding the much slower Sunlander and having to stop at places like Ingham or Cooroy for no particular benefit to them.
Beyond Joh’s time some more reform was done to turn these trains into tourist trains, but their long term prognosis was poor.
Main Line electrification Stages 1 and 2
For some this would be the signature project of the Joh era. We discussed above how the Coal system was a mix of new lines (such as the Goonyella and Moura systems) and upgraded lines (such as the Blackwater/Central line).
With up to 6 locos per train, these trains were efficient but still required a lot of diesel fuel.
The first sense that this might be a problem was when Israel and its neighbours started fighting in 1973. The response to western support for Israel from the Arab members of the OPEC cartel was a embargo on oil exports, which drove up the global price of oil considerably.
While this could have worked to Australia’s advantage (coal being a substitute for oil in many markets) it still increased the total fuel bill for Australia railways and resulted in service cancellations in some other states.
When the Shah of Iran was deposed later in the 1970s, the global oil market got nervous again (Iran was a major exporter and likely to face US and European sanctions).
Again, it was a mixed bag for Australia, as coal exports were expected to rise, but the liquid fuel bill would also be a challenge.
Electrification for coal shipments was not new, it was the major reason for electrification of some main lines in NSW and Victoria in the 1950s and a driver for renewed electrification in NSW at this time.
With Brisbane suburban electrification now proceeding, it may have seemed a less serious obstacle than before to electrify parts of the coal network.
Early in the piece the entire Central Queensland/Bowen Basin network was considered, including the line from Bowen to Newlands and the Moura line, but what went to final tender was only the Goonyella and Blackwater networks, including the line through Oaky Creek which connected these networks.
For most rail enthusiasts, such news was exciting but unlikely to affect the rail network they had known for years as these were not passenger routes. However, as part of the Central Line works, the North Coast line from Rockhampton to Gladstone and its coal port were electrified.
Two separate schemes (Stage 1 to and 2) were announced, both with their own locomotive fleets and these locomotives were built by different companies, though compatible.
The Blackwater project used Clyde/Walkers/ASEA locomotives while the Goonyella scheme used Comeng locomotives.
These locos were heavy and speed restricted outside the coal system, and a steady pace of 60km/h typically adopted to keep the coal moving and the locos themselves restricted to 80km/h. A faster electric would wait for Stage 4.
Stage 1 was the Central Line and North Coast, and included duplication of some sections and branches off the section to Blackwater. The tunnel at the location called Tunnel was daylighted. In edition to exporting coal, coal was moved to the Stanwell Power Station. near Rockhampton.
Stage 2 was the Goonyella scheme, including electrification that led to and crossed the North Coast main line at Sarina, short of Mackay. It was a tantalising indication of the potential to go further north, but this was never realised.
The North Coast line being completed from Gladstone to Rockhampton was used as the first opportunity for an official opening. in September 1986. The corrupt Transport Minister Don Lane opened the scheme with a locomotive named after him.
Before we get into the corruption,. it is worth noting the Brisbane suburban sets transported north by diesel to Gladstone, with one batch of 6 cars offering public rides south from Rockhampton and the other batch running north from Gladstone. This is the only time known where they offered public electric suburabn train rides on the Main Line scheme.
Regarding the corruption, Fitzgerald said:
“Railway Electrification Project – Citra and E.P.T. Pty. Ltd.
Citra was … also the successful tenderer for two stages of the Railways Electrification programme, an enormous project which was implemented between 1983 and 1986.
Tenders for Stage One of the project had been called in August 1983, and were received from companies in Australia, Britain, Canada, France and Italy…Citra made its donations to the National Party to which reference has been made in October 1983. Between August and December 1983, Bjelke-Petersen had discussed various investment opportunities in
Queensland with Citra. In December, before tenders closed, Lane (then the Minister for Transport), the Commissioner for Railways,
… and representatives of Citra including the person who had made the payments to Lyons had a meeting. It was understood at that time that Bjelke-Petersen wished European systems to be taken into account in determining the successful tenderer for Stage One of the project. Tenders closed on 2 March 1984.
Less than a week later the Railways Department commenced a preliminary evaluation the object of which, according to the Railway Department Chief Engineer in a report dated 9March, was {. . . to determine whether Citra Constructions Limited could be a possible contender for the
contract award}. Citra had submitted the fourth lowest tender, but its tender was a non-conforming tender… Citra had omitted the supply of materials. Accordingly, it was necessary when the evaluation was carried
out for a notional amount to be added for that purpose. The chief engineer noted: ‘Under normal circumstances this tender would be ruled out of consideration as incomplete and non-conforming.'”
“The favoured tender, which involved a price millions of dollars lower than that quoted by Citra, was submitted by E.P.T. Pty. Ltd., to which the contract for Stage One was eventually awarded. According to National Party records, some days later, on 9 July 1984, E.P.T. donated $90,000 in cash to the National Party. .“
“Stage Two: On the same day that it decided to award the contract for Stage One to E.P.T., Cabinet decided to proceed immediately to enter a contract in relation to Stage Two. It was further decided that public tenders would
not be called but that the most suitable companies other than E.P.T. which had tendered for Stage One, including Citra, would be invited to tender for Stage Two.Citra received the Stage Two contract.
It suffered heavy losses, and subsequently negotiated a $5.8 million settlement of its claim with the Department of Railways.”
You do not need to infer anything further. Much as this project was important to the future of QR and was an impressive engineering achievement that has saved Australia billions of litres of diesel fuel, it was corruption pure and simple.
Main Line Electrification Stage 3 and Blair Athol line rebuilding
This has gone down in Australian rail history as one of the silliest rail projects ever embarked on, though it need not have been.
And for this blog, it was a somewhat pivotal project, which we will pick up on at the end of this post.
But to understand the issue at this point, we can identify two sensible alternatives to help us criticque the project:
- Not doing it at all, or
- Doing it, but not advertising it under its own rubric, but weaving it seamlessly into Stage 1, the Blackwater electrification
It should be noted, but for some of this silliness about giving it its own name as Stage 3, it might still be with us, for reasons this blog will outline here.
The Central Line had always had a staging post at Emerald, a junction for two lines, to Clermont and Springsure, and in more recent years, a place to swap heavier locos for lighter locos working beyond to Longreach and Winton.
When coal started opening up heavier traffic from the Blackwater field, a series of branches off the Central line were required.
The last coal mine going west was beyond Blackwater, and in the section between there and Emerald at Tolmies. Given that electric locos don’t work without wire, the main line to this point was electrified for a few coal trains a day as well as the coal loading siding.
There as nothing at Tolmies, and Emerald was still a further 70 km down the line, but was a significant junction and loco depot, and the source of some local general freight (as was the custom then).
So the question emerged whether to electrify onwards to Emerald, despite no coal trains, nor for that matter, any significant local traffic that would justify its own trains, as every other train would require a change of locomotives.
To be fair, loco changing at Emerald already had a history, as the Central line beyond Emerald and the branchlines took lighter locos than the main line. So electrification was not necessarily making locomotive rostering any less efficient, but neither would it make it more efficient.
This dilemma was not without precedent. In Victoria, the Gippsland electrification was justified for coal haulage, yet the line continued beyond the last coal line at Morwell, to Traralgon.
This suited the passenger business, as an origin of passenger trains and a junction for a significant branchline. It was also the place where lighter locos were added to trains going onwards.
In NSW, Lithgow electrification didn’t take the wire beyond the last loco depot, to where the coal was actually coming from, so swapping locos was also a big thing for all those decades.
For those reasons, there may not have been a right answer but a sensible answer might have been to not electrify at all.
But the other answer, to just call it Stage 1, had other merit. At the time, the last mine was at Tolmies, and beyond there mining had not yet developed.
However, recent mines on the Springsure branch now see coal trains run into Emerald and onto the branch, though these are diesel hauled.
This blog is not a fan of the sentiment ‘build it and they will come‘ but this is a clear case of the line not being electrified because it was not electrified.
In every other respect it is no different from the other Blackwater lines and would have had the business case to be electrified if the others had.
But the dismantling of the scarcely-used Emerald wires took that option away.
A similar chicken and half an egg situation took place on the other Emerald branch to Clermont. Up until the 1950s that line continued to the locality of Blair Athol.
The closure might have gone unremarked except that from the 1970s coal was started to be lifted from Blair Athol via the Goonyella system on a new line from Moranbah.
So we had the paradox of a 1950s line that wilted and died from lack of traffic, but within 30 years a different line built to lift several large coal trains a day.
With the Goonyella system electrified, it would have made sense to lift the little bit of wheat using the Goonyella system, and even move it to the port of Gladstone, if necessary, via the Oaky Creek connector.
However, for the reason of folly, the 1950s line was rebuilt, on the cheap, with no concrete sleepering or heavy rail and certainly no electrification.
Electrifying for a few seasonal wheats might have seemed silly, but with that in mind, rebuilding the line was also silly. But had they electrified, it would have connected at Emerald and Stage 3, thus boosting the traffic at that point running on the wire.
And, despite whatever people might have hoped to the contrary, the Goonyella system and the Blackwater Systems would have both benefited from a bit of extra redundancy, and it is very likely that more than a few Blair Athol trains might have gone via Emerald during blockages or shutdowns of the Goonyella network.
Between the improved utility of the Clermont line and the Springsure lines, those two might have seen electrified coal trains through Emerald at different points, not necessarily with the volumes that the rest of the Stage 1 and 2 lines supplied, but not insignificant.
And beyond Emerald was the steep and difficult Drummond Range crossing, something that really did need fixing more than the Emerald wiring, but that will be discussed in a future post in the Goss and Beattie Governments.
Main Line Electrification Stage 4
Of all the projects pursued in those days, it was not the largest but definitely the most exciting.
As noted earlier, the other projects were largely out of view of the majority of enthusiasts in the South East or Interstate, but in this case the line from Caboolture to Gladstone (and meeting Stage 1) would see a large increase in passenger and general freights being electrified.
Besides wiring the main line and several sidings (such as a log siding near Bundaberg) the line would comprise 4 major alignment deviations and numerous smaller ones.
Those 4 deviations comprised:
- The Baddow (Maryborough) deviation, both straightening the line but avoiding the train reversal into the station in central Maryborough, with a new station built called Maryborough West.
- The Benaraby deviation just south of Gladstone
- The Eumundi deviation, a very significant one just north of Nambour and affecting the small halt previously at Eumundi.
- The Gympie deviation, removing the difficult line into central Gympie (which was nonetheless retained and is now used by a rail preservation society)
Passengers on the line can see many other shorter cutoffs, though sadly, nothing like what was really needed, and a topic we will get to later.
Nonetheless, passengers on the route saw serious improvements in speed to Rockhampton with no reversals in Maryborough and a faster journey past Gympie. The loco-hauled trains taking 10 hours or more to get to Rockhampton were beaten by a nine-hour journey after this scheme (more on the new rolling stock below).
For freight and long-distance passenger trains beyond Rockhampton, a small fleet of regeared 3500 class locomotives, called 3900 class, was built.
These were not limited to 80km/h but 100km/h and were delivered in a pleasing green and yellow scheme (same as the National Party!) – they were not intended to be a utilitarian beast for coal work, but with a high public profile.
With access to the Brisbane suburban network, they not only took many of the general freights and passengers south of Rockhampton, but also worked SX sets on Brisbane suburban trains (clearly a wasteful diversion).
This blog road them to Michelton (Ferny Grove) and Ipswich, but they were seen in most places. They could not work to Cleveland nor Thorneside (as the new triangle was never wired).
Also excitingly for the fans, a new passenger EMU train called Intercity Express (ICE) was delivered for both the 9 hour Rockhampton journey, but also shorter runs to Gympie North or Bundaberg.
This was an advance in Australian rail travel at the time, as while NSW had interurban train sets such as the U and V EMU cars, none was fitted out for long distance roles with onboard catering.
The top speed of the ICE was originally supposed to be 160km/h but this did not eventuate, however, the 120km/h limit was still faster than anything in Queensland at that time.
Sufficient of them were supposed to be ordered to provide a service alternating between Nambour and Gympie North as termini, however, as demand north of Caboolture grew, existing suburban EMU stock was used which was quite unsatisfactory, due to lack of onboard toilets, slower speeds and less comfortable seating.
Joh was no longer Premier when the Stage 4 Electrification was opened, but it is important to mention it due to his starring role in the corruption that created it. Fitzgerald reported:
“Cabinet decided that tenders should not be called for Stage Four … but that each of E.P.T. and Citra should be engaged to carry out one half of the work …Each was invited to submit a price, and each quoted almost the same amount, approximately $32 million for its half of the full project.
The quotes were evaluated and it was estimated that they were too high and indeed were approximately twice the standard price per kilometre offered in Stages One and Two… unless they could be renegotiated … to the region of $75,000 to $80,000 per standard kilometre, then the option of calling tenders would have to be considered.
Negotiations between the Railways Department and E.P.T. and Citra ended with an agreement that each would be paid approximately $25 million.
Treasury criticized the awarding of the contracts, which occurred without its approval. The opinion was expressed that the amount of $25 million each was too high, that the Railways Department’s reasons for
accepting those prices were unconvincing, and that both companies were being allowed to recover some of the losses which had been suffered in other sections of the work.“
This blog does not place any stock in Treasury commentary on construction costs.
But it is a tantalising idea to imagine, if the project was overcharged, what else could have been done with the money.
More deviations would have been the obvious staring point, but so much else was missing from the electrification, such as continuing it from Sarina to Mackay, and potentially up the coast through St Lawrence too.
Or a Rockhampton deviation to get the line away from the city streets.
Romania
History always delivers the final irony, particularly for a leader who has been around too long.
A life long anti-communist like Joh had nonetheless been comfortable in the company of authoritarians, so it is no surprise he sought to make deals with the cruel and evil leader of Romania – Nicolae Ceausescu.
Given the difficulty of trading with the Eastern Bloc in those days, barter would be the mechanism, with coal and bananas for trains.
New Zealand went down this path with its Hungarian suburban trains, not necessarily a great idea in the long run. But unlike NZ, Queensland was not short of cash nor its own rollingstock manufacturing capacity.
It is unpleasant to think that good manufacturers in Queensland like Walkers at Maryborough or in Australia generally might have been passed over by Joh for second-rate Romanian vehicles.
But time was not on Joh’s side nor Ceausescu. Joh would be out of office and government within 2 years. Ceausescu would be shot and killed by his own people.
Expo 1988
Joh had resigned by the time the event kicked off, but it was nonetheless a celebration of Joh and his QR.
The suburban rail system was mature by now, mostly worked by the EMU and ICE sets, and provided international and interstate visitors with a far higher standard of service than any other suburban rail system at that time.
The site required two stations, South Brisbane and Vulture St to service the cleared site. This latter station remained so named during the Expo, but was logically renamed to South Bank in 2001.
The full suburban working timetable is found here.
The site also had a monorail during the Expo.
The Old QR
Despite this story of spend spend spend, and modern infrastructure in Brisbane and Queensland, it retained the charm of so much ancient practice, old rolling stock and lightly-used lines, long after they had gone to God elsewhere.
Services were being slowly closed, but even in 1986, the interstate railfan could salivate at the sight of:
- Dirranbandi Mail
- Ravenshoe and Toogoolawah Rail Motors (which this blog had the pleasure of riding one of the last runs)
- Yaraka Mixed
- Mixed trains to Wallangarra, Kingaroy, Forsyth and numerous other lines, with an enquiry to QR the only barrier to getting a seat on an old composite brake van into the middle of nowhere
- Decrepit lines like the Winton to Hughenden were still functioning
- Lovely trains full of pineapple crates could be seen everywhere from Northgate to Yeppoon.
Joh had a constituency for such services, and no great budget pressure to close them, as had happened in other states.
A 1990 full country timetable is found here.
Casualties of Fitzgerald
Joh of course was gone by the time Wayne Goss was elected in 1989. Joh was followed by two National Party Premiers, Ahern and Cooper, both for a short time. He was put on trial for his crimes, but never found guilty due to an intransigent juror.
Transport Minister Lane went from the glories of opening new electric schemes into a jail cell.
Wayne Goss was not known to be anti-rail (as will be explored in a future post) but handing out contracts to friends of the National Party was probably going to be a non-starter, and the spending party was over.
Legacy of Joh for QR
In 20 years QR turned from a laughably out-of-date and dyring enterprise into something that bore no recognition to its earlier self.
Joh himself needs no halo, and may well be burning in hell, with Jesus saying “I never knew you.”
But the QR was fundamentally unrecognisably changed during his term.
By the time of Goss election, all the classic Brisbane suburban network was electrified and upgraded.
The mainline had been also substantially electrified. Freights were very modern by Australian standards and the bones of some future enhancements such as the future Gold Coast railway were now visible.
The future of QR was now well assured, even if no future government would have such a ready pot of gold as Joh had used.
In future years much of the legacy network, not the upgraded lines, would wither and die, as coal revenues were disambiguated and economic reality caught up with them. This will be covered in future posts.
Joh was a lesson in how corruption and government abundance can work in railways’ favour, though of course it never justifies these horrors.
The timing was also opportune – with mature technologies such as 25kvac electrification, CTC signalling and concrete sleepering strengthening the network against the sort of declines we saw in other states.
The legacy by 1988 had very much set QR up for even greater achievements: suburban line expansions, the Tilt Trains and their speed records, light rail in Queensland and other possibilities.
However, in our time, those charming olde-worlde trains are all but gone, the branches all but closed and even the first series EMU and ICE cars almost gone to God.
This blog will do a future post on a more existential question, a bare-bones policy question, looking at the Stage 3 Main Line Electrification project and what it really meant, as well as a post on the Goss, Beattie and Bligh Governments.
Under The Clocks 
Hi, greatly enjoyed the read about my home state. I found an anomaly in the text. In the “Other Major Station Upgrades and New Stations” section, the 4th last dot point says “Bray Park and Bald Hills were added new to the Petrie line”. This should read Bray Park and Carseldine (they were both opened in 1986).
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Thanks, could not remember all the ones, just know that it was basically Strathpine and Petrie only before that.
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Hi, interesting blog.
What happened to the Metropolitan Transit Authority put together in 1975 by the recommendations of Wilbur Smith?
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Hi there, I believe it didn’t even make it to 1979. More of a coordinating body than anything real. Brisbane City Council famously won’t do anything to coordinate with QR.
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