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Sunshine Coast MPs have warned a $2.6 billion light rail system between Maroochydore and Kawana could ruin chances of having heavy rail from Brisbane to the region. Kawana MP Jarrod Bleijie and other Sunshine Coast MPs have called on the Sunshine Coast Council to prioritise heavy rail before throwing its support behind an expensive local public transport network. The council has released a comprehensive report into several mass transit options costing between $881 million to $2.6 billion to connect Maroochydore and Kawana. Residents have eight weeks to have their say on the draft options analysis report, including on what their preferred public transport would be.
“The train arriving at Maroochydore station on platform 2 is the express service to Brisbane. First stop Mooloolaba, then Kawana, Caloundra, Caloundra South, Beerwah then all stations to Caboolture.”
It’s a phrase that I hope to hear in my lifetime, but I’m afraid will not happen, due to inept successive governments, failing to deliver on countless proposals, studies and announcements about a Sunshine Coast Rail network since the mid-1990s.
The original Caboolture to Maroochydore Corridor Study (CAMCOS) was a proposal in 1999 for a passenger train service for the Sunshine Coast which would also provide travellers with a fast link to Brisbane. It included an upgrade of the North Coast rail line from Caboolture to Landsborough and a new line from Beerwah to Maroochydore. Over 25 years later we are still talking about it without a single sleeper being laid towards Caloundra and Maroochydore.
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Subscriber only A shortlist of four options to build a fast rail connection between the Coast and Brisbane was whittled down to exclude Nambour and the region s airport, new documents reveal. Infrastructure Australia has released a review of a detailed business case put forward by a private consortium to bring rail travel time to the state s capital down to 50 minutes. The shortlist included: - Brisbane to Maroochydore CBD using the existing North Coast Line alignment to Beerwah and the corridor identified in the Caboolture to Maroochydore Corridor Study (CAMCOS) for the section from Beerwah to Maroochydore - Brisbane to Sunshine Coast Airport using the existing North Coast Line alignment to Beerwah and CAMCOS