Nambour and Gympie North railway line

This article is about the Nambour & Gympie North railway line, which is the existing Sunshine Coast Citytrain service. For proposed railway to Maroochydore, Queensland (CAMCOS), see Maroochydore railway line.

Nambour & Gympie North line
File:Sunshine-Coast-railway-line-map.png
Overview
Termini	Roma Street Gympie North
Website	queenslandrail.com.au
Technical
Line length	180 km (110 mi)
Track length	172.21 km (107.01 mi)
Track gauge	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
Operating speed	60 km/h (37 mph)

The Nambour & Gympie North railway line (also known as the Sunshine Coast line) refers to the section of Queensland's North Coast line that has regular interurban passenger services, which connect Brisbane with the Sunshine Coast and Gympie. It is the longest line on the Citytrain network.

Overview

File:Elimbah Railway Station, Queensland, Sep 2012.JPG

Elimbah station in September 2012

File:Glasshouse Mountains Railway Station, Queensland, Sep 2012.JPG

Glasshouse Mountains station in September 2012

Nambour and Gympie North services utilise the Caboolture line to Caboolture, then the North Coast line to Nambour and Gympie North. The line consists of four tracks from Roma Street to Northgate, then three tracks to Lawnton, allowing Nambour & Gympie North express services to pass the local Caboolture services. The line is then double track to Beerburrum.

North of Beerburrum, the line is single track with passing loops at most stations. Due to the rapidly rising population on the Sunshine Coast and in hinterland towns, the annual compounded growth rate for morning peak passenger numbers on the line north of Caboolture is 6%, second only to the 7.1% figure for the Gold Coast line south of Beenleigh.

Traveltrain services; the Spirit of Queensland, Spirit of the Outback and the Bundaberg and Rockhamption Tilt Trains traverse the line, along with Aurizon and Pacific National freight trains.

Upgrades

In 2001, the Queensland Government started a study for the need to upgrade the North Coast Line between Caboolture and Landsborough.

On 14 April 2009, a new 14 kilometre double-track alignment from Caboolture to Beerburrum opened. A four kilometre section of the old line immediately north of Caboolture was retained for use as a passing loop, with the remainder of the old line lifted. This saw new stations at Elimbah and Beerburrum built. Glasshouse Mountains, Beerwah and Landsborough stations have all received major work including platform extensions and lifts. The line is scheduled to be duplicated to Landsborough by 2021.

In 2009, the platforms at Mooloolah, Palmwoods, Woombye, Eudlo, Eumundi, Pomona and Cooran were extended with scaffolding and plywood materials. Initially intended as an interim arrangement until permanent extensions were built, the temporary platforms remain.

A study has been completed into duplicating and straightening the line between Landsbrough and Nambour. It is proposed that two new tunnels and four upgraded stations (Mooloolah, Eudlo, Palmwoods and Woombye) will be constructed.

Line guide and services

All peak, off-peak and most weekend train services between Brisbane and Nambour run express between Caboolture and Northgate stations, stopping at Petrie station in the off-peak. Trains between Gympie North and Brisbane run express between Caboolture and Bowen Hills station. Counter-Peak trains and a few selected weekend train services operate as a shuttle between Nambour and Caboolture only, with connecting train services to and/from the City at Caboolture station.

To relieve congestion on the section north of Beerburrum, the rail service is supplemented by a bus service operated by Kangaroo Bus Lines on weekdays between Caboolture and Nambour as route 649. Passengers for/from the Caboolture line change at either Caboolture, Petrie or Northgate, Shorncliffe line at Northgate, Airport and Doomben change at Eagle Junction and Ferny Grove lines change at Bowen Hills, and all other lines at Central.

Nambour and Gympie North railway line showing distance from Central, ticket zone, and connecting or nearby bus services Beenleigh, Cleveland, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Rosewood, Tennyson lines Exhibition line 0.8 km Roma Street(1) See Roma Street railway station 0.0 km CENTRAL(1) See Adelaide Street Bus Mall 1.3 km Fortitude Valley(1) See Fortitude Valley railway station Exhibition line 2.7 km Bowen Hills(1) 301, 310, 315, 320, 393 Follows Caboolture line 9.9 km Northgate(2/3) 306, 307 Follows Caboolture line 27.4 km Petrie(6) 675, 680, 681, 682 Follows Caboolture line 49.6 km Caboolture(8) 640, 649, 652, 653, 654, 655, 662 Wamuran line (disused) 58.6 km Elimbah(9/10) 649 64.6 km Beerburrum(10) 649 71.8 km Glasshouse Mountains(11) 649 76.9 km Beerwah(12) 649, Australia Zoo bus Maroochydore Line (proposed) 82.5 km Landsborough(13) 605, 615, 649 Dularcha National Park 87.5 km Mooloolah(14) 649 92.7 km Eudlo(15) 649 97.3 km Palmwoods(16) 639, 649 100.7 km Woombye(17) 610, 636, 639, 649 104.8 km Nambour(17) 602, 610, 630, 631, 636, 639, 649 Maroochy River 112.7 km Yandina(19) 631 Bruce Highway 122.5 km Eumundi(21) 630, 631 130.9 km Cooroy(22) 631, 632 139.9 km Pomona(23) 632 145.5 km Cooran(23) 632 150.3 km Traveston(23) x20px Mary Valley Heritage Railway to Imbil x20px Gympie 172.2 km GYMPIE NORTH(23) Gympie Courtesy Bus North Coast Line to Cairns