Queensland Rail and Translink Travel Concerns from Beerwah – Case #2

Hi!, Throughout my short time travelling from Beerwah to the University of Queensland & Roma St, I have noticed several issues making it difficult for this transit to be enjoyable.

Tomorrow (1/3/16) I have to travel to UQ for my first lecture of the semester, I have to arrive for the lecture at around 1pm. The easiest and fastest transit route available for me tomorrow, involves 2 stop overs at different stations, and takes 2hours and 5 minutes. In order for me to make it to uni before 1pm, I have to leave at 9:30am, and still don’t arrive until almost 12pm. The main issue here being the lack of connection trains to Caboolture. Many trains start from Caboolture and run express to Roma Street, making it easy for me to make my way to uni through the regular buses to the UQ Lakes station. It is very frustrating that for me to get somewhere so late in the day I have to leave so early in the morning.

Another issue I have with the current state of trains running from Beerwah to Brisbane, is the lack of convenience in the times (Directly corroborating what I said above). The trains don’t run on an hourly or two hourly basis, they run inconsistently at different times throughout the day. Between 8:30am and 12pm, there is one train to Brisbane, it leaves Beerwah at 11:19am (with one train before 8:30, at 8:19am). There are no trains running at all in the hours of 9 or 10am on any weekdays (on none of the Gympie to Brisbane, Nambour to Brisbane, Nambour to Ipswich or Nambour to Springfield services). Whilst these may not be the most popular time for trains to run (which I’m sure is why they simply don’t) even running a 3 carriage train from Nambour/Gympie to Brisbane City/Ipswich/Springfield during this substantial two and a half hour gap between trains would work in favour of many students/workers whom start later in the day.

Another suggestion is to simply have more connecting trains to Caboolture from Nambour. There are two trains on a weekday connecting me directly to Caboolture from Beerwah (with buses running throughout the day, but I was unable to find a timetable stating these times thus no bus times have been mentioned).

Between the same times mentioned before of 8:30am and 12pm there are 7 trains running to Brisbane city through Roma Street from Caboolture, and without the connections, hinterland students/workers wishing to transit for their tertiary education/work cannot make these times. You’re either hours early for lectures and tutorials or you’re late (with the obvious choice being to arrive hours early).

My timetable for every day this semester needs for me to arrive at uni for classes at 12 and one day at 11. For each of these classes, instead of taking a train leaving at 9:30/10am that only takes an hour and a half to get there, I am required to transfer two times, and leave at either 7:30 or 8:20 to arrive at 9:30/10:30am.

Getting home from uni is even more of a worry, with most trains after 5pm requiring a change over at Caboolture. This is definitely an issue that needs to be fixed, as most of these trains are packed full of people all trying to get from one train to another. More frequent trains at this time travelling from Brisbane City to Nambour is definitely required.

My request is for more trains to be running more frequent to Caboolture from Beerwah to make the connecting trains to Brisbane, or for more trains to be running between the hours of 8:30am and 12pm to Brisbane from the Sunshine Coast. Any upgrades to this line whatsoever would be much appreciated, for both myself – and many other people having to make the lengthy transit to Brisbane everyday.

Many Thanks

Note to Reader:

You might also enjoy the following post https://www.glasshousecountry.com/queensland-rail-translink-travel-concerns-beerwah-case-1/