Nambour and Gympie North railway line, Queensland

:"This article is about the Nambour and Gympie North railway line, which is the existing Sunshine Coast Citytrain service. For the proposed proposed railway to Maroochydore, Queensland (CAMCOS), see Maroochydore railway line, Queensland." SEQ Transit Lines
line_type = rail
from = Brisbane central business district
to = Gympie
name = Nambour and Gympie North Line

---

line_owner = QR
map_colour = Green
line_length = 172.21
stations_number = 25
date_1 = 1888
event_1 = Opened Brisbane to Caboolture
date_2 = 1891
event_2 = Opened to Gympie
operator_names = Citytrain
fleet_names = EMU, ICE, IMU 160/120/100, SMU 200/220,

The Nambour and Gympie North railway line (also known as the Sunshine Coast Line) is an interurban railway line in Queensland, Australia connecting Brisbane with the Sunshine Coast and Gympie.

Overview

The Nambour and Gympie North line follows the Caboolture railway line to Caboolture, then past Caboolture it follows the North Coast railway line to Nambour and Gympie. The line north of Caboolture is mainly single track with loops, and due to having to share traffic with Traveltrain and freight services, interurban services on this line is limited during the off-peak and weekends. As a result, additional rail-bus services operate between Caboolture and Nambour in the off-peak, supplementing the train services.

Upgrades

In 2001, the Queensland Government started a study for the need to upgrade the North Coast Line between Caboolture and Landsborough. On August 29, 2005 The first stage of the duplication between Caboolture and Beerburrum was approved.ref|ARUP. The second stage between Beerburrum and Landsborough was approved on August 14, 2006.ref|NCL2 Construction of the first stage to Beerburrum is expected to start around 2007, with the second stage between Beerburrum and Landsborough expected to start around 2009, with completion due around 2012.ref|NCL2

Future plans

The duplication and realignment of the North Coast Line from Caboolture to Landsborough is the pre-requisite to implement the CAMCOS corridor branching from Beerwah to the Sunshine Coast centres of Caloundra and Maroochydore.

Existing services to Nambour will be upgraded with the replacement of suburban trains with newer interurban trains. This will be followed by an increase of service frequencies, made possible by duplication north of Caboolture Station and the recently completed triplication south of Petrie

ervice frequency

Typical service frequency on the Nambour and Gympie North railway line to Nambour are one train per two hours, increasing to two trains per hour during peak hours. After the track upgrading is complete, service frequency is expected to improve to two trains per hour in off-peak, and four trains per hour in peak hour.

*All peak hour and most off-peak trains run express between Caboolture and Bowen Hills, stopping at Petrie and Northgate in the off-peak
*There is only one daily Citytrain service to and from Gympie North Monday to Friday, with two services southbound Saturday and northbound on Sunday.
*There is a twice-daily Nambour to Caboolture shuttle which operates during the off-peak and weekends. Passengers travelling on those services are required to change at Caboolture for their connecting service to/from the City

Line guide and services

All peak services and most off-peak services run express between Caboolture and Bowen Hills stations, stopping at Petrie and Northgate stations in the off-peak. In addition, an off-peak train shuttle operates twice-daily between Nambour Station and Caboolture Station, with connecting services at Caboolture Station. The Nambour-Caboolture train shuttle also operates some services on the weekend.

During weekday peak hours, some services may not stop at Petrie and Northgate stations. The weekday afternoon outbound Gympie North service stops at Caboolture on request to pick up northbound passengers only.

Due to the lack of track capacity between Caboolture and Nambour, Kangaroo Bus Lines operates weekday off-peak railbus shuttles between Nambour Station and Caboolture station in addition to the off-peak train services. Passengers for/from the Caboolture line change at either Caboolture, Petrie or Northgate, Shorncliffe line at Northgate, Airport, Doomben and Ferny Grove lines change at Bowen Hills, and all other lines at Central.

References

* cite news|url=http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=47844|publisher=Queensland Government Ministerial Media Statement|title=The green light for Beerburrum to Landsborough rail corridor|date=August 14, 2006
* cite news|url=http://www.arup.com.au/clrs/index.php|publisher=ARUP on behalf of Queensland Transport|title=Caboolture to Landsborough - Rail Upgrade Study|date=January, 2001

External links

* [http://www.citytrain.com.au Citytrain]
* [http://www.transinfo.com.au TransInfo]