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'Citytrain' is the name given to the extensive urban, suburban and inter-urban electric passenger railway network serving metropolitan Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Citytrain lines also extend outside of Brisbane towards areas of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. It is one of the primary divisions of the state owned rail corporation QR. The current length stands at 489.6 kms.

Contents

Citytrain network

Suburban railway lines

Interurban railway lines

Railbus services

Operations

Rollingstock

Extensions

See also

External links

Citytrain network

As of 2006, Citytrain operates 10 suburban lines and 3 interurban lines. They are often ascribed a colour and name on all Citytrain signage and publicity including timetables, posters, and network maps. There are over 145 stations in the Citytrain network.

Suburban railway lines

:■ 'Caboolture Line' - Between Central and Caboolture.
:■ 'Ferny Grove Line' - Between Central and Ferny Grove
:■ 'Shorncliffe Line' - Between Central and Shorncliffe
:■ 'Doomben Line' - Between Central and Doomben
:■ 'Airport Line' - Between Central and Domestic Terminal
:■ 'Exhibition Line' - Operates in a clockwise and anti-clockwise direction between Central and Exhibition,
(via Brunswick St (anti-clockwise) or Roma Street (clockwise))

:■ 'Ipswich Line' - Between Central and Ipswich
:■ 'Beenleigh Line' - Between Central and Beenleigh
:■ 'Corinda Line' - Between Central and Corinda,
(via South Brisbane and Tennyson (peak hours only))

:■ 'Cleveland Line' - Between Central and Cleveland

Interurban railway lines

:■ 'Gold Coast Line' - Between Central and Robina
:■ 'Nambour and Gympie North Line' - Between Central and Nambour/Gympie North
:■ 'Rosewood Line' - Between Ipswich
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★ and Rosewood,

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★ Some peak services on the Rosewood Line operate to/from Central, at other times, a change is required at Ipswich.

Railbus services

Citytrain also operates several bus routes along corridors where the railway line has either been closed to passenger traffic or supplements low-patronage lines at specific times of the day. These bus services appear in Citytrain timetables and accept Citytrain specific tickets, but they are operated by bus companies contracted by Citytrain and TransLink. As of 2006 these Citytrain railbus services are:

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Operations

Citytrain runs under the 'TransLink' public transport scheme. The network has an average of 2907 services per week, carries about 142,000 passengers on each weekday, and averages 873,000 passengers per week. Yearly patronage is approximately 48 million trips.
The network is fully electrified and comprises 143 stations, extending to Nambour, the Gold Coast, Rosewood near Ipswich and Cleveland on Moreton Bay. Citytrain employs 1200 staff.
The rail lines run partially underground between Brunswick Street and Roma Street, through the Brisbane CBD. The rest of the network is suburban rail, with interurban services running to Nambour and Gympie in the north and between Beenleigh and the Gold Coast in the south. The Airtrain service running to and from Brisbane Airport uses Citytrain rollingstock and connects with the rest of the network. Citytrain uses (reinforced) narrow gauge track.
The hub of the Citytrain system is Central Station. Unlike many rail systems that have most of their trains terminate at the CBD, most trains have a four-minute layover at Central, then continue on to another destination. For example, an Ipswich train passes through Central, then becomes a Caboolture train, and vice-versa. Likewise a train coming from Beenleigh runs through Central and continues on to Ferny Grove
Central Station generates approximately 80,000 trips each day.
Queensland Rail in the year 2004 reported a 99.7% punctuality rate for Citytrain services.
As well as the interurban services mentioned above, shuttle services also operate on some interurban lines during off-peak. Most Rosewood Line services normally operates between Ipswich and Rosewood, with connections at Ipswich. The Nambour Line has supplementary railbus services that operates between Caboolture and Nambour.

Rollingstock

★ 87 Electric Multiple Units

★ 12 Suburban Multiple Units (200 Series)

★ 30 Suburban Multiple Units (220 Series)

★ 10 Interurban Multiple Units (100 Series)

★ 4 Interurban Multiple Units (120 Series)

★ 6 Interurban Multiple Units (160 Series)

★ 8 InterCity Express power pairs of two cars, with 4 additional trailers.
All trains are electric multiple units and all have cabs at both ends (with the exceptions of EM60 - EM79 which have only one cab). All are three-car trains except for the ICE sets.
Due to current demand and a shortage of rolling stock, suburban trains are often used on interurban lines. The Nambour line frequently suffers the use of the elderly, though serviceable, EMU sets. The Gold Coast line is often serviced by SMU220 class trains which have had software upgrades for operation at 120km/h on high-speed parts of the line, increasing operational flexibility. These latter trains are identified by the letters "HS" located on the front-left side of the cab at either end. Despite this, the trains are not provided with the usual creature comforts of the IMU or ICE sets, such as toilets or high-backed seats. This will be remedied with an order of 16 new interurban and 8 new suburban sets to be delivered from early 2007.

Extensions

A new 4.1km extension of the Gold Coast line to a new station at Reedy Creek, along with 20km of duplication between Helensvale and Robina, has just been announced. Triplication will occur between Salisbury and Kuraby. Duplication will also occur between Caboolture and Landsborough and between Mitchelton and Keperra.
The staged construction of the Springfield Line and the Sunshine Coast Line to Caloundra and Maroochydore and the continuation of the Gold Coast line to Coolangatta was announced in the South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program.
The Queensland Government has also announced its intention to provide as much as $2 billion in funding for provision of new underground rail access to the Brisbane CBD with new stations and increased capacity.

See also

★ List of rapid transit systems

★ List of South East Queensland railway stations

★ Queensland Rail

★ TransLink

External links

★ Queensland Rail homepage

★ Citytrain homepage

★ TransLink homepage and Transinfo journey planner (timetable and ticketing information)