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ABC News
6 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Sunshine Coast residents unsure if homes will be resumed for transport project
A man on Queensland's Sunshine Coast says he and his neighbours have been forced into a "horrible" limbo as they wait to learn if the government will take their homes. Shaun Taylor said he was told before last year's state election that his Mountain Creek home had been marked for resumption to allow for the eventual construction of a rail line. But the LNP government said in March that it would renege on its election promise to build the line to Maroochydore, instead stopping construction at Birtinya and running a "metro-style" bus service the rest of the way as part of a new multi-billion-dollar public transport project dubbed The Wave. That announcement was initially met with relief by about 10 property owners at Mountain Creek, including Mr Taylor. But nearly six months on from The Wave announcement, and a year since discovering their homes were in the firing line, the residents are still struggling to get answers about the fate of their homes. Mr Taylor said they were unable to move on with their lives until they did. The electrician settled in Causeway Court nine years ago with his young family. They believed they had found their forever home, but Mr Taylor said they could not even sell it without losing a considerable amount of their initial housing investment. "We thought, 'Oh, let's just move', but we spoke to an agent and they said you won't get your value for your property. If anything, they'll low-ball you," Mr Taylor said. "There's two people down the street from us whose houses weren't even on the [resumption] list, they want to sell up and retire. But they can't because nobody's interested. They've had their house on the market for almost six months. Mr Taylor said he spoke to local member Brent Mickelberg in March but had not spoken to him since. Instead, residents received a letter which included a "direct line" to someone within the transport department to talk to about the project. "First of all the number didn't work, and then when I did get through about three weeks ago they didn't even have a design team or a planning team," Mr Taylor said. Mr Mickelberg was not available for an interview. In a statement, a Department of Transport and Main Roads spokesperson said investigations were still underway into a preferred corridor for The Wave's "metro-style" bus service. "The Queensland government understands the impact this may have on property owners and is committed to progressing this work as quickly as possible," the spokesperson said. "Investigations into the preferred corridor are expected to be completed in 2026 and our priority will be to confirm impacts on properties." According to state government figures, public transport patronage across the Sunshine Coast region stands at less than three per cent. A dedicated transport route, known as the CAMCOS corridor, has been set aside for 25 years. But new alignments, including the one that left the Mountain Creek residents in the firing line, have been made in recent years to support the technical requirements for Queensland Rail to safely operate trains. Alex Jago from advocacy group Better Transport Queensland said he did not want give affected residents "false hope" but it was possible that buses could run along the original corridor. "The difficulty of putting a train line into Maroochydore was one of the drivers for going to a bus solution there," Mr Jago said. "A bus is a lot more forgiving in terms of how steep it can go, how tight it can turn." He said The Wave would be a "game-changer" for the region — one of the largest urban areas in Australia by population to not have a dedicated, fixed-route public transport system. "Not just for the Olympics but for everything we do from the 2030s onwards," Mr Jago said. "There's a heck of a lot of people moving to the southern part of the Sunshine Coast. That does create massive travel demand, and a lot of those people will need to travel to Brisbane.
Irish Times
12-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Decision on €9bn Metrolink rail project expected within weeks
A decision on the MetroLink rail line, which has spent almost three years in the planning system, is expected to be issued within weeks, An Coimisiún Pleanála documents show. The 18.8km line from Swords to Charlemont, with 16 stops serving areas including Dublin Airport and the city centre, is the largest infrastructure project before the planning commission, which took over from An Bord Pleanála last month. Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) lodged a planning application for the mostly-underground line with An Bord Pleanála in September 2022. At the time the State transport body anticipated a 12-18 month planning process, and said if permission was then granted, and the final business case for the line approved by the Government, MetroLink would take six to eight years to construct. In August 2023, the board confirmed it would hold public hearings on the project. The hearings opened on February 19th 2024 and closed on schedule on March 28th. However, with just two days to go before the end of the hearing, board inspector Barry O'Donnell said there would be a 'requirement to re-advertise' the project due to new information submitted by TII. READ MORE [ The Irish Times view on building infrastructure: design is not a luxury Opens in new window ] TII had submitted close to 200 additional documents during the hearing, including 39 on the first day. Public consultation on the additional information was reopened in August last year and closed in October. A decision on the project, expected to cost more than €9.5 billion, has been awaited since. The board, and now the commission, does not generally discuss live cases. However, briefing documents submitted to an Oireachtas infrastructure committee state a decision on the Metrolink project is due to be issued 'by end of summer'. This is the first indicative timeline the board, or the commission has given for a decision on the project. A grant of permission in the coming weeks, could allow to the line to begin operations by its most recent target date of 2035. In September MetroLink director Sean Sweeney plans to hold a series of 'global market briefings' to drum up interest from firms with the capacity to develop the project. The first briefing will be held Dublin on September 4th, with similar events in Berlin, Paris, Milan, London, Vienna and Madrid to be held later in the month. Minister for Transport Darragh O'Brien, through whose north Dublin constituency the metro will run, is expected to attend the first market briefing in Dublin. It is anticipated the commission's decision will have been issued in advance of these briefings. If a grant of permission is received TII must then seek indicative tenders for construction of the line, before formulating a final business case, which it will submit to the Government for approval. It is at this point the probable cost of the line will be known, however it is expected to be at least 20 per cent higher than the previous €9.5 billion estimate. Before its application in 2022 TII had to submit a preliminary business case, which included potential costs, to secure Government approval to lodge the Metrolink application with the board. At that time €9.5 billion was the midpoint of a 'credible' cost range of €7.16 billion-€12.25 billion. However, €23 billion was cited as the extreme upper limit of costs, if all potential risks and overruns were to be eliminated. In May Mr O'Brien told The Irish Times Metrolink remained a 'high priority' for Government. 'The Metrolink is a critically important project, not just for the airport and the region but nationally too. I want to see construction work begin on the Dublin Metro during this term of Government,' he said.
