Queensland Rail City network


The Queensland Rail City network provides urban, suburban and inter-urban electric passenger railway services in South East Queensland, Australia.

History

The first railway in Queensland did not actually run to Brisbane, but ran from Ipswich to Grandchester which opened in July 1865. The line into Brisbane was not completed until the opening of the Albert Bridge in July 1875.
A start on electrification of the suburban network was approved in 1950 but a change of state government in 1957 saw the scheme abandoned in 1959. It was not until the 1970s that electrification was again brought up, with contracts let in 1975. The first part of the new electric system from Darra to Ferny Grove opened on 17 November 1979. The network was completed by 1988, with a number of extensions made since and additional rolling stock purchased. Services were initially operated under the Queensland Rail brand, with the Citytrain name established in 1995.
In June 2009 as part the split of Queensland Rail's commuter rail and the freight business, The Citytrain brand was dropped in favour of using the redesigned Queensland Rail brand. Since then most traces of the Citytrain brand have been removed from rolling stock and station signage.

Network

The Queensland Rail City network is made up of ten suburban lines and three interurban lines. Centering in the Brisbane City, it extends as far as Gympie in the north, Varsity Lakes in the south, Rosewood in the west, and Cleveland in the east to Moreton Bay.
In 2015/16, 52.44 million passenger journeys were made.

Urban

Services that connect Metropolitan Brisbane to the Brisbane CBD. The Caboolture line runs express between Bowen Hills and Petrie, stopping only at Eagle Junction and Northgate. The Redcliffe Peninsula line runs express between Bowen Hills and Northgate, stopping only at Eagle Junction. All other suburban lines are all-stop services with the Cleveland & Ipswich/Rosewood lines having express services during on-peak times.

Interurban

Express services which stop only at major stations linking the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Gympie with Brisbane. The trains used on these lines typically are more designed for long distance travel with more comfortable seating, luggage racks and onboard toilet facilities.

RailBus

To relieve congestion on the single track North Coast line 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.

Fleet

All of the Queensland Rail City Network rolling stock is electric and air conditioned.
All trains are electric multiple units with a driver cabin at both ends, with the exception of EM60 through to EM79 having a cab at one end. These units also have only 3 powered bogies compared to the 4 powered bogie arrangement for the remaining EMUs. All EMU, SMU and IMU units consist of 3 cars, giving a fleet total of 621 cars, plus the 20 ICE cars. The ICE units are usually configured as five car trains.
Suburban trains are occasionally scheduled on interurban lines if other toilet equipped rollingstock is not available. While using suburban trains on interurban lines increases operational flexibility, the trains are not provided with the facilities of the IMU, ICE or NGR units, such as toilets or high-backed seats.
The 260 Series SMU, 160 Series IMU and the NGR all come with free Wi-Fi on board. The Wi-Fi usage is limited to 20MB.
75 new six-car New Generation Rollingstock trains were ordered in January 2014 and were delivered between late 2015 and late 2019. A new maintenance facility for these trains was built at Wulkuraka. The first NGR entered service on December 11, 2017.