In Estimates on Friday 11 December 2020, I asked about possible accessibility upgrades for Taringa Train Station.
You can read the answer below or in the official Queensland Parliament Record of Proceedings (Hansard).
Mr BERKMAN: I have a question in relation to the Station Accessibility Upgrade Program. I should start by saying how glad I am to see the Auchenflower upgrade underway. I have also been on the record for a long time about the need for accessibility upgrades at Taringa station, which is only accessible via really narrow stairs. I want to clarify very quickly with the director-general, first of all, which agency—QR or the department—is responsible for producing that priority list of stations requiring upgrades?
Mr Scales: The priority list is produced after consultation with the minister, but it is a QR list. Because we fund it through the transport services contract, we are involved. The Strachan inquiry listed major projects that should be undertaken either by QR or by us, and it was decided that upgrades to existing rail stations would be handled by QR. It would be a QR initiated thing. We would be involved because of TransLink and our transport side of things and the fact that we are the funder. Then eventually those recommendations would go to the minister, who would make the decision.
Mr BERKMAN: I suspect that, despite that split of responsibility, this should not be difficult to answer. I am curious to know when the list was last reviewed. In terms of Taringa, did that review consider the newly opened private hospital right next to Taringa station?
Mr Scales: I am quite interested in that station because I know it pretty well. The hospital itself is that private hospital, as you said. There are two other stations I think in your electorate that are fully independently accessible. That is Toowong and Indooroopilly, either side of Taringa. If you have two accessible stations very close to each other—these two are—we would look at Taringa in its constructability. There are a lot of challenges. You have that car park as well as the coffee shop that is next to it, and then you have the underpass that goes to the station when you come down from whatever road it is to get there. I think it is more about constructability. It would need lifts and, because you have a station either side of it, that would not have gone forward at this point.