If you’ve ever tried to cross the river to Indooroopilly at peak hour, you know there’s a traffic problem getting from the south to west side.
In recent years, Labor and LNP politicians have argued for a $100M+ duplication of the Walter Taylor Bridge, but Council’s own modelling showed this wouldn’t improve congestion. Instead, it’d just shift the bottleneck, creating 2 new congestion points at Westminster/Lambert Rd in Indooroopilly and another further south on Oxley Rd and Sherwood Rd.
I think there’s a better solution: improving local public transport. As well as better buses and bike lanes in Sherwood and Corinda, we should investigate reopening the old Tennyson Train Line between Corinda and Yeerongpilly.
History of the Tennyson line
In 2011, the Labor State government shut down passenger services on the Tennyson train line and closed Tennyson station. Freight trains still use the tracks, but despite significant residential developments popping up along the line and surrounding suburbs, this public transport corridor is effectively going to waste.
Translink introduced the 104 and 105 buses to replace train services, but they’re slow, unreliable and infrequent.
What are the benefits?
Reopening the Tennyson line would mean:
- Maiwar locals near Indro or Toowong stations could quickly and easily get to the southside without going through the city
- Commuters from southside suburbs like Annerley, Moorooka and Yeerongpilly could take public transport instead of adding to traffic congestion across the river
- Longer trips on public transport, like Ipswich to the Gold Coast, or Logan to Springfield, would be much easier
With the Olympics in 2032 (including tennis at the Tennyson Centre), now’s the time to begin planning these cross-suburban links.