Railway advocates anticipate a plan to extend the passenger line from Beerwah to Caloundra and Maroochydore may finally get traction after decades of talk because of a special funding agreement for the Olympic Games.
The existing railway line from Brisbane currently only passes through the hinterland from Beerburrum to Nambour, with no access to the coastal strip.
But Transport Minister Mark Bailey has revealed a project, dubbed CAMCOS — which has not progressed since 1999 — will now be re-examined in 2022 because of the 2032 Olympics and population growth.
CAMCOS was envisioned as a heavy rail line from Brisbane, branching east at Beerwah and taking passengers directly to coastal suburbs at Caloundra and Maroochydore.
There could be stations at Caloundra South (Aura), Caloundra (near the aerodrome), Currimundi, Sunshine Coast University Hospital, Kawana and Parrearra enroute to Maroochydore.
Mr Bailey said the Games was a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to get transport infrastructure like this for the Coast.
But the announcement after decades of broken promises has raised what could be a $2 billion question. Back in 2005, the Beattie State Government referred to CAMCOS as a “$1 billion fast passenger rail service” which in today’s terms could be double this amount.
There’s also a big question mark over whether this amount of money would be invested in Sunshine Coast infrastructure after decades of local residents seeing such cash flow towards the Gold Coast and Brisbane.
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It took considerable pressure and work to secure the $550.8 million Beerburrum to Nambour Rail (B2N) Stage 1 upgrade, which is now on track.
This was a jointly funded project, with the Federal Government contributing $390m and the Queensland Government investing $160.8m.
Rail campaigner Jeff Addison said he believed the trigger for CAMCOS being reconsidered now could be a 50-50 funding agreement between the State and Federal Governments for the 2032 Olympic Games.
The Federal Government has agreed to pay half the cost of building infrastructure for the Games, which means the Queensland Government would not have to foot the entire bill for the expensive transport project.
“The State Government would be crazy not to look at it now because they would be doing a 50-50 funding split — otherwise they would be responsible for it 100 per cent,” said Mr Addison.
“$2.2 billion to build a railway line to Maroochydore, therefore $1.1 billion each.”
CAMCOS, which stands for Caboolture to Maroochydore Corridor Study, has been talked about since 1999 but no significant progress has been made in the decades since, other than:
- Identifying the proposed corridor
- Buying and securing land along the proposed corridor
- Upgrading and duplicating the line between Caboolture and Beerburrum
The Beattie Government claimed in 2007 that the first stage of CAMCOS to Caloundra would be open by 2015, followed by the second stage to Maroochydore by 2020.
But those dates have passed without a sod turning.
Recently, a consortium led by Federal MP for Fairfax Ted O’Brien tried to push an alternative proposal for much more expensive fast rail, dubbed North Coast Connect, which would use the same CAMCOS corridor.
However, that $5.3 billion bid was not accepted for funding by Infrastructure Australia because it lacked a proponent ie. the State Government, and was economically unviable.
Mr O’Brien last month told media he had refashioned that idea with a “compromise” solution to extend the line to Maroochydore but design it to accommodate fast rail in the future.
Now Transport Minister Mark Bailey says because of the Olympics, the original CAMCOS project “is absolutely viable into the Sunshine Coast in the future”.
Mr Bailey confirmed it “will be discussed formally with the Commonwealth next year once governance for the Games is decided between the State and Federal governments”.
The bill to enable the establishment of the governance committee is expected to pass State Parliament within days which means the committee could be decided early next year.
Mr Bailey said the State Government was “committed to the CAMCOS heavy rail concept” and “continued to preserve the corridor for a future rail link to Maroochydore”.
A Transport Department spokesperson has also confirmed further planning is already underway as part of the review.
“The Sunshine Coast region has been growing with developments such as Caloundra South (AURA), the Sunshine Coast University Hospital and the Maroochydore Town Centre and this review will consider these areas,” said the spokesperson.
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CAMCOS is high on the list of Sunshine Coast Council’s desired projects and the Mayor Mark Jamieson said it was “long overdue”.
“No side of politics in either the State or Federal governments have ever seen fit to commit to fund and deliver this critical project,” he said.
Mayor Jamieson said the council had to do the essential planning work to convince the other levels of government to address the region’s public transport needs.
“During 2021 we have seen a 14 per cent increase in migration to the Sunshine Coast, including a 24 per cent increase during the March quarter alone — according to the Regional Movers Index.
“We expect more than half a million people will live on the Sunshine Coast in the next 20 years.
“With that in mind, we must take the opportunity to carefully examine how residents and visitors will move around in the future — and particularly when the Games takes place in less than eleven years’ time.”
Mayor Jamieson said at its core, the council’s transport strategy aimed to “change the way we travel” and “shift people out of their private vehicles and into active and passenger transport”.
Emeritus Professor Mike Hefferan, whose expertise is regional development, said even though CAMCOS had not advanced for two decades, the State Government had done the most important work of buying and securing the land.
“It’s so important that the corridor be kept. With long term infrastructure, to hold a corridor for many many years is cool,” said Prof Hefferan.
“Imagine if they needed it now and had to acquire the land now, it would be impossible.
“You can debate what it should look like and when it should start but respect for at least they had the foresight to protect the corridor.”
Prof Hefferan said a major public transport project like CAMCOS would not come cheap.
“Public infrastructure in whatever form is extremely expensive, whether it’s a highway or rail, they are just monumentally expensive,” he said.
“But if you want the lifestyle and to get away from road transport you just have to bite the bullet. It’s not going to come magically.”
