Railway_Digest__February_2018

An interesting feature of the Gold Coast light rail line stage two is the use of gauntlet track on the ramp leading from Gold Coast University
Hospital station to street level and the junction for a siding. GoldLinQ says the gauntlet track avoids the need for the moving parts of the
turnouts to be located on the curved section of the underground track. The track to the left leads to the siding where trams can be stored for
special services or during service disruptions. It could also form the start of the proposed line to Harbourtown. In this Sunday, 17 December
2017 view tram No. 10, adorned in all-over advertising for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, passes the junction for the tracks to
the siding. Grooved rails are used on the ramp section, mounted on pads attached to the concrete slab. The tram is about to re-join fully
enclosed concrete track to cross the Olsen Avenue/Wintergreen Drive/Parklands Drive intersection. The use of all-over advertising on many
of the GoldLinQ trams has been the source of much criticism given that it obscures passenger views on a line used by many tourists.
The tram running time from Gold Coast University Hospital to
Helensvale station is 11 minutes for a distance of 7.3 kilometres while
the route via Harbourtown would be approximately nine kilometres.
After crossing the Olsen Avenue and Parklands Drive/Wintergreen
Drive intersection, with the traffic signals in the form of ‘T’ signals
normally giving priority to trams providing they approach the intersection
at low speed, trams enter private right-of-way on open ballast track.
Plain rail (without grooves) on concrete sleepers is used for the rest of
the extension except at stations and level crossings where concrete
enclosed track is employed. The tracks curve to take up an alignment
beside the Smith Street Motorway, the main road access from the
Pacific Motorway to Southport and Surfers Paradise. The line then
crosses Biggera Creek and a signaled level crossing for a bikeway that
has been relocated beside the tracks along most of the alignment
beside Smith Street. Trams then climb to the first of two intermediate
stations, Parkwood East, where an island platform is provided. This
station serves an adjacent residential area on the northern side of the
alignment and is a ‘walk-up’ station with no car parking provided.
The tracks then climb a hill which required heavy earthworks to
widen the cutting already in place for the Smith Street Motorway.
Nevertheless, a grade of approximately 1 in 14 is encountered but
thanks to an adequate power supply and the performance of the
Bombardier Flexity 2 trams, the climb is made effortlessly to the ridge
where Uplands Drive is located before descending to Parklands station
where an emergency crossover is provided just before the station.
Side platforms are used at this station, which is intended to be a
park-and-ride site with a large car park accommodating 1,000 vehicles
provided on the southern side of the Smith Street motorway. Access
from the car park to the station is currently via a signalised pedestrian
crossing but, in a late addition to the project, a pedestrian bridge
with stairs and lifts is being provided over the busy motorway. It is
expected to be completed in the first quarter of this year. However, easy
pedestrian access is provided on the northern side to the Parkwood
residential area.
Northbound trams departing Parkview encounter a signalised level
crossing at busy Napper Road (again tram priority signals are provided)
before the line curves to the north to proceed along the eastern side of
Queensland Rail’s Gold Coast line. Coombabah Creek is crossed and the
tracks then proceed north beside the heavy rail line to reach Helensvale
station. Between Parkwood and Helensvale two sections of concrete
enclosed track are encountered – the first around one kilometre north
of Parkwood adjacent to the Arundel Springs housing development
east of the line and the second approximately one kilometre south
of Helensvale where another residential development known as The
Surrounds is being marketed. These concrete track sections mark the
locations of future stations. It is interesting to note that one option
considered as an alternative to taking the light rail to Helensvale station
was to terminate the line at a new heavy rail station at Parkwood. The
construction of an extra station on the Gold Coast line at Parkwood
was not favoured by the Queensland Government so Helensvale has
become the interchange station with the advantage that the light rail
also serves the large shopping centre at that location.
Approaching Helensvale station trams encounter, in the best of
tramway traditions, a scissors crossover to access an island platform.
36 RAILWAY DIGEST