Re: Re: Thousands flood tramlines as GC600 finishes | Gold Coast Bulletin
  Richard Youl

Re the GC600 patrons, Main Beach is the main grandstand entry point but Surfers Paradise North certainly gets some use as well. I went and took a look at the tram arrangements a few years back.

Since the tramway opened there are few competing bus services in that vicinity. Also there are no parking stations nearby either so virtually the entire crowd would have to come and go by tram, unless their accommodation was within walking distance of the venue.

With the considerable rain and lightning that appeared here around 3:15 PM Eastern standard Time, I expect there was a sudden exodus and some very wet people unless they heeded the weather forecast. All the grandstands are erected and dismantled each year and I don’t expect too many, if any, would have roofing.

One observation of a few years ago was that marshals on the platform were excessively limiting tram capacity to a little more than a full seated load, over-providing for potential passengers further along the line. I think they need to take a look at how much larger crowds are handled by trams in Melbourne.

I just took a look at the current journey planner timetable and the trams are operating the usual weekday seven, eight, seven, eight, minute headway instead of the 10 minutes for Sundays. This is short of the six minute headways during the Commonwealth games and there appeared to be no extras in the timetable although I suppose a couple could have been slotted in somewhere unannounced.

Regards,

On 21 Oct 2018, at 10:11 am, Prescott lenkaprescott@...> wrote:

John Cowper has a photo of what appears to be the current stabling yard plan as well as an aerial photo which show that the only way for a tram to traverse through to that Ascot St gate is through the sand replenishing area and wash bay!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/johncowper/29599622174

Since the original plan they have certainly closed their buildings right up to the racecourse fence and old tram station gate that you see in the NFSA video and obliterated any chance of reinstating a track and platform through that way. From the aerial, it seems also that the racecourse has done things that indicate that they don't want the public entering that way either..

So the racecourse is one of the "stakeholders" that had an interest in being served by CSELR, yet as long as it is the most minimalist, most-distant and inconvenient solution. I guess the crowds will be clogging up the public footpaths like they are in that Gold Coast photo. I believe, however, that the GC600 is also serviced by Surfers Paradise North stop which has side platforms and is in a small plaza providing at least some holding area. I wonder how many people come to use the trams at both stops at the end of the GC600 event?

The line at Moore Park has a maximum capacity of about 13,500 per hour in one direction. There are two stadiums there with a capacity of about 46,000 to 48,000 each (plus the adjacent entertainment quarter) but they are unlikely to use both stadiums simultaneously. The racecourse stop will have a capacity at start-up of about 9,500 per hour in one direction and the racecourse has a (rubbery) capacity of about 50,000. They don't plan for moving crowds like they used to, but at least it's a lot better than buses alone.

Tony P

> On Sunday, 21 October 2018 10:30:21 UTC+11, bblunt wrote:

> I noticed in a report on the recent event that "the gates were closed" at the 40,000 capacity mark, so I guess that's 10K people they don't have to cater for.

>

> There is a dead end siding off the main internal loop that goes almost to the Ascot St gate. Apart from a traction support pole right in the middle, the track could easily be extended into Ascot St to connect with Anzac Pde tracks. At the very least, such a connection would have been useful for OoS running to/from Kingsford. It would not be difficult to put a platform adjacent to this siding for access to the racecourse. Perhaps there would be OHS objections to having loaded trams passing through the depot confines to reach it?

>

> When I chatted to one of the Altrac people at an early "information session", he thought the Ascot connection was a good idea, but had no knowledge of its previous existence.

>

> Brian