Roma Street railway station is a commuter and long-distance passenger train station located in the central business district of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is the junction station for the North Coast, Main, Gold Coast and NSW North Coast lines. The station is one of four inner city stations that form a core corridor through the centre of Brisbane.
Although not easily visible to the public, the original 1873 Roma Street railway station building still exists within the modern complex and is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.
History
1800s to 1940s
The construction of a railway station on Roma Street was part of a plan to extend the Main Line to Brisbane. An iron station building designed by Sir Charles Fox & Sons was to be imported from the United Kingdom for this purpose, but economic problems in Queensland led to the order being cancelled. In 1873, the Superintendent of Public Buildings Francis Stanley designed a smaller station for the site, with construction beginning in the same year under John Petrie. The station was officially opened on 14 June 1875 as Brisbane at the same time that the Main Line opened to Indooroopilly.
A goods and carriage shed were added shortly after. In 1882, Roma Street became a junction station with the North Coast line opening to Sandgate. With the opening of Central station as Brisbane's principal station on 18 August 1889, the station was renamed Roma Street. As traffic grew, so did the Roma Street precinct with a locomotive shed added.
In 1911, the precinct was rearranged with the locomotive and carriage sheds relocated to Mayne near Bowen Hills.
On 30 November 1940, Roma Street again became the principal station for long-distance services with new platforms built to the south of the existing platforms.
1970s to early 2000s
Following the opening of the Merivale Bridge on 18 November 1978, Roma Street was also served by Beenleigh line services. On 21 June 1986, it became a dual gauge station with the extension of the standard gauge NSW North Coast line from South Brisbane. In October 1986, the Brisbane Transit Centre opened to the south of the station.
As part of the quadruplication of the North Coast line to Bowen Hills, the station was rebuilt. On 1 November 1995, a new Platform 10 was opened on the station's north side as the platform for long-distance services; these services had previously used Platforms 2 and 3. Platforms 7, 8 and 9 opened on 11 June 1996 while refurbished Platforms 4, 5 and 6 reopened in January 1997.
In 2001, Roma Street Parkland opened to the north of the station on the site of the former Roma Street goods yards. Visitors not travelling on Queensland Rail services can obtain a free pass to transit through the station concourse from Roma Street to the parklands.
Platform 1 became part of the Roma Street busway station on 19 May 2008, with the construction of the Inner Northern Busway.
Cross River Rail and Brisbane Metro Projects
Roma Street Station will be affected by both the Cross River Rail and Brisbane Metro projects.
The Brisbane Transit Centre complex was planned to be demolished in 2020. Businesses in the existing buildings were closed down between late 2018 and early 2019, with reports of controversy surrounding claims for compensation by small business tenants.
According to the Cross River Rail Construction plan, new underground platforms will be constructed to service Cross River Rail services. The next stations for the Cross River Rail services will be Albert Street (southbound) and Exhibition (northbound).
The proposed Brisbane Metro Line 1 services will terminate at Roma Street Station, with the previous station being King George Square. Brisbane Metro Line 2 services will continue through Roma Street following the existing Northern Busway route, with the next stations being Normanby (northbound) and King George Square (southbound).
Due to the anticipated demolition of the Brisbane Transit Centre, a temporary long-distance bus terminal was constructed on the opposite side of Roma Street Station (near Platform 10) and opened in September 2019.
The Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) Else broke through into the new Roma Street station cavern on the 6 August 2021. The second one, TBM Merle, arrived on 23 August 2021.
Services
Roma Street station is served by all suburban and interurban City network lines.
It is also the terminus station for long-distance Traveltrain services and NSW TrainLink's service to Sydney. A motorail loading dock was previously located on Platform 10 but it was removed in 2015.
Services by platform
| Platform | Lines | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roma Street Busway | Bus platforms | |
| 2 | Not used for regularly timetabled services | ||
| 3 | NSW TrainLink North Coast | Sydney Central | 1 daily NSW TrainLink XPT service |
| 4 | Beenleigh | Beenleigh, Kuraby & Coopers Plains | |
| Gold Coast | Varsity Lakes | ||
| 5 | Beenleigh | Beenleigh | |
| Cleveland | Cleveland | ||
| 6 | Beenleigh | Beenleigh & Ferny Grove | |
| Doomben | Doomben | ||
| Airport & Gold Coast | Brisbane Airport Domestic & Varsity Lakes | ||
| Shorncliffe | Shorncliffe | ||
| 7 | Ferny Grove | Ferny Grove | |
| Caboolture | Caboolture | ||
| Doomben | Doomben | ||
| Airport | Brisbane Airport Domestic | ||
| Shorncliffe | Shorncliffe | ||
| Sunshine Coast | Gympie North | ||
| 8 | Ipswich & Rosewood | Ipswich & Rosewood | |
| Springfield | Springfield Central | ||
| 9 | Caboolture | Caboolture | |
| Redcliffe Peninsula | Kippa-Ring | ||
| Sunshine Coast | Nambour and Gympie North | ||
| 10 |  |
Spirit of Queensland to and from Cairns | |
| Spirit of the Outback to and from Longreach | |||
| Tilt Train to and from Bundaberg & Rockhampton | |||
| The Westlander to and from Charleville |
Transport links
To the north of the station is the Brisbane Coach Terminal that opened in 2019 as replacement for the Brisbane Transit Centre. It is used by long distance Bus Queensland, Crisps Coaches, Greyhound Australia, Murrays, NSW TrainLink and Premier Motor Service services.
To the south of the station is Roma Street busway station on the Northern Busway that is served by Transport for Brisbane.
References
- "Cross River Rail Business Case August 2017" (PDF). Government of Queensland. p. 54. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
- ^ "Roma Street Railway Station (entry 601208)". Queensland Heritage Register. Queensland Heritage Council. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
- "OPENING OF THE SANDGATE RAILWAY". The Brisbane Courier. Vol. XXXVI, no. 7, 591. Queensland, Australia. 11 May 1882. p. 3. Retrieved 12 December 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
- "Roma Street stn" Railway Gazette 18 July 1941 page 54
- "Opening of Brisbane Transit Centre" Railway Digest August 1986 page 240
- "New Long-Distance Platform at Roma Street" Railway Digest December 1995 page 21
- "Additional City Tunnels & Track Commissioned" Railway Digest July 1996 page 17
- "QR Citytrain News" Railway Digest March 1997 page 18
- About Roma Street Parkland and Spring Hill Archived 25 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Visit Brisbane, Retrieved 19 November 2019
- "INB Queen St to Upper Roma St". Leighton Contractors. Archived from the original on 18 February 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
- Brisbane Transit Centre Demolition by 2020 for Brisbane Live Archived 19 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine BrisbaneDevelopment.com, Retrieved 19 November 2019
- Tony Moore (10 January 2019). "Brisbane Transit Centre businesses seek compo ahead of eviction". Brisbane Times. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
- Roma Street Station Archived 17 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine Cross River Rail, Retrieved 19 November 2019
- Brisbane Metro Archived 3 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Brisbane City Council, Retrieved 19 November 2019
- Brisbane Coach Terminal Archived 11 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, Retrieved 19 November 2019
- ^ 2021 - Cross River Rail's year of tunnelling. Brisbane: Cross River Rail. 26 October 2021. Archived from the original on 5 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
- "Airport/Gold Coast Line timetable". Translink. 2 March 2020.
- "Beenleigh Line timetable". Translink. 2 March 2020.
- "Cleveland Line timetable". Translink. 2 March 2020.
- "Ipswich Rosewood Line timetable". Translink. 2 March 2020.
- "Springfield Line timetable". Translink. 2 March 2020.
- "Caboolture Line timetable". Translink. 2 March 2020.
- "Doomben Line timetable". TransLink. 2 March 2020.
- "Ferny Grove Line timetable". Translink. 2 March 2020.
- "Shorncliffe Line timetable". Translink. 2 March 2020.
- "Sunshine Coast Line timetable". Translink. 2 March 2020.
- "Inner City timetable" (PDF). Translink. 2 March 2020.
- ^ "Spirit of Queensland timetable" (PDF). Queensland Rail Travel. 13 June 2020.
- ^ "Spirit of the Outback timetable" (PDF). Queensland Rail Travel. 23 June 2020.
- ^ "Tilt Train timetable" (PDF). Queensland Rail Travel. 13 June 2020.
- ^ "Westlander & Inlander timetable" (PDF). Queensland Rail Travel. 19 September 2020.
- ^ "North Coast timetable". NSW TrainLink. 7 September 2019.
- Transporting motor vehicles Archived 21 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine Traveltrain
- Roma Street Platform 4 TransLink
- Roma Street Platform 5 TransLink
- Roma Street Platform 6 TransLink
- Roma Street Platform 7 TransLink
- Roma Street Platform 8 TransLink
- Roma Street Platform 9 TransLink
- Brisbane Coach Terminal Relocation Cross River Rail
- Temporary Coach Terminal Now Complete and Operational South Bank News
- Roma Street busway station Translink
External links
- Roma Street station Queensland Rail
- Roma Street station Queensland's Railways on the Internet
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