The Queensland Rail Citytrain network, provides urban, suburban and

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 ...

electric passenger railway services in

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a bio-geographical, metropolitan, political and administrative region of the state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of approximately 3.8 million people out of the state's population of 5.1 million. Th ...

, Australia.

History

The first railway in Queensland did not run to Brisbane, but ran from

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

Grandchester Grandchester is a rural town and locality in the City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Grandchester had a population of 444 people. Geography Grandchester is located west of the Brisbane CBD. The district historica ...

and opened in July 1865. The line into Brisbane was not completed until the opening of the Albert Bridge in July 1875. A start on

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histo ...

of the suburban network was approved in 1950 but a change of

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

in 1957 saw the scheme abandoned in 1959. It was not until the 1970s that electrification was again brought up, with contracts let in 1975. The first part of the new electric system from Darra to Ferny Grove opened on 17 November 1979. The network was completed by 1988, with a number of extensions made since and additional rolling stock purchased. Services were initially operated under the Queensland Rail brand, with the ''Citytrain'' name established in 1995. In June 2009 as part the split of Queensland Rail's commuter rail and the freight business, The ''Citytrain'' brand was dropped in favour of using the redesigned

Queensland Rail Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Owned by the Queensland Government, it operates local and long-distance passenger services, as well as owning and maintaining approximately 6,600 kilometres of track and relate ...

brand. Since then most traces of the ''Citytrain'' brand have been removed from rolling stock and station signage. On 8 March 2017, the Queensland Government released a report called "Fixing the trains: a high-level implementation plan to transform rail in Queensland" This report officially resurrected the Citytrain network naming for the first time since the split. Since this report, the Citytrain brand has slowly made its way back into reports. This brand re-emergence does not seem to be a controlled and deliberate action, but rather appeared in the report due to the Citytrain brand being well known amongst many within the Brisbane area. The report unofficially initiated a return of the Citytrain branding, and established the Citytrain Response Unit to respond to the plan. The Queensland Rail website refers to the network as two different names. As 'The South East Queensland (SEQ) network', and the 'Citytrain network', however Queensland Rail has used the wording 'Citytrain network' back in 2017.

Network

The

Citytrain network is made up of ten suburban lines and three interurban lines. Centering in the Brisbane City CBD, it extends as far as

Gympie Gympie ( ) is a city and a locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the Wide Bay-Burnett District, Gympie is about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city lies on the Mary River, which floods Gympie occasionally. The ...

in the north, Varsity Lakes in the south,

Rosewood Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. True rosewoods All genuine rosewoods belong to the genus ''Dalbergia''. The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated ...

in the west, and

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

in the east to

Moreton Bay Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...

. In 2018/19, 55 million passenger journeys were made.

Urban

Urban services include those that connect Metropolitan Brisbane to the Brisbane CBD. The Caboolture line runs express between Bowen Hills and Petrie, stopping only at Eagle Junction and Northgate. The Redcliffe Peninsula line runs express between Bowen Hills and Northgate, stopping only at Eagle Junction. All other suburban lines are all-stop services with the Cleveland & Ipswich/Rosewood lines having express services during on-peak times.

Interurban

Express services which stop only at major stations linking the Gold Coast,

Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast may refer to: * Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia **Sunshine Coast Region, a local government area of Queensland named after the region **Sunshine Coast Stadium * Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), geographic subregion of the Br ...

and

with

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

. The trains used on these lines typically are more designed for long-distance travel with more comfortable seating, luggage racks and onboard toilet facilities.

RailBus

To relieve congestion on the single track North Coast line north of

Beerburrum Beerburrum is a small town and coastal locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Beerburrum had a population of 763 people. Geography The locality is north of the state capital, Brisbane. The Bruce Highway passes ...

, the rail service is supplemented by a bus service operated by

Kangaroo Bus Lines Kangaroo Bus Lines is an Australian operator of bus services in the Moreton Bay Region of Brisbane. It operates eight services under contract to the Queensland Government under the Translink banner. History In 1978 Daryl Webster purchased Kan ...

on weekdays between

Caboolture Caboolture () is a town and suburb in Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Caboolture had a population of 26,433 people. It is located on the north side of the Caboolture River, which separates the town from Morayfi ...

and

Nambour Nambour is a rural town and locality in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Nambour had a population of 11,187 people. Geography Nambour is north of the state capital, Brisbane. The town lies in the sub ...

as route 649.

Fleet

All of the

City Network rolling stock is electric and

air conditioned Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

. * Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) - 28 in service (88 built) * Suburban Multiple Unit (SMU) **200 Series (SMU200) - 12 in service (12 built) **220 Series (SMU220) - 30 in service (30 built) ** 260 Series (SMU260) - 36 in service (36 built) * Interurban Multiple Unit (IMU) ** 100 Series (IMU100) - 10 in service (10 built) ** 120 Series (IMU120) - 4 in service (4 built) ** 160 Series (IMU160) - 28 in service (28 built) *

New Generation Rollingstock The New Generation Rollingstock (NGR) is a class of individually-propelled carriages ("electric multiple units") manufactured by Bombardier Transportation in Savli, India for the Queensland Rail City network that entered service between Decembe ...

**700 Series - 75 in service *Rollingstock Expansion Project (Planned) **20-65 new EMUs of undecided design NGR753 approaching Sherwood railway station, Brisbane

NGR753 approaching Sherwood railway station, Brisbane

All trains are

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...

s with a driver cabin at both ends, with the exception of EMU60 through EMU79 having a cab at one end. These units also had only 3 powered bogies (per 3 car set) compared to the 4 powered bogie arrangement for the remaining EMUs. The last of these units, EMU78, was scrapped in August 2020. All EMU, SMU and IMU units consist of 3 cars, giving a fleet total of 621 cars, plus the 20 ICE cars. The ICE units are usually configured as five car trains. Suburban trains are occasionally scheduled on interurban lines if other toilet equipped rollingstock is not available. While using suburban trains on interurban lines increases operational flexibility, the trains are not provided with the facilities of the IMU, ICE or NGR units, such as toilets or high-backed seats. The 260 Series SMU, 160 Series IMU and the NGR all come with free Wi-Fi on board. The Wi-Fi usage is limited to 20MB. 75 new six-car

trains were ordered in January 2014 and were delivered between late 2015 and late 2019. A new maintenance facility for these trains was built at

Wulkuraka Wulkuraka is a western suburb of Ipswich in the City of Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. In the , Wulkuraka had a population of 1,234 people. Geography The Main Line railway enters the suburb from the east (Sadliers Crossing) and exits to the ...

. The first NGR entered service on 11 December 2017. To keep up with projected passenger increases, the procurement of 20 new EMUs was announced in 2020, with TMR considering the option of ordering an additional 45 EMUs, potentially adding up to 65 new electric multiple units in the next decade.

References

External links

*
TransLink
{{Navbox TransLink (SEQ) train network Regional rail in Australia Passenger railway companies of Australia Public transport in Brisbane Public transport in Queensland Rail transport in Queensland Railway companies established in 1995 Translink (Queensland) Australian companies established in 1995