Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Friday 29 September 1922, page 6


REDLAND RAILWAY

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COMMISSION'S REPORT.

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CLEVELAND BOUTE FAVOURED.

The report of the Royal Commission on Public. Works (Messrs. J. Stopford, J. Payne, H. J. Ryan, J. T. Gilday, and C. Collins), in regard to the proposed- rail-way extension from Belmont, Sunnybank, or Cleveland to Redland Bay was laid on the table of the Legislative Assembly yes-terday. The commission recommends the route from Cleveland to Redland Bay,

ESTIMATED COST, £45,000.

The report states: "After carefully in-vestigating the proposals advanced in favour of the rival routes from every point of view, we unanimously came to the fol-lowing decision : 'That the commission re-commend the extension of the railway from Cleveland to Redland Bay. a dis-tance of 7½ miles, at a cost of £45,000, oi £6000 per mile.' From the information supplied by railway experts we learned that the length of the line to construct, and the through distances from Brisbane, would be .approximately as follows :—Bris-bane to Redland Bay, via Cleveland, 7½ miles to construct, 30 miles to travel; Bris-bane to Redland Bay, via Runcorn, 18 and 28J; . Brisbane to Redland Bay, via Bel-mont, 18 and 26¼. Mr. Amos, the Inspect-ing Surveyor of the Railway Department, reported that it was scarcely practicable to leave the South Coast railway at Sunny-bank (9 miles), and so selected-Runcorn (11 miles) as a better place for a junction. The bulk of the evidence placed before the

commission favoured a connection between Cleveland and Redland Bay, and this is also supported by the report of the Rail-way Surveyor."

ENGINEERING AND FINANCE.

In further remarks the commissioners state that if the Belmont tramway were extended to Redland Bay considerable ex-penditure would be necessary in widening formation, improving the grades, strength-ening the road and bridges to carry heavier rolling stock, and fencing, the line. Owing to the indifferent nature of most of the country (with the exception of the fertile areas at Mount Cotton) it would cost £7000 per mile to connect Bel-mont with Redland Bay, thus entailing an expense of £120,000 for the 18 miles. The route from Runcorn to Redland Bay would also serve the excellent areas adjacent to Mount Cotton, but mainly the route is similar to the Belmont country. More bridging would be required, which would bring the cost to £7000 per mile, or, ap-proximately £126,000 for the 18 miles to Redland Bay. The fine fruit and agricul-tural lands at Rochedale and Eight-Mile Plains were already served by the South Coast railway. The route from Cleveland to Redland Bay traversed fine land throughout. The rich fertile red lands were famous for the heavy crops of-fruit they produced, while vegetables of all kinds grew in abundance. This routes would also serve the beautiful agricultural areas at Thornlands and Victoria Point. both of which had a fine appearance and were being well cultivated. The 71 miles to connect Cleveland with Redland Bay was estimated to cost £6000 per mile, or £45,000 altogether. The route from Cleveland had the advantage in the excellent pro-spects it offered for future expansion, and as it had a lesser mileage to construct, the commissioners favoured it over the other two proposals.