Public Transport Infrastructure - Brisbane Bus Rapid Transit System - Assignment Example

This project will involve the construction of a train system covering a total of 17.2km with a total of 11 stations. The project can be classified as medium capacity or heavy capacity metro the two systems being similar, except that the latter involves the use of more coaches per train than the former (Metro Transit, 2006). The system has the advantage of the flexibility of its expansion both in terms of capacity increase and the selection of right of way. The building of the system can have all three forms, underground, surface, or elevated.

This means that the selection of system makes it possible to run on surface, underground, elevated guide meaning it has the ability to cover open areas as well as the CBD. The requirement of this system can easily be increased with future demands by simply increasing the number of coaches for each train or by increasing the number of trains available per hour with a possibility of running trains to an interval as close as 120 seconds (Commonwealth Government, 1990). With the heavy capacity metro system, it will be possible to deal with high densities within the city with the trains expected to have 4 to 8 coaches with accompanying infrastructure also being large.

The gauge for the rail will be a 1067mm narrow gauge and overhead electric traction of 25Kv which conforms to all Queensland design and operating specifications (Brisbane City Council, 2000). The track structure of the system puts into consideration that the facilities will always be under intensive use with a minimal time of day-to-day maintenance taking place. This, therefore, means that the track structure should be long-lasting requiring minimal or no maintenance at the same time ensuring a very high level of safety, reliability, and comfort with a considerable reduction of the level of noise and vibration (Auer,1974).

The paper highlights the features from the TransLink Public Transport Infrastructure Manual that can be incorporated in order to facilitate an effective attractive, amenable, and safe mass transit corridor.