Moreton Bay Rail Link Update

Progress on the Moreton Bay Rail Link continues with apparent break neck speed with installation of rail infrastructure (ballast, sleepers, steel rail, overhead gantries and wires) underway between Petrie and the Bruce Highway.

Mango Hill Boulevard East above Bonnet Parade will be temporarily closed from Wed March 18 until late April. This closure is required to construct the new road surface from Mango Hill Boulevard East on to the new bridge over the rail line.

Intermittent early morning concrete pours at Mango Hill and Mango Hill East stations will continue until late this month during construction of the station platforms. Concrete trucks arrive on site between 4:00am and 6:30am. Pedestrian overpasses have been installed at Mango Hill and Mango Hill East stations. Roofing over the rail platforms has also been provided. Permanent rail corridor fencing is now being installed in the Mango Hill station precinct, work is now well advanced on the Capestone Boulevard bridge over the rail corridor and the Saltwater Creek rail bridge is all but completed.

Residents who attended the February meeting of the Mango Hill Progress Association were provided with a very informative update of both the overall Rail Project and particularly the Koala Conservation program for which the Moreton Bay Rail Link Project is receiving well deserved credit from the environmental community.

At the meeting, Koala Project Manager, Karen Mooney gave an amazing presentation on the many challenges facing the Koala along the line as well as the process of recording the separate “colonies” of the koala population numbers from Kippa-Ring to Petrie. (Sadly only 15 could be found in the general Mango Hill community.)

Karen indicated that whilst a significant number of Koalas have fallen to wild dogs in the past two years, big steps have been taken to reduce that problem. In addition many Koalas are now being saved through a break-through in medical treatment for chlamydia and there is a growing healthy population in both Kippa-Ring and Petrie areas. Karen and her team appear to have gone to amazing efforts to ensure that our furry friends have the best chance of survival.

Following questions raised at the Progress meeting, Cindy Thomas (Senior Communications Advisor to Moreton Bay Rail Project) advised that: “In regards to the lock up bike facilities, the project will be installing approximately 20 bike parking rails, each parking rail accommodates the securing of two bikes. The bike parking rails will be located in different areas of each station precinct. Petrie Station will have 10 parking rails installed accommodating 20 bikes.”