THE number of passengers travelling on Springfield’s rail line has grown almost three times faster than the state network average.
In a glimmer of good news for Ipswich’s public transport situation, new data shows 1.09 million passengers travelled on the Richlands Springfield Central line in the 2017-18 financial year.
Springfield Central was the most popular station, with 482,913 passengers.
Rail Back on Track spokesman Robert Dow said the figures were good news for Ipswich’s busy eastern corridor.
“It’s good people are using the system and it adds momentum for improvements to the bus network to get people to and from the station,” he said.
Since the 2016-17 financial year, patronage across the state’s rail network has grown 3.36 per cent.
Growth at Springfield Central has outstripped the average by recording an 8.13 per cent increase.
“Springfield looks good,” Mr Dow said.
While passenger numbers are positive at Springfield, other rail lines remain underutilised, Mr Dow said.
“It’s been pretty bad on the Ipswich-Rosewood line,” he said.
In the previous financial year, 1.77 million passengers used the line.
It was the first time in five years the network has recorded an increase in growth after a steady decline in numbers from a height of 2.1 million in 2012-13.
Mr Dow puts the most recent increase partly down to a new fare structure and regional growth.
The population is increasing generally and people at Redbank Plains and places like that are driving to the Ipswich rail line,” he said.
Mr Dow said improvements still needed to be made on the region’s bus network.
He said park ‘n’ ride facilities at stops along the network were at capacity. Ipswich Station had the highest passenger fall, with 23,389 people deserting the track.
Redbank was the most improved station, with passenger numbers growing about 19,000 on the previous year, to 229,145.
“It’s good to see Rosewood has got growth – people are starting to use the Ipswich to Rosewood line,” Mr Dow said.
He said the passenger number information should be made free on the Translink website.
“TMR should make this sort of data available,” he said. “Having to pay $48 for this is fairly outrageous.”