No trams here: Buses on the cards as Coolangatta leg of light rail scrapped

The last stage of the Gold Coast’s light rail has been scrapped, with the LNP government saying an independent review exposed a potential multibillion-dollar cost blowout.

Stage four of the light rail system would have provided trams from Burleigh Heads to Coolangatta, via the Gold Coast Airport.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said on Monday the planned expansion had been met with overwhelming opposition on the southern Gold Coast.

An artist’s impression of one leg of the Gold Coast light rail.

“We promised to be a government that listened to the people of Queensland,” he said.

“The Crisafulli government is taking on board consultation and the views of residents of the southern Gold Coast, and we will not be proceeding with Gold Coast light rail stage four.”

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He said Transport Minister Brent Mickleberg had been tasked with coming up with a great plan for public transport for residents of the southern Gold Coast.

“And that means the rollout of more rapid buses immediately,” Bleijie said.

The deputy premier added that the project could have cost up to $9.85 billion, “far exceeding Labor’s previously reported cost of $2.7 billion and their subsequent blowout cost of $7.6 billion”.

Hermann Vorster, MP for the local seat of Palm Beach, said on Facebook on Monday morning that his constituents had spoken “loud and clear”.

“Our community also values simple pleasures in life, like a beach visit,” he later said at a media conference alongside Bleijie.

“And when light rail stage four was revealed to ... abolish 1100 beachside car parks, affect 235 properties with forced resumptions and to put at risk our natural environment, they said no.”

Vorster said a 3D flyover of the plans showing some roads being reduced to one lane had divided the community.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate, a proponent of the light rail extension to Coolangatta, was due to speak later on Monday.

He previously said consultation should have sought the views of people across the Gold Coast, as the whole of the city would use a connection to the airport.

The mayor has also said traffic on the southern Gold Coast would be in gridlock within three years if the project did not go ahead.

The Gold Coast, the nation’s largest non-capital city area, has added almost 70,000 residents since 2019 and has more than 750,000 residents.

The Burleigh to Coolangatta leg of light rail would have included stops at Southern Cross University and tourist attractions including Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and Burleigh Head National Park.

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