Rail should be "the core" of the Gold Coast's public transport future and should be prioritised in this year's federal budget or the upcoming election, according to an infrastructure research group.
The deputy director of Griffith University's Cities Research Institute, Professor Matthew Burke, said extending heavy rail south to Gold Coast Airport was vital.
"Come the Olympics, I can't see how we can run the city like we'd like to and run the kind of air movements we'd like to without heavy rail being connected," he said.
The City of Gold Coast was not included in the $1.8 billion South East Queensland City Deal last week after the council had earlier discontinued its membership in the Council of Mayors, through which the funding was organised.
But Professor Burke said the federal budget and election campaign offered opportunities for the city to secure other infrastructure funding.
Heavy rail long-time coming
In 2019, Gold Coast Airport carried more than six million passengers.
There have been almost a dozen plans or studies into extending heavy rail south to the airport since 1997, some of which Professor Burke said he had been involved with.
The latest is a $22 million state and federal investigation of the Gold Coast-Brisbane line, including a possible extension south.
"The corridor is all set, it's all a matter of funding," he said.
But Professor Burke said the additional capacity afforded by heavy rail was needed as well.
"We already have a large market from Logan and the southern suburbs of the city of Brisbane using Gold Coast Airport, and I see that increasing over time," he said.
Acting Mayor Donna Gates said council had "put our wishlist forward", with its funding priorities being for the next stage of Home of the Arts (HOTA), light rail stage four, and the city's Greenheart project.
"We are the tourism capital and we're trying to develop our cultural heart," she said.
Still more to be done
The Gold Coast's population is tipped to reach one million by 2034, presenting a serious public transport challenge for a city largely dependent on cars.
Each new resident added 3.1 car trips per day to the road network and the average travel time was 64 minutes per day with about 85 per cent done in private vehicles, according to Infrastructure Australia.
"As a historically linear, dispersed city with low-density residential development spread over a large area, travel patterns are complex," a March 2022 report from Infrastructure Australia said.
"The system currently faces other challenges including network coverage outside the coastal corridor, bus network delays, and inconsistent travel times due to road congestion, and ease of transfer between modes."
While east-west bus routes were not a federal responsibility, Professor Burke said extending the heavy rail south to the airport would have "region-wide" benefits.
"More flights and more opportunity out of Gold Coast Airport — and it's all about that infrastructure," he said.
This week the federal government matched the state government's $1.12 billion funding commitment for upgrades to the Kuraby–Beenleigh rail lines, north of the Gold Coast.
