Roma Street is a commuter and long-distance passenger railway station located in the central business district of Brisbane, Queensland. It is the junction station for the North Coast, Main, Gold Coast and NSW North Coast lines. The station is one of four inner city stations that form a core corridor through the centre of Brisbane.
Although not easily visible to the public, the original 1873 Roma Street railway station building still exists within the modern complex and is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.
History 1800s to 1940s
The construction of a railway station on Roma Street was part of a plan to extend the Main Line to Brisbane. An iron station building designed by Sir Charles Fox & Sons was to be imported from the United Kingdom for this purpose, but economic problems in Queensland led to the order being cancelled. In 1873, the Superintendent of Public Buildings Francis Stanley designed a smaller station for the site, with construction beginning in the same year under John Petrie. The station was officially opened on 14 June 1875 as Brisbane at the same time that the Main Line opened to Indooroopilly.
A goods and carriage shed were added shortly after. In 1882, Roma Street became a junction station with the North Coast line opening to Sandgate. With the opening of Central station as Brisbane's principal station on 18 August 1889, the station was renamed Roma Street. As traffic grew, so did the Roma Street precinct with a locomotive shed added.
In 1911, the precinct was rearranged with the locomotive and carriage sheds relocated to Mayne near Bowen Hills.
On 30 November 1940, Roma Street again became the principal station for long-distance services with new platforms built to the south of the existing platforms."Roma Street stn" Railway Gazette 18 July 1941 page 54
1970s to early 2000s
Following the opening of the Merivale Bridge on 18 November 1978, Roma Street was also served by Beenleigh line services. On 21 June 1986, it became a dual gauge station with the extension of the standard gauge NSW North Coast line from South Brisbane."Opening of Brisbane Transit Centre" Railway Digest August 1986 page 240 In October 1986, the Brisbane Transit Centre opened to the south of the station.
As part of the quadruplication of the North Coast line to Bowen Hills, the station was rebuilt. On 1 November 1995, a new Platform 10 was opened on the station's north side as the platform for long-distance services; these services had previously used Platforms 2 and 3."New Long-Distance Platform at Roma Street" Railway Digest December 1995 page 21 Platforms 7, 8 and 9 opened on 11 June 1996"Additional City Tunnels & Track Commissioned" Railway Digest July 1996 page 17 while refurbished Platforms 4, 5 and 6 reopened in January 1997."QR Citytrain News" Railway Digest March 1997 page 18
In 2001, Roma Street Parkland opened to the north of the station on the site of the former Roma Street goods yards.About Roma Street Parkland and Spring Hill , Visit Brisbane, Retrieved 19 November 2019 Visitors not travelling on Queensland Rail services can obtain a free pass to transit through the station concourse from Roma Street to the parklands.
Platform 1 became part of the Roma Street busway station on 19 May 2008, with the construction of the Inner Northern Busway.
Cross River Rail and Brisbane Metro Projects
Roma Street Station will be affected by both the Cross River Rail and Brisbane Metro projects.
The Brisbane Transit Centre complex was planned to be demolished in 2020.Brisbane Transit Centre Demolition by 2020 for Brisbane Live BrisbaneDevelopment.com, Retrieved 19 November 2019 Businesses in the existing buildings were closed down between late 2018 and early 2019, with reports of controversy surrounding claims for compensation by small business tenants.
According to the Cross River Rail Construction plan, new underground platforms will be constructed to service Cross River Rail services.Roma Street Station Cross River Rail, Retrieved 19 November 2019 The next stations for the Cross River Rail services will be Albert Street (southbound) and Exhibition (northbound).
The Brisbane Metro Line 1 services terminate at Roma Street Station, with the previous station being King George Square. Brisbane Metro Line 2 services continue through Roma Street following the existing Northern Busway route, with the next stations being Normanby (northbound) and King George Square (southbound).Brisbane Metro , Brisbane City Council, Retrieved 19 November 2019
Due to the demolition of the Brisbane Transit Centre, a temporary long-distance bus terminal was constructed on the opposite side of Roma Street Station (near Platform 10) and opened in September 2019.Brisbane Coach Terminal , Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, Retrieved 19 November 2019
The Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) Else broke through into the new Roma Street station cavern on the 6 August 2021. The second one, TBM Merle, arrived on 23 August 2021.
Services Roma Street station is served by all suburban and interurban City network lines.
It is also the terminus station for long-distance Traveltrain services and NSW TrainLink's service to Sydney. A motorail loading dock was previously located on Platform 10 but it was removed in 2015.Transporting motor vehicles Traveltrain
Platforms and services
Roma Street Platform Line Type Destination Notes 1 Bus Outbound M1, M2, 61, 205, 222, 325, 330, 333, 340, 345, 350, 359, 385, 390, 444, 453, 454, 460 2 Inbound 3 Rail Sydney Central 4 Beenleigh Varsity Lakes 5 Beenleigh Cleveland 6 Beenleigh Ferny Grove Doomben Domestic Airport Varsity Lakes Shorncliffe 7 Ferny Grove Caboolture Doomben Domestic Airport Shorncliffe Nambour or Gympie North 8 Ipswich or Rosewood Springfield 9 Caboolture Kippa-Ring Nambour or Gympie North 10 Cairns Long-distance services Longreach Bundaberg or Rockhampton Charleville 11 Under construction for Cross River Rail 12 Under construction for Cross River Rail
Transport links To the north of the station is the Brisbane Coach Terminal that opened in 2019 as replacement for the Brisbane Transit Centre.Brisbane Coach Terminal Relocation Cross River RailTemporary Coach Terminal Now Complete and Operational South Bank News It is used by long distance Bus Queensland, Crisps Coaches, Greyhound Australia, Murrays, NSW TrainLink and Premier Motor Service services.
To the south of the station is Roma Street busway station on the Northern Busway that is served by Transport for Brisbane.Roma Street busway station Translink
Notes
References
External links
Roma Street station Queensland Rail Roma Street station Queensland's Railways on the Internet