Queensland Train Manufacturing Program fleet

 

Welcome to the Queensland Train Manufacturing Program (QTMP), where Queensland's future in rail manufacturing is taking shape.

 

From our purpose-built Torbanlea facility on the Fraser Coast, 65 new six-car passenger trains will be built to connect communities across the Southeast Queensland rail network.

From 2026, the facility will employ around 200 frontline workers and 100 professional staff.

The train manufacturing process will begin in the car body sub-assembly shop.

Here under frames, walls and roof structures will be built, before precision welding techniques bring them together to form the car body.

Each car will then move through eight fit-out stations.

Vital components such as seating, climate control and control consoles will be installed while the driver's cab will be fitted with cutting edge technology and a reinforced collision frame to ensure safety and performance.

At the heart of every QTMP train will be the bogie, the chassis that carries the wheels, suspension and braking components. Power will be collected through the pantograph and transferred through a traction motor and gearbox to drive the wheels.

Each bogie frame will be made from more than 100 individual parts. Welded together with precision, these bogies will support the train's weight, absorb shocks and keep every journey smooth and stable.

Before entering service, each train will undergo rigorous testing. This will include waterproofing checks and testing on specially laid tracks. Covering traction, braking, high speed runs and service simulations to ensure every system works flawlessly under real world conditions.

Once testing is complete, each train will be ready to join Queensland's growing rail network and as one train rolls out, the process will begin again, keeping Queensland at the forefront of modern rail manufacturing, creating lasting opportunities for the region and building a legacy for generations to come.

Co-design as a concept is very sound, it identifies issues before they become issues.

This particular co-design process has been one of the better ones, if not the best I've been involved with.

So I'm more than pleased that we've been heard, our recommendations have been acted upon and wherever practicable changes are being made.

Just talking on behalf of people who because of what they're living with, they withdraw from society.

So these are not people that we take much notice of traditionally.

So for me to be able to bring that perspective and to be able to say this is what this person is experiencing when they look at public transport, what's making it accessible for people who have social anxiety?

There's little tiny pockets of space where we can feel more private and more contained and more in control of your environment.

And that's really clever design.

Being able to enter the service where it's completely level allows me to be able to access the facility independently.

If people aren't able to use a particular good or a service, they'll stay home and isolate, which is dangerous.

It's not healthy for people as individuals and it's not good for the community.

50% of people with disability don't currently work for a variety of reasons, and transport's one of them.

So the more people that have employment, the more things they want to do in the community.

Everybody wins from this.

The train builders have never gone through a co-design process before.

They are taking note of what the customer experiences are in the way that they're dealing with the proposed design and understanding why part of that design perhaps doesn't quite work as well as it could or should.

We have train builders on the one hand and you've got the project team from the Department of Transport and then you have the customer group that are working together respectfully and very well, exceptionally well.

Best things are worked out at 1:1 scale, which is to say you come and look at it, feel it, and you find out what does and doesn't work.

What looks good on paper might not work in practise.I have really enjoyed seeing the physical representation and it has made a difference to walk through it and to be able to touch things and to sit and, and to bring a representative, you know, someone with lived experience to, to be able to do that as well was really valuable.

And then to hear them walk away and say I can't wait to get on that train.

And I think we, we, we're doing something good here.

We do have an exceptionally good toilet module with a left and a right-hand transfer option.

I don't know of any other train that offers that.

And that was based on feedback from our group.

So if people hop on this train, no matter who they are, and find that it's a comfortable and enjoyable experience to actually catch the train, I would hope they'd get on and not notice anything because it was so convenient that they didn't have to think.

I don't like that.

That would be my best outcome.

Watching their response to saying people thought about us when they designed this train, I think it's a bigger message.

It is great for the trains, it's really valuable for Brisbane and for Australia and for our public transport systems.

But it's also a bigger message to the wider community that who you are and how you live and what's important to you matters.