QLD
NEWS
Cross River Rail ‘guaranteed’ with PPP signing QUEENSLAND TREASURER JACKIE Trad says the formal signing of a tunnels and stations contract means the $5.4 billion Cross River Rail is guaranteed to go ahead. A $2.7 billion public private partnership (PPP) contract to build Cross River Rail’s 5.9-kilometre twin tunnels and four new underground stations was finalised with the Pulse consortium on July 1. Trad, who championed the project despite the federal government’s decision not to support it during her time as transport minister, said the state was showing its determination to get the project done with the deal. “Major construction will start later this year as scheduled, starting with the demolition of the Roma Street Transit Centre,” Trad said. “After the Newman LNP government scrapped this project and tore up the funding deal, we have got it back on track. Our commitment to this project will see tunnelling construction kick off next year too.” Cross River Rail is a new 10.2-kilometre rail link from Dutton Park to Bowen Hills, a route which will include 5.9 kilometres of tunnel under the Brisbane River and CBD. On top of providing public transport to four new CBD stations, it is expected to act as a major release valve for congestion across the entire South East Queensland passenger rail network. The scope of the tunnel and stations PPP handed down on July 1 includes the tunnel itself, from a southern portal near Dutton Park station, under the Brisbane River and the CBD, to a northern portal beyond Normanby. Then there are four new underground stations to be built ad Boggo Road, Woolloongabba, Albert Street and Roma Street. The contract includes the portals themselves, the dive structures needed to build the stations, and all associated mechanical, electrical and safety systems, underground track work, traction power systems, and the selection of rail operation and control infrastructure. It also includes a development opportunity above the new Albert Street station. Separate contracts have been awarded for the rail, integration and systems side of
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Cross River Rail will cost the state roughly $5.4 billion.
the project, and yet another was awarded to Hitachi STS to deliver a European Train Control System Level 2 solution under a $634 million investment from the state government. “By 2036, the south-east corner [of Queensland] will be home to nearly five million people which makes the need for turn up and go public transport essential,” Trad said. “South East Queensland is one of Australia’s fastest growing regions, and we need to build infrastructure now that helps us keep pace with that growth. Our public transport network is nearing capacity, constrained by a single rail river crossing with all lines running through the same four city centre stations.
“Cross River Rail will unlock this bottleneck creating new capacity for the whole region as it grows, ensuring highcapacity train stations where they are needed most.” The state’s determined July 1 signing of the PPP came in the wake of a shock federal election win for the LiberalNational Coalition, which has committed to not fund Cross River Rail. Federal Labor, by contrast, had promised more than $2 billion to the project. Despite Queensland’s Labor state government, Queenslanders played a crucial role in returning the Coalition to power at the federal election and, in turn, handed their state government the full bill for the transformational rail project.
RAIL EXPRESS | ISSUE 5 2019
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