Across the CBD in 77 seconds: Brisbane fast-tracks underground network

Rail lines have been connected to Brisbane’s new underground stations, 30 metres beneath the surface, as part of a multibillion-dollar revolution in commuter travel.

Cross River Rail will allow for a 77-second, 800-metre train trip between the new Roma Street station and the new Albert Street station, and a two-minute train trip from Albert Street to the new Gabba.

Cross River Rail’s Roma Street Station underground. Cross River Rail chief executive Graeme Newton (right) and Cross River Rail project director Jeremy Kruger with new rail line connecting Roma Street to Boggo Road.Credit: Tony Moore

That is a far cry from waiting for a bus at Queen Street Busway, to get across the Victoria Bridge along the Southeast Busway to the Gabba, or catching a cab or an Uber, let alone driving a car and parking.

Walking from Roma Street or Central stations to George Street would take 20 minutes.

Cross River Rail chief executive Graeme Newton said commuters did not realise how close the new stations were to each other and the potential benefits.

“When you go underground, people don’t realise that Roma Street to Albert Street is really only about 800 metres or so,” Newton said.

“And when you go from Albert Street to Woolloongabba it is only 1.2 kilometres.”

The exact travel times for Cross River Rail, expected to be in operation by 2025, will depend on the speed of trains underground, something still being tested by Queensland Rail and operators of the $640 million European Train Control System.

“It will come down to the optimal speed for passenger comfort,” Newton said.

The Cross River Rail Delivery Authority on Thursday afternoon said the journey time between Roma Street and Albert Street was 77 seconds and the trip from Albert Street to the Gabba is two minutes.

Walking through the huge cavern where Roma Street’s new station is being built, Newton told Brisbane Times lighting and signage was being designed to enhance the commuter experience.

The circular Cross River Rail tunnel beneath Roma Street, where trains will run either side of the rail platforms.Credit: Tony Moore

“If you think about Central Station, it has all these columns; we don’t have any of that in the new stations,” he said.

The platforms will run down the middle of what are now little more than concrete caverns at Roma Street, Albert Street, Woolloongabba and Boggo Road stations.

“You will have a whitish terrazzo finish, braille trails with lighting, different-coloured bronze coloured roof,” Newton said of the Roma Street station design.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey on Friday revealed the cost of the project had ballooned to $6.3 billion, and services would start later than planned in the first quarter of 2026.

When Cross River Rail eventually opens, it will have been 15 years since Brisbane’s first road tunnel, Clem7, opened to traffic.

Cross River Rail’s Boggo Road station, where trains will run either side of platforms built up from the lower central section of the tunnels. Here reinforcing steel weighing twice as much as the Eiffel Tower has been used.Credit: Tony Moore

Every day, the Clem7 carries about 30,000 cars, most with just a single occupant.

By contrast, Cross River Rail will need to carry an extra 52,000 commuters in the morning peak alone to support south-east Queensland’s growing population.

That was the plan in its 2017 business case, before the COVID-19 pandemic changed people’s habits.

Newton said Brisbane’s new underground rail would sell itself.

“Yes, there has been a reduction in the number of people using public transport, but at the end of the day, getting into the CBD - driving a car is not the answer,” he said.

“Anyone who has spent an hour-and-a-half in the car park that is the Pacific Motorway will look to use alternative means.”