Brisbane Metro, Cross River Rail linked in new pitch for federal funding

THE southeast will be connected like never before under new plans to link the Brisbane Metro with Cross River Rail, meaning commuters can “turn up and go” anywhere.

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A NETWORK of turn-up-and-go train and bus services will carry commuters around the southeast under a new plan to sell Cross River Rail to the Commonwealth.

Called Connecting Brisbane, the plan details new interchanges at hubs such as Chermside, Indooroopilly, Upper Mt Gravatt, Altandi and Browns Plains that will stop people wasting time and clogging already-busy services having to transit through the city.

The report notes the current network’s downfall is that it’s geared for travel into the city, rather than around the southeast.

New interchanges will allow people to make trips like Forest Lake to Springwood, Sandgate to Ashgrove and Toombul to Wynnum, which currently aren’t possible without backtracking.

Additional trunk routes, including to Springfield, the Sunshine Coast, the airport, Manly and Carindale, have been identified for high-frequency services that would encourage people to ditch their cars.

It says Cross River Rail will allow Gold Coast train services to increase from a maximum of eight an hour during peak to 12.

The plan was prepared in direct response to the Federal Government questioning how Cross River Rail and Brisbane Metro would be integrated in assessing whether it help fund the $5.8 billion underground rail line.

Infrastructure Minister Jackie Trad said the southeast would grow by two million people in the next 20 years, and would need both projects.

“We have clogged arteries, we have a clogged aorta and in order to unclog it we need both Metro and Cross River Rail,” she said.

“And we need buses and trains working together so we can deliver a high-frequency, reliable public transport network for the people of Brisbane.”

The document says population growth in Brisbane’s surrounds will be significantly higher than jobs growth there, leading to hundreds of thousands more workers needing to travel into the city for work.

By 2040, it’s predicted more than two in five Brisbane workers will live in surrounding council areas.

Meanwhile, Treasurer Curtis Pitt is holding out hope the Commonwelath will pledge funds for the Cross River Rail project ahead of next week’s State Budget, but refuses to reveal his contingency plan.

And he stopped short of ruling out borrowing money to fund the project should it not get federal funds.

“I think there are still opportunities between now and next week frankly for the Turnbull Government to have a very close look at what they can do,” he told the Queensland Media Club lunch in Brisbane today.

He said Ms Trad would be travelling to Sydney to try to drum up federal support.