Transport plan gets thumbs down after 10-year rail line delay

A 10-year delay building a new passenger train line to Beaudesert has riled a southeast Queensland council which says there is no excuse now Cross River Rail is under way.

SPEED it up.

That was the message from Logan City Council to the state government about its South East Queensland Regional Transport Plan.

an artist’s impression of Cross River Rail at Woolloongabba.

The highly-publicised state government document, outlining a 20-year wish list of ways to improve transport networks across the southeast, failed to get the council’s stamp of approval on Monday.

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Councillors said they could not consent to the plan as it added 10 years to an initial 2031 deadline for building a passenger train line from Salisbury to Beaudesert.

Delays to a train line from Salisbury to Beaudesert sparked the anguish. Pic Annette Dew

They said it was unfair residents of emerging suburbs such as Flagstone and Yarrabilba would have no adequate public transport until 2041 and they called for the state to speed up releasing the planned route of Cross River Rail.

The council committee was also told the Salisbury to Beaudesert rail was dependent on Cross River Rail, which would cut up to 11 minutes off travel times between Logan and the Brisbane CBD, according to new data.

Rankin MP Jim Chalmers said the data was a strong reason for the federal government to fund the “vital congestion-busting” project.

Currently, it takes 48 minutes to travel from Woodridge Station to Central Station during morning peak.

But Mr Chalmers said the new modelling from Cross River Rail Delivery Authority showed that by 2026 the commute to the new Albert St Station, to be built in the CBD as part of Cross River Rail, would take 37 minutes.

Travel times from both Kingston and Trinder Park to the CBD would also be cut by 11 minutes, while the commute from Loganlea would be reduced by six minutes, he said.

Travel from Woodridge to Brisbane CBD will be cut by 11 minutes on Cross River Rail services, according to the latest data from the Cross River Rail Authority.

The project would also ease pressure on the M1, Wembley Rd, the Logan Motorway, Kingston Rd, and Loganlea Rd.

Mr Chalmers said he was furious Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to commit a single dollar to the project, which is expected to create up to 7700 jobs.

“Cross River Rail is the highest priority infrastructure project in the state and I’ll be fighting for local workers to get our fair share of the thousands of jobs it will create.”

Federal Labor will invest $2.24 billion in Cross River Rail as well as match funding infrastructure projects the LNP has announced.

Last week, LNP Minister for Urban Infrastructure Alan Tudge said the federal government would not fund Cross River Rail as the state government had said it was already fully funded.

Urban Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge with Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton said the Cross River Rail project was already fully funded by the state Labor Government and the federal government would not add to that money.