Gold Coasters will see a dramatic transformation along the Broadbeach to Burleigh route in coming months as stations and power poles for the $1.549bn project physically rise up.

It comes after a long and frustrating 2024 in which a major blowout in the project’s cost was revealed amid delays and slow progress, sparking criticisms from locals and business owners.

But GoldlinQ boss Phil Mumford said 2025 would be a significant year for the project, with the eight stations along the Stage 3 route all set to be completed ahead of testing.

“We’re approaching it like a runway and the first milestone will be to get the trams testing from Broadbeach to Miami North by September 2025. I am confident we will get that done, with trams travelling all the way to Burleigh by early 2026,” he said.

“Every week in 2025 this job will change and come to life in front of the public’s eyes.

“It has been a long, hard two-and-a-half years and I’m over it, everyone who works on it is over it, the public are over it but we have future-proofed this corridor.

“The public hasn’t seen what we were doing (underground) but this is not greenfield corridor, this is infill that has had bits and bobs left underground from previous jobs.”

Key steps made in 2024 included:

* Crews of more than 800 people doing more than 29km of utility upgrades and location along the route, including upgrades to more than 7km of water pipes, about 5km of sewer pipe, 7km of stormwater drainage and the removal of 2km of overhead powerlines;

* Completion of the retaining wall on the Lower Gold Coast Highway;

* Three 17.5m pieces of track turnout were put in place using a 230-tonne crane;

* The start of work on the first station at Mermaid Beach began in September 2024;

* Rail work got underway along the alignment in Miami.

Mr Mumford said around 8000 tests would be performed before the first passengers boarded the tram south.

“By the end of 2025 we will have most of the track down, the stations will be finishing, the overhead lines will be up and running and some of it will be powered up,” he said.

“You’ll see the pavement of the highway looking brand new, but every week this job will change (in 2025)

“It will still be tough. It won’t be all beer and skittles because there is still a lot of track to go down and to be installed.

“But that road won’t need to be touched for 20 years.”

Last year was a difficult one for Stage 3, which was drawn out and now faces a six-month delay, pushing its opening to mid-2026 after an earlier forecast of late-2025.

The new LNP state government claimed in November the total cost of the 6.7km Broadbeach to Burleigh extension will now be $1.549bn, up $330m.

It blamed the blowout and delays on the previous Labor government’s own Best Practice Industry Conditions (BPIC) for workers.

Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg said BPIC had “severely limited the number of hours of site work, which has impacted major works including site pours from progressing, driving up costs”.

He insisted the LNP government supported the light rail but would find ways of “restoring productivity onto the worksite”.

“Gold Coast residents deserve a top-notch transport system and for it to be delivered on time and budget,” he said

“We know the Gold Coast light rail will deliver residents a better transport option and ease the demand on local roads.”

The revelations in late 2024 capped off a five-year run of battles over funding, delays and cost blowouts.

In late 2020, the state government announced the John Holland Group had been appointed to build the 6.7km line from Broadbeach.

However, the Bulletin revealed in April 2021 no contract had actually been signed.

Then-Labor Transport Minister Mark Bailey confirmed the price of the project would rise.

“It’s taken longer than we would have preferred, and the delay will impact the project’s initial timelines and final budget,” he said.

Then-Burleigh MP Michael Hart said the delay had been caused by the government’s BPIC, claiming it would cause the cost of the project to blow out by up to $100m.

A month later, in May 2021, it was revealed the project was going to cost more than $1bn to deliver, forcing the state and federal governments to chip in $200m and $126m respectively.

Mr Bailey at the time blamed increased labour costs as the reason for the blowout.

“A lot has happened since the business case and costs have risen since then. That’s just the reality,” he said.

“The economy has changed and we have to cut our cloth accordingly. Stage 3 is definitely going to be happen.”

At the time the project, which at one point was tipped to be completed by 2023, was expected to be finished in 2025.

The new year will also be critical to the future of the system beyond Burleigh Heads.

Stage 4, which has been in the long-term plans for more than 15 years, is expected to run from Burleigh Heads to the border via Gold Coast Airport.

It is awaiting progress on a detailed business case which is due to be completed in mid-2025.

The price of the 13km Stage 4 also proved controversial, with then-transport minister Bart Mellish announcing in April it potentially could cost more than expected.

“It does have an estimated cost of $4.4 billion, with a cost rage that is $3.1 billion to $7.6 billion,” he said.

“We will move to a full business case and this is a priority project but we have to see what the cost will be before we jump in feet-first.

“When we are talking about the business case, it is important to have eyes-wide-open about what we are going into. It has a good cost benefit ratio.”

The LNP state government have been urged by Mayor Tom Tate to move quickly to do its Gold Coast public transport review – forecast pre-election – and move things forward.

“Regarding light rail Stage 4, my attitude is case (has already been made), so don’t delay it any further,” he said.

“It’s out of my hands but I will let people know it’s now over to state government because the city’s proved the point, having been on the journey for Stage 1, 2, and 3.”