Complete history of Cross River Rail: Key questions answered
Cross River Rail has long drawn criticism, scepticism and support from across Queensland as a development that could change the state. This is the good, bad and ugly.
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It’s the billion dollar project leaving all kinds of history.
Cross River Rail has long drawn criticism, scepticism and support from across Queensland, as a development that could change the state.
However with concerns from the CFMEU over safety, budget blowouts and even political jostling, what does the future hold for the Cross River Rail?
In August 2023 it was revealed Brisbane communters could face worsening peak-hour traffic conditions as level crossing boom gates could be closer for longer.
This is everything you need to know – the good, bad and ugly.
WHAT IS CROSS RIVER RAIL?
The $6.3 billion Cross River Rail is an underground heavy rail project aimed at developing a new rail line under Brisbane River, as well as a number of stations across South East Queensland.
The project features a new 10.2km line through the CBD, connecting existing Brisbane rail lines from south to north.
There are also 5.9km of twin tunnels, with four new stations at Boggo Road, Woolloongabba, Albert Street and Roma Street.
Construction of Cross River Rail is due to be completed in 2025, ahead of extensive safety testing and commissioning, with services expected to commence in 2026.
It was estimated to create about 8000 jobs.
In July 2023 it received the highest possible design rating from the Infrastructure Sustainability Council.
WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF CROSS RIVER RAIL?
In 2008 the Inner City Rail Capacity Study highlighted the growing demand for peak Brisbane train services in coming years.
By November 2010 the original Cross River Rail proposal plans included a 9.8km tunnel, two new surface stations as well as four new underground stations.
By June 2012, the newly elected Newman Government announced a scaled down plan costing $4.5 billion.
The revision excluded upgrades to existing stations and extra above-ground train lines south or north of the new tunnel.
A total of 39 commercial properties and 105 residential properties were planned to be resumed for the revised proposal.
Plans changed again in November 2013 when the Queensland Government announced the BaT (Bus and Train) project as an alternative.
The revised plan involved a 5.4km tunnel to accommodate both a dual track rail line on the lower level and a two lane busway above, costing $5 billion.
WHAT WILL BE THE CROSS RIVER RAIL STATIONS?
The project will deliver four new underground stations at Boggo Road, Woolloongabba, Albert Street and Roma Street.
There will also be upgraded stations at Dutton Park and Exhibition, and six upgraded stations from Salisbury to Fairfield on Brisbane’s Southside.
Gold Coast will have three new stations developed – Pimpama, Hope Island and Merrimac.
In March 2022, it was announced the Maroochydore railway line would be built ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, with a number of new stations on the branch line and trains running through Cross River Rail.
WHAT HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES?
Cost blowouts
The state government in April 2023 revealed the project will open later and cost more than previously planned.
Touted to open in 2025, the date was revised to early 2026 – with the cost also blowing out $960 million to $6.3 billion.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey said impacts from Covid, weather and the Ukraine war were “unavoidable”
Mr Bailey said an extra $848 million was needed to deal with rising costs, and $112 million to acquire additional land at Roma Street.
“This is absolutely unavoidable; the economic headwinds are very strong,” Mr Bailey said.
Safety issues
Hundreds of CFMEU members in July 2023 downed tools and marched in the Brisbane CBD yelling “f**k them”, after a man was left fighting for his life following a 12m fall from scaffolding while working on the project.
Nation “Nash” Kouka, 54, plunged up to 12m from scaffolding at the Boggo Rd station construction site about 1.15pm on July 25 as horrified workmates watched on.
Emergency services had to use a crane to extricate the worker after he fell, striking objects on the way down and landing on concrete at the site on Joe Baker Rd at Dutton Park.
He was rushed by ambulance to Princess Alexandra Hospital where he remained in a critical condition after undergoing emergency surgery.
Chanting “workers lives are not for profit,” and “Cross River fail” union members marched through the city streets, claiming safety concerns at Cross River Rail sites had been raised prior to this incident but ignored.
Board sacked
The 10-member board overseeing Cross River Rail was in 2020 scrapped amid mounting concerns Queensland’s biggest ever public transport project had run off the rails.
Cross River Rail Minister Kate Jones in February 2020 informed board members that their terms would not be renewed and she was taking direct control of the underground train project as part of a new structure.
The news came amid speculation Cross River Rail would cost taxpayers billions of dollars more than forecast, as well as construction union outrage about the industrial deal struck over the site.
Report question marks
Infrastructure Australia’s report into Cross River Rail in 2017 questioned the project – but also drew criticism from the State Government.
The Queensland Government ridiculed Infrastructure Australia’s report, pointing to 23 errors in the document including a bizarre map of Brisbane that has the CBD on the wrong side of the river and a new suburb of “Hill Gate” where West End should be.
IA’s report had rubbished the state’s Cross River Rail business case, suggesting it contained drastically overstated passenger figures, as it refused to list the project on its Infrastructure Priority List.
Infrastructure Minister Jackie Trad, however, rejected IA’s report as flawed and said the Palaszczuk Government would build and fund Cross River Rail itself.
IA found the business case predicted patronage growth of 6.9 per cent, which is seven times faster than growth over the past decade and 2.5 times faster than what’s occurring in other capital cities.
It points out flawed projections in the state’s 2011 business case, which predicted 374,000 passengers a day by 2016. The 2016 business case projects patronage for the same year at 195,000 a day.
“Their analysis is based on mistakes and assumptions that are clearly false,” she said.
Trad’s property problem
Controversy flared in July 2018 when it was revealed Jackie Trad failed to publicly declare a property she purchased in her electorate that stood to reap big gains from Government plans to build Cross River Rail and a new school nearby.
The then-Treasurer and Member for South Brisbane bought the three-bedroom Woolloongabba home in March 2018, but did not amend state parliament’s register of members’ interests as required.
The unrented cottage was a short distance from the existing Park Rd train and bus station, and the new Boggo Rd jail station that will be built as part of the Cross River Rail project.
The $695,500 property is also within the catchment of the new Inner City South State Secondary College, which Ms Trad announced with Education Minister Grace Grace in April 2018.
Opposition frontbencher Jarrod Bleijie called for Ms Trad to be stripped of responsibility for Cross River Rail, saying the purchase did not pass the “pub test”.
“Jackie Trad has failed to declare ownership of a house just hundreds of metres from Cross River Rail,” he said.
Ms Trad said she had recently updated the Clerk of Parliament on several changes to her register, but conceded the property had not been listed as required.
She later sold the property and stood down from her role amid a CCC probe, which found no evidence of corruption.
Station decision
The Palaszczuk Government in August 2020 was forced to defend its choice to build a problematic new Cross River Rail Station at Boggo Road, saying the New Dutton station would have inconvenienced too many people.
In response to the revelation that secret documents showed the government ignored expert advice and proceeded with a flawed new Cross River Rail station in Jackie Trad’s electorate.
The series of leaked briefing notes and confidential papers exposed how bidders for the project, along with its delivery authority and technical team, all warned the proposed Boggo Road station was littered with engineering and safety problems.
However, the Government forged ahead anyway with its plan to build at Boggo Road and redevelop the old Dutton Park Station, rejecting a proposal for a single station on land behind Princess Alexandria Hospital that was cheaper and safer.
But the Minister responsible for Cross River Rail, Kate Jones, told parliament she could confirm the government did examine the New Dutton station but decided against it and went for the “superior option”.
Contract concerns
In late 2019 hundreds of construction workers marched to Parliament House over concerns about the government’s handing of the rail project.
Amid questions over how contracts for the project were awarded, in 2020 CIMIC’s construction subsidiary CPB Contractors was prompted by Queensland regulators to prove it had enough cash on hand to continue with the Cross River Rail.
In June 2021, construction again was halted over one weekend because of worker concerns about the potential release of dangerous silica dust from the conveyor belt carrying tunnel spoil to the surface.
Business blow-ups
In June 2023 a string of Brisbane businesses pleaded for support after being left out of pocket during the closure of an inner-south road.
Gibbon St in Woolloongabba partially reopened on June 24 with vehicles now able to turn left into the street from the Stanley St service road.
Coles was believed to have been haemorrhaging about $15,000 a week in lost turnover and reduced its staff hours. It declined to comment.
While it had been able to absorb the losses, small businesses from a laser clinic to cafes, restaurants and a flower shop were close to running out of cash reserves by last week.
Woolloongabba Flower Market owner, David Dawes, said that up until Saturday’s announcement they been given only a vague reopening date of “mid 2023’’.
“Our calls for help fell on deaf ears,’’ Mr Dawes said.
Commute chaos
Travellers in January 2024 began to experience major delays due to Brisbane track works and closures in effect because of Cross River Rail construction.
Train lines were running on a “special timetable”, with multiple rail replacement buses running to assist with commutes in and out of the city.
Translink and Queensland Rail had previously warned people of potential delays.
But many commuters had already taken to social media on the first day of work, with one Reddit user posting they were waiting more than an hour with two to three bus loads of people for a rail replacement bus.
“So far in 40 minutes, one full bus has turned up, didn’t let anyone on, and (left),” the post said. “Another just turned up and let on maybe 10 people.”
Protests
More than one 100 construction workers were in July 2024 striking at the access to one of Brisbane’s major Cross River Rail sites, marking the latest instalment of tense CFMEU protests in the city.
About 150 tradies were outside the entry to the Roma St entrance of the Brisbane City Cross River Rail site after gathering around 6.30am.
Workers were also protesting at Albert St, Woolloongabba, Boggo Rd and the Exhibition Station sites, with many holding flags and banners.
Police were on scene at Roma St and Gabba sites.
No roads were blocked and the group was not causing any disturbances.
It’s understood the action is over a pay dispute between the union and contractor, CPB Contractors, which has been ongoing for months.
Work woes
Nearly 200 Cross River Rail subcontractors in August 2024 were forced back to work after their employer successfully won a bid to stop them taking part in ongoing protests at the mega project.
But in a bizarre move UGL Rail Services, a sister company of CPB contractors, publicly named 173 of its own workers and listed their personal home addresses in a court document.
The Fair Work Commission granted UGL Rail an order requiring their workers to return to worksites across the $6.3bn Cross River Rail project despite ongoing CFMEU-led strikes.
Under the order UGL Rail employees were effectively required to cross the picket line and go to work.
It came amid ongoing protected strikes by CFMEU-aligned workers at Cross River Rail which sparked chaos at the project, including delays which the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority blamed for the Ekka train station being shut for the second year in a row.
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