Premier’s broken election promise to build heavy rail to Maroochydore masked by bold new metro pledge
The state government has abandoned its election promise to build heavy rail through to Maroochydore but instead has committed to two metro bus networks servicing the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane Airport.
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A broken election promise to build heavy rail through to Maroochydore has been masked by a bold commitment to have two metro bus networks servicing both the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane Airports by 2032.
The state government on Tuesday abandoned its election promise to build heavy rail through to Maroochydore in time for the Brisbane Games.
A new transport corridor dubbed “the wave” will instead see heavy rail built between Beerwah and Birtinya with stations at Bells Creek, Aroona and Caloundra and a metro bus service extending to the Sunshine Coast Airport via Mountain Creek and Maroochydore.
The Brisbane Metro has also been earmarked to expand to the Brisbane Airport, requiring the state government to break the airtight contract with private consortium Airtrain that bans any competition in the form of buses operating out of the domestic or international terminals until 2036.
Premier David Crisafulli prior to the election said that breaking the contract, signed onto in 1998 by then-Premier Rob Borbidge, who was among the attendees of the Courier-Mail’s Future Brisbane event, would require the state government to buyout owners Britain’s Universities Superannuation Scheme.
Deputy Premier and State Development and Infrastructure Minister Jarrod Bleijie will be at the helm of the negotiations.
The state government has pooled existing infrastructure commitments into its Olympic and Paralympic Games pitch, stating that regional road investment would provide legacy value for Queensland.
Among those projects were Bruce Highway upgrades including the Tiaro Bypass, Rockhampton Ring Road, Goorganga Plains improvements, and Cairns Western Arterial Road, as well as Stage two of the Coomera Connector, Logan to Gold Coast Faster Rail and the Cross River Rail.
But the Sunshine Coast Rail to Maroochydore, also pitched as a major legacy project by the LNP, was sidelined, with Mr Crisafulli saying the extension to Birtinya would prevent Caloundra from being turned into a “carpark”.
Opposition Transport spokesman Bart Mellish says if stage one of works faces further delays, it will put Commonwealth funding at risk.
“They will miss the window to 2032 if they don’t appoint contracts soon,” he said.
“There’s no time for more reviews, heavy construction needs to start in 2026 and then it will still be tight.”
The line to Caloundra has been jointly funded by the federal and state governments, at $2.75bn each.
A spokeswoman for Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Catherine King said the government would work with Queensland’s “budget priorities”.
“This project will be critical to reducing congestion and travel times between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast,” she said.
“We will work with Queensland on their budget priorities.”
Stage one works to Caloundra are due to start in 2026.
Originally published as Premier’s broken election promise to build heavy rail to Maroochydore masked by bold new metro pledge
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