Cross River Rail is an underground heavy rail project currently under construction in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The project will see the development of a new rail line underneath Brisbane River, alongside the redevelopment of a number of stations in the Brisbane central business district and along the Beenleigh railway line. The business case for the project was released in August 2017, with construction work officially beginning in September that year. The project replaced the planned 2013 BaT Tunnel, which in turn had replaced the original 2010 Cross River Rail proposal.
The project consists of a new line through the CBD from Dutton Park in the city's south to Bowen Hills in the city's north, connecting existing Brisbane rail lines. The project includes of twin tunnels and will deliver four new underground stations at Boggo Road, Woolloongabba, Albert Street and Roma Street, with Exhibition station upgraded. Tunnelling for the project was completed in 2021, with construction planned to be complete by 2025 and the new line operational by early 2026.
The project provides a second rail crossing of the Brisbane river due to concerns that the only inner-city rail river crossing, the Merivale Bridge, would reach capacity. According to the project's business case, without the new tunnel overcrowding on most lines would be expected by 2026. Cross River Rail is considered to be the highest infrastructure priority by the Queensland Government. Infrastructure Australia evaluated the business case in 2017 and expressed concerns that the rail patronage projections may not be achieved and that the benefits in the business case may be overstated. However, Infrastructure Australia still listed Cross River Rail as a priority project.
Under the plan, Queensland Rail Citytrain will operate in three sectors, all connecting at the existing or new underground Roma Street stations. Sector One will connect the Gold and Sunshine Coasts directly, operating trains from Varsity Lakes and Beenleigh through to Redcliffe Peninsula, Nambour and Gympie. Sector Two will link the Rosewood and Springfield lines through Central to the domestic airport and Shorncliffe. Sector Three will run Ferny Grove trains through Central and Southbank to Cleveland.
History
2010 Cross River Rail proposal
A report titled the 2008 Inner City Rail Capacity Study predicted that the demand for Brisbane peak train services would double by 2016. The Infrastructure Australia review of the current project highlighted that the 2011 business case projected the 2016 rail patronage – without Cross River Rail – as 374,000 passengers per day. The Queensland Rail Annual Report for 2015–16 reports patronage of approximately 150,000 passengers per day for the Citytrain network in 2015–16. Between Salisbury and Dutton Park the existing line is used by freight trains traveling to the Port of Brisbane and a terminal at Acacia Ridge, and the expected rise in the number of passengers services may interrupt freight services unless a new line is built. The Merivale Bridge is the only inner-city rail crossing in Brisbane, and by 2016 it was expected to be over capacity, leading the Queensland Government to plan for this project.
The original plans for the project were released on 11 November 2010. The project included a tunnel, two new surface stations as well as four new underground stations. Upgrades to Moorooka and Rocklea were also proposed. Underground stations were proposed to include retail facilities, and a maximum of 120,000 passengers were claimed to be able to be moved during the morning peak period.
The city station was to be built under Albert Street, with two entrances and allowing for trains up to in length. Proposed stations at Woolloongabba and Exhibition were to be named The Gabba and The Ekka respectively.
Yeerongpilly was chosen as the southern portal because it had less impact on residents than a tunnel entrance at Fairfield. An entrance there would allow trains on the Ipswich railway line to use the tunnel via the Tennyson railway line. It also allowed the existing rail yards at Clapham to be used as stabling yards, negating the need to build a new storage depot for trains elsewhere.