Outline of the project

The Cross River Rail project has been undertaken in order to support a rail solution for an integrated passenger transport network in Queensland. The cross river rail in an underground rail is currently under construction. This project is needed in order to ease the congestion and increase the accessibility of the place. This project is considered to be one of the high priority projects in Australia. The project is of high complexity and the purpose or aim of this project is to increase the accessibility of the place and is aligned to the category of urban congestion. The business case of this project was finalized in August 2017.

The project aims in development of a new north-south rail line that will connect Dutton Park to Bowen Hills under the Brisbane River and CBD. The Local government that is in charge of the project is Brisbane City Council.

The purpose of the project is to provide a new north-south rail connection across the Brisbane River with an aim of reliving the congestion in the Brisbane city rail network.

It is a high priority construction project mainly because of its complexity and urgency.  Although the project was announced in 2016, the procurement and scheduling could only start on 2017. Currently it is an ongoing project whose construction has started this year.

The objective of the project is to provide a new 10.2km rail connection making it the second inner city rail crossing of the city. Along with the rail link, the project will also consider the construction of twin tunnels of 5.9 km at the southern portal north of Dutton Park station. Along with this, the project will see the construction of four underground stations which will be places at Boggo Road, Albert Street, Roma Street and at Woolloonga. The construction of the rail line will include a provision for another new track through Mayne Yard. Apart from the construction of the rail line and the platforms, the project will further include a bi-directional signaling from Dutton Park to the Salisbury stations. The project is huge and will take a considerable amount of time in its completion. This project is considered to be one of the largest and most complex projects of Australia.  The complexity arises mainly because it is an underground project. After releasing of the business case in the year August 2017, the clearance of the project site started in September 2017.  

The project is huge and its estimated budget is around $5.4bn that will be procured through a public private partnership. The project is important as it is being implemented in order to decrease the congestion problems that are faced by the general public.

The project considers the construction of four main stations. The Boggo Road station will aim in serving the passengers in the south while that of the station at Woolloongabba mainly aims in improving the accessibility of health and entertainment landmarks. The station at the Albert Street on theother hand will provide an easy access to the areas near to Willian Street, the Botanic Gardens, the Queen Street Mall and other places. The station which is planned to be developed in Roma Street will be a significant investment to the area. The Albert Street station is placed in a central location with an aim of providing easy access to general public.

Project management and methodology

The contractors who are involved with the project include AECOM who provided an operational and planning advice for the project. Along with AECOM, Building Queensland was appointed for preparing the business case associated with the project. Building Queensland will be working in collaboration with the Department of Transport in Australia.

Since it is a construction project, the project management methodology that will mainly be followed for construction and management of the project is PRINCE2. The Cross River Rail project is expected to unlock the bottleneck at the core of the network that allows more train to run so that the congestion problem of South East Queensland can be acknowledged.

Currently the construction works are underway at Woolloongabba accompanied with the works on rail corridor. In order to clear the site of the project, the Brisbane Transit centre will be demolished that will make way for the cross River Rail’s underground station at Roma Street. The cross River rail project is expected to provide a comfortable journey to the passengers by increasing and extra 3150 seats. The rail service is expected to be used by 164,000 passengers on a daily basis thus completely eliminating the congestion problem.

Therefore the project is needed as the new rail crossing that has been proposed will ease the congestion and will improve the accessibility of the place.

Since the project is currently in execution phase, the outcome of the project is yet to be realized. After the completion of the project, it is expected that the present congestion problem will be eliminated. The successful execution of the project will ensure that people get access to more trains more often thus increasing the ease of transport. By unlocking the bottleneck of the core transport network of the city, this project is expected to benefit the entire South East Queensland. Along with this, the construction of four underground stations will increase the accessibility of number of places. It can be said that the project has been undertaken in order to provide an improved transportation services to the daily commuters.

It is expected that the demand for Brisbane rail services will increase by 2026 and will triple by the year 2036. Therefore it is very essential to deliver the project as it will reduce the pressure of congestion by reducing the transport option of 164,000 passengers on a daily basis. Currently there is a need for demolition of a nine storey land center building in Woolloongabba in order to carry on with the normal implementation of the project.  A team of 30 members have taken the charge of demolishing works under the demolition experts DeCC pty Ltd. The work in this site is expected to start from September. The Woolloongabba station will be constructed 27 m below the ground, which will enable people to travel among the Woolloongabba area in just a couple of minutes. The other demolition work is expected to begin in early 2019, as a need for clearance of the other sites. The demolition contractor DECC Pty Ltd has previously removed the old law court building with an aim of clearing the site for the project work. The investment in the project by Queensland Government will support the early works associated with the project.

Project outcomes

Cross River Rail is once in a generation project that will completely change the structure of Brisbane and South East Queensland. As of now, the design of the proposed station has been finalized after the successful procurement of the contractors for the project. The project will involve two main rail lines between Dutton ark and Bowen Hills which are the two main suburbs of Brisbane.  The outcome of the project is to develop an additional rail crossing across the Brisbane River. A rail tunnel will be developed under the Brisbane River and CBD thereby reducing the pressure of growing traffic and congestion.

According to the industry briefing that occurred in August 30, 2017 a comprehensive overview of the project and procurement method that the project will be following is discussed. The outcome of the meeting is that the Rail line, and the development of the stations will be delivered on a public, private partnership. Apart from that, the integration and the system package will be delivered as an Alliance. The project got an approval from CRRDA in June 2017 followed by the commencement of the early works in the month of August. According to the schedule estimation of the project, the project is expected to complete in the year 2024. The proposed outcome of the project is to deliver 4 high capacity underground rail stations along with the complete up-gradation of Exhibition station. The project will consider the development of four stations as well. The Boggo Road station that will be developed is expected to be a busy transport hub which will give the pedestrians and easy access to the Princess Alexandra Hospital.  The Woolloongabba station that has been proposed will provide a direct access to the Gabba Stadium in order to provide access to Mater health precint.

The Alberth street station will provide an access to the rail services that are situated to the southern part of the Brisbane CBD that provides a direct access to the Queensland. The new underground Roma Street on the other hand will provide a direct access to the existing bus and the train networks thus improving the services. The project will further consider the up-gradation of the existing Exhibition station that will support the demand of the project. As of now, neither of the planned outcomes of the project is achieved as the project is in its early development phase. The project is expected to achieve the identified outcomes by the year 2024.

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