PROJECT | CROSS RIVER RAIL


Below:


Entrance to TBM tunnel at Wooloongabba


Opposite top: Albert Street access shaft


Opposite bottom: Inspection under the Brisbane River


district (CBD), Brisbane’s politicians and press made


the most of it. “Twin tunnels now connect the future Roma Street


and Woolloongabba Cross River Rail stations, which were important selling points in our bid to secure the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games” said Queensland Premier and Minister for Trade Annastacia Palaszczuk. “This is the same route people will travel in the future to get to where they need to be, including between the athletics and swimming events at the 2032 Games.” It only helped the connection that the new Roma


Street station will also include an indoor sports area, as a key Olympics venue, and that Woolloongabba is better known to sports fans worldwide as The Gabba - Brisbane’s test-cricket ground, which will also be hosting Olympic events. Even in sports-mad Australia there are of course


much more pressing reasons than the Olympics for the Cross River Rail project. The population of south- east Queensland is forecast to grow from 3.5 million today to 4.9 million in 2036. Over 80% of that growth is occurring outside the Brisbane area. Roughly 45% of job growth, however, is forecast to be concentrated inside it. The people will need to get to the jobs. Better transport connectivity will be crucial. (The projections were made before the pandemic; but even if post-Covid working practices retain an increased element of remote working, the need for better transport will remain). The current rail network is already nearing capacity.


The Brisbane River in particular is an obstacle. There is only one inner-city rail river crossing, the Merivale Bridge, and that is already reaching maximum capacity. This project will unlock the bottleneck by delivering a second river crossing which will be underground. The importance of breaching the water body is reflected in the name of the entire project, Cross River Rail, though it involves considerably more than just the crossing. It consists also of 10.2km of new rail line including


5.9km of twin tunnels running under the Brisbane River and CBD. Currently four stations serve the Brisbane CBD; this also limits the possible number of trains. Four new, state-of-the-art underground stations will be added, at Boggo Road, Woolloongabba, Albert Street and Roma Street. At Roma Street, the line will interchange with existing surface lines and Exhibition Station - which currently opens only occasionally to serve major exhibitions at the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association (RNA) showgrounds, but it will be upgraded to allow it to enter full-time operation. “As well as that, the project will upgrade six


stations between Fairfield and Salisbury, deliver three new stations on the Gold Coast and introduce a new world-class signalling system to the wider South East Queensland rail network,” says Tai Luong, Area Engineering Manager, Tunnels & Woolloongabba Station for the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority. “It is more than just a rail project. Cross River Rail also presents opportunities for urban renewal and precinct development at each of its major station locations. It will transform the way Queenslanders travel.” The line will connect with new roads and new


busways as well. Once Cross River Rail is operational, 36,000 passengers are expected to use Roma Street each weekday to transfer between buses and trains. An initial plan to move the bus station there underground to form a seamless connection with the new rail platforms was changed when investigations showed that commuters were more likely to change between the two if the bus station remains on the surface. It will be upgraded to bring it in line with the look and feel of the new underground station and the main station plaza,


36 | November 2021


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