Except Faster Rail will also throw a wrench in the works by adding yet another round of closures and limitations to operating services.
I have a dreading suspicion that maybe the blue team is right with the 2029 date. If so… We are soooooo cooked.
There’s no reason a shuttle can’t be run to Kuraby (or at least Altandi) while the Logan section is closed.
On the budget thing: I find it difficult to believe that a $5b project can become a $19b project without some scope changes. Yes we’ve had some inflation.
The government can address this by releasing a big ol’ table similar to what @Despoina put together, as a statement on the floor of the House, with the following columns:
- Project ID (preferably a name)
- Was it included in the original total?
- Is it in the October 2025 figure (or like tunnel stubs has it been cut?)
- What was it budgeted at in the original total?
- The original budgeting might’ve been in at-the-time dollars or nominal dollars, but how much is it in real (October 2025) dollars?
- What is it budgeted at in the October 2025 total?
- If #6 is in nominal dollars, what is it in real (October 2025) dollars?
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In Europe 20 billion would go a long way and build a few metro and train line extensions I reckon.
5 billion was an under estimation though and most people thought that from the beginning, but no one thought 19 billion 
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They’re just throwing some big numbers out there so when their final estimate for Vic Park stadium comes in at $10 billion it doesn’t look so bad.
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Construction time lines for Cross River Rail and Metro Tunnel Melbourne were much the same at the commencement of construction. Metro Tunnel Melbourne will open in 2025, but Cross River Rail won’t until 2029? Incredible if so. Metro Tunnel Melbourne is a more complex project than Cross River Rail, and yet Cross River Rail is lagging years behind. Cross River Rail delivery has been botched. I am surprised that the delivery authority poor performers were not booted!
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My understanding is that the soil conditions in Melbourne were far more favourable than oir Brisbane Tuff.
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Melbourne Metro has about 9km of twin tunnels, CRR 5.9km. But both projects tunnels were completed in 2021. Since then there has been slower progress with CRR.
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Do you know how progressed the stations were in Melbourne when the tunnels were completed? Albert Street was so delayed that it missed the TBMs!
They finished laying their track in the Metro Melbourne tunnels March 2023. All stations are now finished. I don’t think they were that advanced with the stations when tunnelling completed. I would imagine both projects would be similar in that regard.
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I disagree, they are all cut from the same cloth. You clearly have a lean to the left if you think Labor is different to the LNP.
They are politicians, they always have an agenda.
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Construction on Auckland’s CRL began in 2016 with preliminary works, while major construction on Brisbane’s Cross River Rail started in September 2017, yet Auckland’s CRL is due to open to the public early next year. No platform screen doors though but there was a lot of track reconfiguration, outside station works, signalling upgrades and stabling associated with the build.
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Answer to Question on Notice:
" … completion date for Cross River Rail is likely to be in 2029. … "
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Agreed.
I remember seeing in the news that the National Rail Safety Regulator refuted the claim that they would need to independently certify the tunnel, if I remember correctly.
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There seems to be some confusion on what the ONRSR is responsible for. My understanding is that ONRSR needs to sign off on the Safety Management Systems. They don’t have a role in testing or commissioning of the tunnel. The time line is up to the project manager.
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And you are right:
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^ the BT article confirms what I said. The ONRSR is not involved with testing and commissioning. Their role is one of ensuring safety assurance is all in order.
“ONRSR’s role is to assess evidence provided by the project manager to confirm that the safety assurance process for the project is complete and in accordance with their safety management system. ONRSR also assesses the supporting evidence for the operational safety case prior to commencement of first passenger services.
“Every project has its own characteristics, so timeframes vary and are managed by the respective project managers.”
The time line is up to the project manager.
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Feels like the only way we’ll get answers to any of this is get the PMs drunk. Surely we can’t be looking at a 4 year delay when the most complex engineering parts are complete. Where exactly can such a delay exist?
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The role you’ve described for ONRSR is consistent with my observations with how they interact with Southern Downs Steam Railway - they are primarily interested in our safety systems, policies and documentation, and ensuring those systems are followed when out on the network.
They have no role that I’ve seen in the maintenance, testing and certification/re-certification of locomotives or rollingstock (pertinent at the moment as we are gearing up to return C17 971 to service after a couple of years of maintenance challenges).
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The Minister is really saying the testing and commissioning will take upwards of two years. If they commence testing by June 2026 then providing all is well it should be operational by June 2028.
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