Having a closer look at the Minister’s Answer to the Question On Notice, it is poorly expressed.
“For instance, on construction completion, the tunnel must be independently certified by the
National Rail Safety Regulator, and I am advised that this testing and commissioning phase takes at least two years to complete.”
At construction completion commissioning and testing commences. At completion of commissioning and testing the ONRSR certifies the safety management system. What takes at least two years to complete is the commissioning and testing, which ETCS is a major part. The ONRSR has no role in the actual commissioning and testing.
I suspect the government are pulling a similar trick with completion date as they are with costs.
As soon as they came to power they cried “disaster! The sky is falling! Because of red team’s mismanagement this project will cost much more and take much longer than they said it would!”.
At least with respect to costs, this was clearly a political stunt, because they were including 25 years of maintenance costs in the figure. I have never seen any other public infrastructure project where the government has trumpeted a figure that includes operational costs. And why the cut off of 25 years? Why not 5? Why not 500?
You don’t have to be a genius to see the ploy here. They blamed the previous government and set public expectations for their own performance as low as they could. That way, if there are blowouts, they already have their scapegoat, and if it does get done within budget, they can say “look at how great blue team are at governing! We rescued Queensland from red team’s mess and got it done cheaper than they would have! “
And if they’re purposely inflating the costs, who’s to say they aren’t doing it for completion date, too?
My understanding is that testing can take place on individual sections of the line before full completion, and this counts towards the total testing time. Sydney Metro Northwest had its first test of a train on the full line in January 2019 and then it opened for service four months later. There must have been plenty of section tests prior to this.
There had been no trains past Roma Street as of early September when we visited Albert Street. They were in the process of testing platform screen doors at Albert Street irrc. It’s important to note that Albert Street is the furthest from completion though.
Cross River Rail’s construction phase is currently underway. This will be followed by the commissioning and testing of the new signalling system – the European Train Control System (ETCS).
When the safety regulator is satisfied that all practical safety measures and assessments have been achieved, customer services are expected to commence by 2029.
Minister " … the true completion date for Cross River Rail is likely to be in 2029. … "
Great article by Brisbane Times with some choice quotes from @rowangray! Well done! This is great accountability.
Better Transport Queensland president Rowan Gray, who succeeded Robert Dow in the organisation previously known as Rail Back on Track, said explanations for the delays did not stack up to critical analysis.
“The final station handover was scheduled to take place mid-next year, and that’s going to be Albert Street, which is the furthest behind,” he said.
“Of course, Albert Street doesn’t need to be completely finished for you to start testing a lot of the systems in the tunnel, so the first testing train should start running through the whole length of the tunnel within the first half of next year.”
Even allowing for two years of testing – a timeframe he disputed based on recent examples in Sydney and Melbourne – Gray said Cross River Rail should be on track for a 2028 opening at the latest.
“We think it’s more of a political ploy and they’re going to, in a year’s to a year-and-a-half’s time, say ‘oh, because of our better management, it’s going to open early’,” he said.
Mickelberg told parliament last week the cost to complete Cross River Rail had blown out to $19.04 billion.
Unusually for capital expenditure estimates, that figure included $2.6 billion for 25 years’ maintenance. The design and construction of the twin tunnels accounted for $9.8 billion, with the rest spent on projects such as surface station improvements, signalling, stabling facilities and Rollingstock upgrades.
Gray said that approach to project costing was “complete rubbish”.
“They’re including separate projects like QTMP or stabling for new trains, which is separate to Cross River Rail,” he said.
It is good that the costs and timelines are being challenged. Well done @rowangray !
The Minister’s answer to the Question On Notice was poorly expressed as I have pointed out previously, and it inferred that a two year delay was due to the ONRSR. Delays are not due to the ONRSR, but factors intrinsic to the project!
I struggle to believe ETCS would require an additional 3+ years for testing when they’ve already been testing on Shorny for 2 years. Testing may be behind, but it surely can’t be that for behind…
The recent project to overlay ETCS L1 from Caboolture to Gympie North appears to have gone well. (See Upgrading Queensland's North Coast Line). I suppose a major challenge with ETCS L2 is interfacing with the legacy systems. With the work/testing done on the Shorncliffe line one hopes that it will be relatively straightforward for the rest of the ETCS L2 territory. Does anyone know how many NGRs have been fitted out so far with the ETCS equipment?
The new bridge at Boggo Road has been called the Yamma Bridge, in recognition of the connection it will provide between the station and the surrounding health, science, and education precinct.
Yamma (pronounced Yumma) means “arm” in the Yagara language, providing a fitting name for a critical piece of infrastructure that will reach over the rail line to connect communities.
Let’s Go Explore Caravan and RV Expo is on at the Showgrounds.
Thursday 30 October 2025 to Sunday 2 November 2025
The new Exhibition station will be open for this event with loop shuttle trains running throughout the day.
