As I’ve been saying before: the tunnel will solve absolutely nothing. The money could’ve been spent more efficiently on full quad-tracking of the southern corridor.
I’d reckon we’ll see CRR “improvement works” (aka remediation) within 5 years of the tunnel’s opening, at a pretty penny.
I’m not sure if you’re referring to the tunnel from Boggo Road to Yeerongpilly, but I’m not sure how that can solve absolutely nothing if that’s what you’re referring to. The tunnel would seperate local and express services, provide a dedicated freight track without conflicting with passenger services, and also speed up journey times with a straighter and more direct tunnel for Gold Coast services. The original plans also included quad tracking to Salisbury which would also have allowed for provision for the Beaudesert line.
I’m saying quad-tracking everything south of Boggo to Beenleigh. The issue with the Merivale could be solved by using more modern signalling and simplifying the track layout out of Roma St.
Hell, Boggo won’t get even a lick of paint for the original platforms…
Cross River Rail didn’t just solve the bottle neck across the river, it also fends off the fast impending bottleneck of having all services sharing only 4 track pairs between Central and Bowen Hills.
Removing a bottleneck by introducing another one doesn’t seem to be a good thing though.
Especially when planning Salisbury-Beaudesert / Inland Rail link
Cross River Rail will hugely increase the total capacity of the system. It certainly would have been better if the tunnel had gone through to Yeerongpilly, but saying there is no benefit is ignoring the removal of all of the capacity contraints, particularly on the suburban lines, through the city section.
Also, even if Gold Coast trains have to go all stations from Yeerongpilly in, they could still avoid contention with freight trains and Cleveland trains entirely, increasing the total capacity in from the south for everyone.
Quadding Boggo Road to Beenleigh without implementing CRR would still be a case of removing one bottleneck without addressing the arguably more severe one. You would have 4 lines for Beenleigh/GC services shrink to 3 lines for Beenleigh/GC/Cleveland by South Bank, reducing to 2 lines for Beenleigh/GC/Cleveland effectively from South Brisbane to Bowen Hills.
Both bottlenecks will ultimately need to be addressed, but the of the two, the inner city was the logical one to proceed with first.
I’d hate to be the media team trying to justify rebuilding Dutton Park again less than a decade later it to fit more tracks in!
Either that or having to swallow the bitter pill of having to build stubs and tunnel extensions. Either way, pain.
Self inflicted one at that.
If Gold Coast trains stopped all stops from Yeerongpilly in you would still get to the city faster than now and you could probably get 20tph combined between Beenleigh and Gold Coast.
I find that hard to believe knowing that we haven’t seen any documents saying anything about actual trains per hour and the like. There’s nothing out there.
The tunnel could be fully operational and all but there’s a non-zero chance of northern/southern lines being stuck with the current timetable of 2tph.
Just from basic train operations - the only reason you can’t get stacks of trains through twin tracks is because the Gold Coast trains are express and the Beenleigh trains aren’t so they catch up to each other. Just saying that you could fit more trains through by having the Gold Coast trains stop at more stations.
Not saying this is ideal - just saying you actually have the capacity for many many more trains in total once Cleveland trains are completely separated from Beenleigh and Gold Coast.
There’s no denying there’s massive benefits, but the problem is they skimped on some really crucial things that would have multiplied the benefits quite substantially.
If nothing else, the removal of frequent blocking moves (outbound Beenleigh/GC vs inbound Cleveland) at Boggo Rd is a massive win. So are new stations at 'Gabba and Albert St.
Like most here, I would have preferred more tracks, in fact I think realistically we need 5 tracks between Salisbury and Dutton Park (2 tunnel/3 surface). The third surface track would be used for freight/turning travel trains/extra capacity for empty movements etc.
From Friday 1 May to late 2026, there will be changes to some weekday Beenleigh services due to Cross River Rail supporting project works.
Some peak services will run express through three or more of the following stations - Dutton Park, Fairfield, Yeronga, Yeerongpilly, Rocklea and Salisbury.
It may be quicker to catch a StationLink route 19 service, so please replan your journey to ensure you are catching the best service possible.
About the Cross River Rail works
A new rail bridge over Moolabin Creek will be constructed at Clapham Yard as part of Cross River Rail supporting project works.
One rail line between Coopers Plains and Boggo Road stations needs to be closed for this to happen.
For more information about the works, please visit the Cross River Rail website.
I know they have to build stuff, but 30 minute peak frequencies is atrocious.
They have the station link bus too that runs every 15 mins bidirectional. So that’s 6 services in each direction down to Salisbury.
Yeah, I’m not really sure what can be done, other than extras buses, with an entire track missing.
At least the 125 is now serving Salisbury and areas close to Moorooka station with frequent service.
I do wonder what will happen with the StationLink flotilla of buses once the 19 gets withdrawn. Maybe a weekend boost for the 125?