Transportation Planning Casebook/Cross-River Rail

Summary
Brisbane’s Cross River Rail project is a 10.2km heavy rail project that is currently under construction. It is intended to be a primarily underground single line railway that connects core parts of Brisbane together allowing for better connections into and out of the CBD and reducing road congestion with its new nine-car trains which allows for almost double the capacity of existing railway networks from the south into the CBD. The current plans entail the upgrade of eight existing surface stations, the construction of three brand new surface stations, and four underground stations. Initial cost projections for the plan first made in 2012 was $4.5 billion, however as the project commenced, projected costs raised to $5.4 billion for upfront construction in 2017.

The current railway network in South-East Queensland (SEQ) has been deemed insufficient for its current population and does not serve a critical role in transport across the area, as such the Cross River Rail is intended to alleviate the issues that currently face the existing network. The modernised design of the rail combined with the renovation of existing stations and entirely new stations will allow it to be better integrated with existing bus networks. The currently existing roads across SEQ are deemed to be at capacity, costing the state $2 billion per year, with no alternatives as the existing rail network is constrained by its age and lack of capacity. The Cross River Rail is also set to allow faster connections from further away from the city centre, allowing for more urban development that still has fast access to major business points across SEQ. By forming the connection from the CBD to areas further south is intended to boost economic growth, by allowing easy access to core business centres, provide reliabile travel as the scale of the project will allow up the 24 trains on the line and serve as the first step in improving Brisbane's rail network by boosting the core of the problem, before ideally expanding outwards and improving the network further away from the centre.

Currently the project is still under development, the construction is projected to finish in late 2025 and after safety and maintenance checks are completed, public services are expected to commence in 2026. The project is being delivered by a partnership of three different private sector groups each covering a separate portion of the project. The Tunnel, Stations and Development (TSD) is set to deliver the underground tunnels, stations and all related mechanical and electrical components and systems, Rail, Integration and Systems (RIS) will develop and design the integration of the project to the existing railway lines and supporting railways, while also providing the complete renovation of Exhibition station and announced in 2019, the building of six brand new stations. The final group is the Sequence Alliance, combination of Hitachi Rail, Queensland Rail and the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority (CRRSA), who is set to deliver the European Train Control System (ETCS) which is a new experimental signalling system for the rail line that is intended to improve safety and capacity for carriages on the network.

Policy Issues
Queensland Government Strategic Objectives: SEQ Rail Connect

SEQ Rail connect is the Queensland Government's 5-10 year rail strategy for improving accessibility to key precincts and increasing the capacity of the rail network. Cross-River Rail is the centrepiece SEQ Rail Connect providing the necessary infrastructure to meet the demands of State Government Policy. The key objectives of SEQ Rail connect are :


 * 1) Provide faster and more frequent rail services across the South East Queensland rail network.
 * 2) Provide better access to key precincts in Inner Brisbane and easier connections between rail lines at key stations.
 * 3) Improve safety by delivering infrastructure upgrades to stations, track alignments and by introducing new technology at Cross-River Rail stations.
 * 4) Encourage development of precincts around Cross-River Rail stations.
 * 5) Make rail travel more accessible by implementing a simpler electronic ticketing system.
 * 6) Prepare Brisbane's rail system for the demands of the 2032 Olympic Games.

Environmental Policy

The Cross River Rail Project is obliged to meet the requirements of its Environmental Policy as per the following legislation:


 * 1) Cross River Rail Delivery Authority Act 2016
 * 2) Environmental Protection Act 1994
 * 3) Queensland Heritage Act 1992
 * 4) State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971

As a result of these requirements, the project will adopt an environmental strategy in accordance with the Australian Standard ISO 14001. The project must identify all environmental risks at every stage of the project and implement management strategies to mitigate potential impacts. The project's environmental policy must be visible to all project stakeholders.

The Project's environmental policy has led to the creation of the "Cross-River Rail Outline Environmental Management Plan (OEMP)". The OEMP presents the sub-plans for the following identified environmental issues:

Sustainability Policy

Cross River Rail is obliged to pursue sustainability initiatives as directed by the following policies:


 * 1) Cross River Rail Delivery Authority Act 2016
 * 2) Queensland Procurement Policy 2018

The project is thus obliged to deliver infrastructure that is constructed using sustainable processes and designed to meet the demands of a changing environment. As part of the sustainability policy, the project is also must be responsive to and consider local indigenous heritage during construction.

In response to the requirements of sustainability legislation relevant to the project, the following sustainability initiatives are being undertaken on the Cross River Rail Project :


 * 1) Macro-synthetic fibre reinforcement for pavement (eMesh)
 * 2) Crushed recycled glass sand for bedding under pavements
 * 3) Recycling of spoil and waste created from construction
 * 4) Use of low carbon concrete made from reused waste materials
 * 5) Laying of low carbon composite rail sleepers.

Narrative
Throughout the life-time of the project different proposals and methods of completing the objective of increasing rail access across the Brisbane River were made. Each proposal promised varying benefits and costs that were balanced in decisions to proceed or abandon projects. Politics particularly had a significant impact on the decision with the BaT project being introduced when the LNP was voted into office and then abandoned by the Labor party when the LNP party was voted out.

2010 Cross River Rail
In this proposal the project included: This proposal was tasked with the objective of increasing rail access across the bottleneck point of the river which had been identified to reach maximum capacity by 2016. The Federal Government provided $20 million in the feasibility phase of the 2010 project, as part of the 'Building Australia' Fund established in 2009 for the development of the nationwide infrastructure.
 * An 18km rail line including 9.8km tunnelled under Brisbane's CBD and river.
 * Proposed underground system of two single-track tunnels.
 * 3 new underground inner-city train stations.
 * Major and minor upgrades to 4 existing stations.
 * Estimated capital cost of $8.2 billion.

Initially planned to be approved and completed before 2016 it was delayed due to funding reallocation to repairs from extreme weather. Newman who was Lord Major at the time already voiced his disapproval of the expenses required for this rail project suggesting a Subway alternative instead for the same cost.

2012 Cross River Rail
At this stage the proposed project included: This proposal was a scaled down version of the 2010 proposal in attempt to gain funding. This proposal by the Liberal Nationals government in power at the time sought out 80% of the initial capital cost from the Federal Government. The project was labelled as a 'Top Priority' by Infrastructure Australia (IA) and the proposal was approved as "ready to proceed" but delayed by funding disagreements between state and federal government.
 * A 10km rail line.
 * Proposed underground system of two single-track tunnels.
 * 3 new underground inner-city train stations.
 * Forms the first stage of the full project.
 * Estimated capital cost of $4.4 billion.

Bus and Train (BaT) Project
The proposal included: The incorporation of buses into the project was in attempt to address bus crowing problem on Victoria Bridge. The proposal built upon the previous Cross River Rail case and Brisbane City Council's Suburbs 2 City bus project, which both amounted to a total of $8 billion, much greater than the proposed $5 billion BaT project.
 * 5.7km bus and train tunnel connecting under the Brisbane CBD.
 * The two tunnels were replaced by plans for a single tunnel which accommodated 2 rail tracks and 2 bus lanes (see adjacent figure).
 * 2 new underground stations.
 * Estimated capital cost of $4 billion.

The Newman government abandoned the 2012 Cross River Rail proposal in favour of this change, with the project progressing to 'threshold status' by Infrastructure Australia in 2014. When the Palaszczuk government was voted in in 2015, this project was abandoned again on the basis of buses being less efficient for solving the original bottlenecking problem.

2017 Business Case
At this stage the proposal includes: This version of the Brisbane Cross River Rail is the final, approved version of the plan and is currently being constructed as of 2024.
 * 10.2 km rail line including 5.9km tunnelled under Brisbane's CBD and river.
 * proposed underground system of two single-track tunnels.
 * 4 new underground inner-city train stations.
 * Estimated captial cost of $5.4 billion, building upon upon the 2016 Business Case to address policy changes that occurred since 2016. Main differences were the incorporation of the European Train Control System (ETCS) and concerns of the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), specifically the reduction of the total length of the project from 18km down to 10.2km and a shortening of the necessary tunneling from 10km down to 5.9km. Benefits were also recalculated to consider the Fairer Fares Package.

Overall Influences on Narrative
As can be noted from the history of proposals for the Cross River Rail Project significant disagreements were voiced by opposing politicians on the funding and extent of works to be completed. Severe weather events or external factors such as COVID also caused delays and issues in the construction and deployment of the project. Disagreements between state and federal governments over funding also significantly delayed the project from coming to fruition.

Discussion Questions

 * What are other options that could be provided instead of building CRR or BaT - in particular to solve the bottlenecking issue highlighted in the video?
 * Do you think the changing government had an overall positive or negative impact on how the CRR plan was deployed? Can you think of alternate ways in which the negative impact of changing government on infrastructure planning could be minimised?
 * When dismissing the BaT model, the Palaszczuk government argued that the addition of Buses was less supported by transport professionals than having more space for trains. Do you think removing the Bus component from the CRR was a good idea? Do you believe that there is an answer to whether buses or trains are better in general for public transport?
 * The original 2007 report predicted that overcrowding on rail crossing Merivale River would be a problem by 2016. It is currently 2024 and the CRR is still in construction. How do you think projections of population and public transport usage influences infrastructure planning?

Additional Readings and Information

 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq4ZITOPiA4 - Short video covering the current path of the Cross River Rail, outlining the new and renovated stations, and briefly showing off some benefits of its construction, such as ease of access to universities and common business centres.


 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJVR9cXxNXM - Short video visualising how the growth of Brisbane and its surrounding area has led to a bottleneck between work opportunities and transport opportunities from those away from the capital, ideally an issue the CRR, BaT and future transport projects would resolve.