COURIERMAIL.COM.AU SATURDAY JULY 25 2020 NEWS 31

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City’s green spine coming down line

A GREEN spine is set totransform Brisbane’s CBD,while an orange army ofworkers will build six newsuburban stations as part ofthe $5.4 billion Cross RiverRail project.

CRR’s Albert St under-ground station will be used tokickstart the project, whichwill link the Botantic Gardensand the CBD across to SpringHill with a leafy pedestriancorridor.

Albert St, with its 67,000

passengers every weekday, islikely to be the first taste ofBrisbane that visitors see.

The Courier-Mail, in con-junction with the CRR Deliv-ery Authority, is presenting aseries looking at what theproject will bring to the state.

As well as being the stimu-lus for a transformation of thecity’s heart, CRR includes up-grades to eight above-groundstations including Salisbury,Rocklea, Moorooka, Yeer-ongpilly, Yeronga, Fairfield,Dutton Park and the Exhibi-tion, which will become ayear-round station.

The Gold Coast line willget three new stations atPimpama, Helensvale Northand Merrimac.

Stations will largely be pre-fabricated offsite, and the up-grades will occur in stages tominimise disruptions.

Psychology student ClaraHall, 19, lives locally and fre-quently uses the stations atYeronga and Yeerongpilly totravel to university.

Ms Hall said she supportedfunctional improvements andsafety features.

The Yeronga station up-grade will include an ad-

ditional third platform, a newstation building, a newaccessible overpass and lifts,accessible parking bays, plat-form improvements and bikeenclosures.

Lucy Haimes, 20, recentlystarted using Yeronga Stationto travel to her universityplacement in Hamilton.

“It definitely could benicer,” Ms Haimes said.

“I will still use the stationwhile it’s like this, but someupgrades for things like safetywould probably be good.”

More than 7700 peoplewill work on the $5.4 billion

project over the five years ofconstruction, with 400 localsuppliers signed up and morethan 160 apprentice andtraineeship positions alreadyfilled of the 450 to be created.

Major construction workshave started and are due to becompleted in 2024.

The 10.2km rail line willrun from Dutton Park toBowen Hills, including 5.9kmof twin tunnels under theBrisbane River and BrisbaneCBD, creating a second rivercrossing for the rail networkthat means more trains moreoften across the network.

Lucy Haimes at the Yeronga train station, which is due for an upgrade (inset) as part of the Cross River Rail project. Photo: Josh Woning

DAN KNOWLESDANIELLE O’NEAL

WHAT’S COMING:Upgrades to six stations: ■ Fairfield, Yeronga, Yeerongpilly, Moorooka, Rocklea and Salisbury■ Work has begun at Fairfield■ The station’s heritage shelter has been temporarily removed■ New features include a third platform, new accessible overpass to replace existing overpass, new lifts and stairs, inclusion of accessible parking and retention and relocation of the existing heritage shelter

Yeerongpilly station ■ Extra third platform, accessible overpass and lifts and parking spaces, new station building, platform improvements, ride spaces, realigned bus stop and carparking, bike enclosures■ The current station building will be removed as the entire platform is required to be raised by 200-300mm■ Construction proposed to start in June 2021 and will take approximately 18-24 months to complete, weather and construction conditions permitting

Yeronga station ■ Extra third platform, a new station building, a new accessible overpass and lifts, accessible parking bays, new “kiss ’n’ ride” spaces, platform improvements and bike enclosures■ Construction is proposed to start for Yeronga station in September 2020 and will take approximately 18-24 months, weather and construction conditions permitting■ Train services from Yeronga

Gold Coast, 3 new stations: ■ Pimpama, Helensvale North and Merrimac■ Will create more than 120 construction jobs on the Gold Coast

Suburban stations receiving a facelift

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BRISBANE’S NEW UNDERGROUND

Authorised by the Queensland Government, Brisbane.

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Construction is now underway.And while that means the whole of South-East Queensland can look forward to more trains, more often, it also means changes to roads and public transport services.