Cross River Rail Operations – Benchmarking and Options Analysis
Client: Queensland Rail (QR)
Location: Brisbane
Start date: 2021
End date: 2021
Duration: 3 months
Services provided: Advisory Services
Cross River Rail is a new 10km rail line from Dutton Park to Bowen Hills, which includes 6km of twin tunnels under the Brisbane River and through the centre of Brisbane. The project will unlock a bottleneck at the core of Queensland Rail’s transport network, and it will transform passenger travel throughout South East Queensland. This includes 4 new underground stations; station upgrades a new signalling systems (ETCS L2 & ATO) and introduction of a new Traffic Management System.
Queensland Rail sought international benchmarking of similar projects with an options analysis for the introduction of the new operational services for the passenger networks for Queensland Rail to consider when determining their strategy for the introduction of services on Cross River Rail.
Queensland Rail wanted a better understanding of two key areas and tasked Network Rail Consulting (NRC) with analysing the following:
- Comparison of Hard v Soft launch strategies on other passenger networks and the critical lessons learned; and
- Key issues for Queensland Rail to consider when determining the best approach for introduction of the Cross River Rail passenger services.
The Benchmarking and Options Analysis Report included:
- Information from up to 6 international projects;
- A range of international examples for introduction, including a comparison of “soft” openings and “hard” openings;
- Key themes that needed consideration when reviewing an introduction strategy; and
- Areas that need focus in deciding if a hard or soft launch should be undertaken by Queensland Rail.