Robina-varsity Lakes Rail Extension State's Most Expensive

QUEENSLAND'S newest rail link, which has opened on the Gold Coast, is also the state's most expensive - costing a staggering $300 million for 4.1km of track.

The Robina to Varsity Lakes rail extension, which includes a new $25 million station, cost only $50 million less than the entire Brisbane-Gold Coast line which opened in 1998.

Opening the Varsity Lakes station yesterday, Premier Anna Bligh talked up her controversial asset sell-off as a possible way of fast-tracking the long-awaited Robina-Coolangatta rail extension.

But she refused to commit to a firm timetable for the project, which has been estimated to cost at least $1.8 billion, or $86 million a kilometre.

Ms Bligh said the Varsity Lakes station, which opened six months ahead of schedule, had been expensive due to geotechnical issues. The project included a 300m tunnel.

She said the Coolangatta extension was scheduled for "the middle of the 2020s" but would not give a timetable for the next stage, to Elanora.

"Over the next 15 years, we will see the rail line, in phases, go all the way to the border," she said.

"If we can bring it forward, that's what I'll be doing."

Ms Bligh said the sell-off of assets including Queensland Rail's freight operations, which has enraged unions, would allow the Government to focus on passenger rail projects like the Robina-Coolangatta extension.


Source: news.com.au