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Three consortia are said to have started forming to submit bids for the PPP aspect of the Cross River Rail project in Brisbane.

According to sources, the groups are CIMIC owned Pacific Partnerships along with its CPB Constructors; Capella Capital with John Holland and Lend Lease Engineering; and Plenary Group with Acciona and building construction firm GSE & C, a subsidiary of Korea's GS Group.

As we reported, the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority opened in early September the EOI registration period for the tunnel, stations and development (TSD) component of the Cross River Rail PPP.

The TSD will primarily involve constructing the underground section of the project, including the tunnel from Dutton Park station to the northern portal, four new underground stations and a section of rail surface works. This represents more than the half of the project cost.

The Cross River Rail PPP project in Brisbane, which amounts to AUD5.4 billion (US$4 billion), is considered the flagship project of Queensland infrastructure pipeline.

The Cross River Rail Delivery Authority (CRRDA) was established in April 2017. The CRRDA will lead the development, procurement and delivery of the project and support wider economic and social outcomes from this transformational project.

Cross River Rail is a transformational 10.2 kilometre link from Dutton Park to Bowen Hills, with 5.9 kilometres of tunnel under the Brisbane River and central business district (CBD). The project will connect to both northern and southern rail networks from day one of operation, providing significant benefits to commuters from both directions. This second CBD rail river crossing will ease congestion and improve network reliability, allowing more people to access jobs and services in the CBD with shorter journey times.

New, high-capacity stations at four inner-city locations and an upgrade of the Exhibition station will provide direct access to more places of work, study and recreation.

• Cross River Rail will relieve the bottleneck in the inner city and boost capacity for the entire South East Queensland rail network.
• Improving capacity will allow more frequent services on all suburban lines.
• Cross River Rail will take up to 18,500 car trips off major arterial roads every day.
• New stations will provide better links to existing and planned health and medical research facilities, tourism, sporting and entertainment precincts.
• With Cross River Rail in place, by 2036 there will be 90,000 people travelling to work each day in the morning peak hours.