Accessibility

Cross River Rail will deliver a world class infrastructure project to benefit all Queenslanders. With new stations and upgraded rail infrastructure, Cross River Rail is committed to providing equitable experiences for all passenger accessibility requirements. Cross River Rail will engage early, often and genuinely to better understand and respond to the needs of the community.

To support this commitment, the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority has developed an Accessibility Plan which sets out the strategic approach to achieving positive accessibility outcomes. The Accessibility Plan is centred on four core pillars:

Building Stations and Systems for All

Development of infrastructure and systems that are equitable and easy to use for all potential user groups.

Every Customer Experience Enhanced

Providing customers access to tools and information to enable a better customer experience.

Integrating and Connecting into the Network

Ensuring the connections between new and legacy infrastructure and systems are seamless and effective.

Working Together Collaboratively

Engaging with subject matter experts and people with lived experience to reduce barriers and create inclusive journeys.

To ensure Cross River Rail is responding to the needs of the community, an Accessibility Reference Group was formed in May 2020. The Accessibility Reference Group includes representatives from disability sector organisations and individuals with lived experience across a range of areas including but not limited to physical, cognitive, sensory, life stage and situational disabilities.

The ARG meets monthly with additional special working groups to consult on various areas of the project including:

• Station design and amenity – wayfinding, primary paths of travel, lift access, accessible toilets, seating and landscaping
• Station interface – transfer from platform to train or station to surrounding streetscape
• Process and systems – hearing aid loop coverage, emergency systems, and information systems
• Disruptions – accommodation for accessible options in alternative transport, communication of information, and evaluation of responses during closures

This regular and genuine consultation allows the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority to capture pain points and identify opportunities early in the design process, to ensure our stations and rail infrastructure are integrated, functional and inclusive. Through consultation with passengers with lived experience, the project can achieve designs that move beyond only compliance with minimum standards and toward best practice outcomes.

Cross River Rail is creating a legacy of inclusion for future Queensland infrastructure projects and the Accessibility Reference Group’s contributions will help ensure Cross River Rail’s new underground and new and upgraded above ground stations are easy to navigate for everyone.

We are in the process of translating certain pages into Australian Sign Language (Auslan) with text captions.

Click below to view the pages to date:

• Click here to view the Australian Sign Language (Auslan) version of the Project Overview page with text captions.
• Click here to view the Australian Sign Language (Auslan) version of the Project Benefits page with text captions.
• Click here to view the Australian Sign Language (Auslan) version of the Stations & Route page with text captions.
• Click here to view the Australian Sign Language (Auslan) version of the Construction page with text captions.
• Click here to view the Australian Sign Language (Auslan) version of the Planning & Environment page with text captions.
• Click here to view the Australian Sign Language (Auslan) version of the Accessibility page with text captions.

For all accessibility enquiries, please feel free to contact a member of the team using the details below.

• Email us at [email protected]
• Call our information hotline on 1800 010 875.

Interpreter services

If you need an interpreter, call the Translating and Interpreting Service on 13 14 50 and have them contact the Cross River Rail project team on 1800 010 875.TTY users phone 13 36 77, then ask for 1800 010 875.

Speak-and-listen users phone 1300 555 727, then ask for 1800 010 875.

Internet relay users connect to the National Relay Service then ask for 1800 010 875.

You can read more about accessibility practices here.

Accessibility at Cross River Rail means creating infrastructure that is functional for all users. Creating accessible infrastructure is a process of designing and constructing infrastructure and systems to meet the needs of all users, now and in the future.

We asked our Accessibility Reference Group members to share their thoughts about what Accessibility at Cross River Rail means to them:

“I think the engagement has worked very well because I think the main thing that I’ve found with this project is the sense of respect that we have for each other. So, we respect you as the Cross River Rail Project building the project, but you also respect our input.”
“When you get introduced to the problems firsthand it’s very important to get things sorted out before you start building because once you start building it’s hard to change the design after it’s been approved.”

“It might sound easy for people to walk down that hill from Ann Street but that pathway is not easy so to have Albert Street station in the city will be great. Also, all the other connections you have like if you want to go to the football or whatever is on at The Gabba. I do like the convenience of the connection to the PA Hospital because in time, our population is going to grow. It’s going to be an important way into the city.”

The Cross River Rail project teams engage with a broad range of stakeholders on an ongoing basis. This includes targeted engagement with people in the disability sector, throughout design and construction project phases. The purpose of this engagement is to identify opportunities to influence design as well as the experience of passengers using these spaces throughout construction and upon project completion. This approach ensures proactive identification of areas of interest and produces greater results for all stakeholders.

The Cross River Rail Accessibility Reference group meets monthly with additional sessions and site visits conducted as needed for detailed engagement.

Cross River Rail is a significant infrastructure project that will deliver improved public transport options across South East Queensland. This commitment includes the need to create a system that supports the journeys of thousands of Queenslanders and to reduce barriers to public transport use, enabling an inclusive and equitable transport experience for all.

People with a disability make up a significant segment of the Queensland population:

• 18.3% of the Queensland population or just less than 1 in every 5 Queenslanders have a disability.
• 10.2% of the Queensland population are carers for people with a disability

In designing new infrastructure, it is important that users of all abilities are considered throughout design and construction phases.

The Cross River Rail project team has worked through topics including but not limited to:

• Consultation using braille and tactile models to engage on station designs with community members with low or no vision
• How to enhance system design through user experience testing audio alternatives such as hearing aid loops for people with low or no hearing
• Improved bus to station and platform to train access through the examination of station layouts and train boarding with a variety of users
• Improved lift facilities to enable greater independence and improve safety outcomes for passengers using a mobility device.

The project team have undertaken 7 site visits to engage on topics including train, station, and lift access. Site visits are an important part of the Cross River Rail accessibility engagement process as it helps the team understand existing conditions on the ground, identify issues and work through solutions in a very practical real world situation in a live station environment.

To find out more about how Cross River Rail is working to provide equitable experiences for all passenger accessibility requirements, visit the links below:

• Cross River Rail creating inclusive transport
• Cross River Rail develops 3D tactile model of Fairfield station for blind and low vision train users