Albert Street
Cross River Rail PDA

14 December 2018

The Albert Street Cross River Rail PDA is required to manage the delivery of the Tunnel, Stations and Development (TSD) package and over-station development works. The land parcels ensure the tunnel and station development works have sufficient area to interface with the public realm, streetscape and key movement pathways to the greater city centre.

The PDA is defined by two core land areas separated by Albert Street and totals 3,858m2. These properties are directly associated with the delivery of the Cross River Rail project.

On average 67,260 people will use Albert Street Station each week day by 2036.

The Cross River Rail Delivery Authority worked closely with officers from Economic Development Queensland (EDQ) and Brisbane City Council (BCC), and specialist planning consultants, to prepare the Albert Street CRR PDA proposed development scheme. The proposed development scheme was also been reviewed by relevant State departments with respect to transport and heritage matters. The proposed development scheme was publicly notified from Tuesday 10 September 2019 to Wednesday 23 October 2019 during which time submissions were invited. A submissions report outlines the matters raised about the proposed development scheme and how they have been considered in finalising the development scheme.

Neither the Brisbane City Plan 2014 (including the City Centre Neighbourhood Plan) or Brisbane City Council’s Albert Street Vision, ‘creating the Green Spine’ considered a Cross River Rail Station within Albert Street as they pre-dated the Cross River Rail project.

The Delivery Authority has worked closely with Brisbane City Council officers to prepare the proposed development scheme which closely reflects the Brisbane City Plan 2014 (City Centre Neighbourhood Plan) requirements, adjusted for a new underground rail station, at this location. Further, while the Brisbane City Plan 2014 does not regulate development within the Albert Street CRR PDA, some elements of the Brisbane City Plan 2014 are referred to in the proposed development scheme as guidance and to define uses.

The Albert Street Station and Green Spine Overlay has been prepared to provide design guidance for public realm works at Albert Street. Brisbane City Council’s Albert Street Vision, ‘creating the Green Spine’, has been considered and refined to address the interface with the Cross River Rail Station and the increased pedestrian movement that is expected. Albert Street will be permanently closed to vehicles between Mary Street and Charlotte Street to make way for an increase in pedestrian activity associated with the new underground station.

The Albert Street CRR PDA proposed development scheme has adopted a range of development application notification triggers including those from the Brisbane City Plan 2014. If triggered (refer section 2.2.6 of the proposed development scheme), a development application requires public notification, with submissions considered during the assessment of the development application.

Based on the final station configuration, with all tunnel services and station access infrastructure positioned on land south of Albert Street, over station development could be located on PDA land north of Albert Street. The proposed development scheme allows for a broad range of development outcomes, consistent with the Brisbane City Plan 2014.

Cross River Rail is a 10.2km rail line from Dutton Park to Bowen Hills, which includes 5.9 kilometres of twin tunnels under the Brisbane River and Brisbane CBD.

The project includes construction of four new underground stations at Boggo Road, Woolloongabba, Albert Street and Roma Street.

It will also deliver upgrades to eight above ground stations including: Salisbury, Rocklea, Moorooka, Yeerongpilly, Yeronga, Fairfield, Dutton Park, and Exhibition.

The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Cross River Rail project was approved by the Coordinator-General in 2012. This EIS was based on the project’s Reference Design and was a key document in the review and approval of the project by the State Government. As project planning and design progresses, changes to the approved project are sometimes required, leading to a Request for Project Change. Project change application 4 was publicly notified in May 2019 – June 2019 and approved by the Coordinator General on 26 June 2019.

Request for Project Change 4 identified project innovations and improvements by the bidding companies as part of the tendering process. Cross River Rail submitted the Request for Project Change application to the Coordinator General to reduce project impacts and improve project outcomes. This change addressed the rationalisation of the tunnel and station infrastructure to land on the southern side of Albert Street as well as a new additional station access portal close to Elizabeth Street and the Queen Street Mall.

The Cross River Rail project does not require assessment under the Albert Street CRR PDA proposed development scheme as this would create a duplicate development approval requirement (in addition to the Coordinator-General’s approval) for the project. Any future project changes will be notified in accordance with any requirements of the Coordinator-General. For further information, please visit the EIS and Project Changes page under the Planning and Environment section of the CRR website.

As the first CBD train station built in more than 120 years, Albert Street Station will dramatically improve people’s ability to access the southern part of the CBD. The new underground Albert Street Station will become the main public transport stop for QUT’s Garden Point campus, the Parliamentary precinct, the new Queen’s Wharf development, the Eagle Street business district and the Botanic Gardens.

The Albert Street Station will have a second entrance at its northern end, providing close access to Elizabeth Street and the Queen Street Mall.

The deepest of the Cross River Rail stations, Albert Street’s 220-metre long platform will be set approximately 31 metres below the street surface, with escalators and lifts connecting passengers to the station’s entrances and exits on Albert Street. There are two exit/entrance points to the station – one close to intersection of Elizabeth Street and Albert Street and the other on the corner of Albert Street and Mary Street.

You can find out more at our Albert Street Station page.

The new station entrance is included within the current Cross River Rail project design, as updated by the Coordinator-General’s approval – Report on Project Change 4. This forms the approval for the project works on this site. Should there be additional development outcomes identified over this station entrance in future, due consideration will be given to the statutory planning framework.

Email: [email protected].
Phone: 1800 010 875