According to local media, Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad killed off the bus component of the plan put forward by the previous government, although it did not rule out considering the alignment the Newman government had decided on.
Speaking at a Property Council of Australia breakfast, Trad said it was "definitely the case" a second river crossing for Brisbane was crucial. And the Labor government "would not be going back to the drawing board" on it.
"We will give some options to Building Queensland to consider," Trad said. "But what is not in dispute, is if we want to stop the chaos of public transport gridlock that is due in the coming years, then we need to build another river crossing for our city, for the south-east corner, and Labor will get on the job of doing it."
She added, "Buses were never part of the original scope of the second river crossing."
"So I think it is important that we go back to what is technically responsible. You need to go back to what this was intended for, as we know the Bus and Train Tunnel was the idea of the former Premier Campbell Newman.
"What we need is proper transport planners and technicians to advise the government, not a frustrated engineer who wanted to put buses and trains together in a tunnel, that essentially, most public transport experts said was more spin than substance."
Building Queensland, the independent statutory body currently being established by the Palaszczuk government, will have to review any proposal put forward.
Infrastructure Partnerships Australia chief executive Brendan Lyon said the question would always come back to the money, despite the well-recognised need for the project.
"The Cross River Rail is going from important to urgent given the growth in patronage on Brisbane’s rail network and the fact that every train will be full to bursting point in just a few short years," Lyon said. He added that the Queensland government needed to explore a public private partnership to get the project operating.
"A new rail crossing of Brisbane’s river needs to be a top order priority for Queensland, but finding the money to pay for it is going to be hard given the challenging budget and high levels of existing debt," Mr Lyon said.
"While the state would be wise to use a PPP to finance the project, there will still need to be budget capacity to repay the cost over time."
In 2013 Infrastructure Australia rated the Cross River Rail project as "ready to proceed", with the then Queensland government seeking AUD 3.4bn for the AUD 4bn project. By mid-2013 no agreement could be reached between the governments in order to get the project off the ground and it was delayed.
