Statement from Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey

We welcome the announcement of funding for the North Coast Connect business case.

Last year we provided our detailed business case for the duplication of the rail line from Beerburrum to Nambour to Infrastructure Australia.

Beerburrum to Nambour is a key element of the North Coast Connect project and we look forward to favourable consideration of our business case so the duplication can get underway as soon as possible.

The Palaszczuk Government will provide this business case to the North Coast Connect consortium as an in kind contribution – worth $5M.

We look forward to working with them on the development of their business case for North Coast Connect.

The Labor party has a clear track record of investing in the public transport infrastructure Queensland needs to support our growing population.

It is important to remember that none of these proposed new rail lines will work without Cross River Rail to open up the network.

The only way extra capacity on the Sunshine Coast can work is if there are no bottlenecks further down the line. The way you ensure that is with Cross River Rail, and we are getting on with the job and building it.

ENDS

Media contact, Dominic Geiger, 0447355565