Land for Brisbane Metro's underground busway station, to be built directly beneath the busy Melbourne and Grey streets intersection at South Brisbane, is being bought from Queensland Rail.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has confirmed talks were under way with QR for the Brisbane City Council to buy a 1.6-hectare portion of land beside the heritage-listed, red-brick South Brisbane rail station, plus a site at Rochedale that will become the depot for 60 new Brisbane Metro modern articulated "buses".
The plans show $20 million was set aside to acquire the parcel of land.
Work will begin in 18 months in 2019 and be finished by 2022.
The Brisbane Metro busway station will spread underneath the forecourt of the Queensland Performing Arts Complex, allowing an inbound and an outbound platform to be connected to the nearby South East Busway.
"It allows the Metro vehicles to connect to the South East Busway and sits on a 45-degree angle across the block," Cr Quirk said.
"It will mean the Metro vehicles will no longer enter and exit the busway from the ???hole in the wall' in Melbourne Street," he said.
From the cityside, the Brisbane Metro vehicles will gently slide underground from the Victoria Bridge down to the new underground busway.
The plans propose a low-height hotel could be built above the Grey Street site.
The underground Metro Cultural Centre station will be about 120 metres long, 35 metres wide and sit seven metres below Grey Street.
The present Cultural Centre bus station will be demolished and reconstructed on a new alignment.
Two Brisbane Metro lanes will be repositioned to the centre of the Victoria Bridge and the non-metro bus lanes will go either side of the Brisbane Metro lanes.
Deputy mayor Adrian Schrinner said the new underground station and busway tunnel would "provide a dedicated connection for metro vehicles and buses and allow the closure of the existing Melbourne Street portal, significantly reducing bus numbers at street level".
"Improving the pedestrian environment and public realm at Melbourne Street and Grey Street will help establish a gateway to the world-class cultural precinct."
Meanwhile, Brisbane City Council has chosen a site for a new depot for about 60 Metro vehicles at Rochedale.
The 45-hectare block of land is beside Pacific Motorway, to the immediate south of where the Gateway Motorway crosses the Pacific Motorway beside the Eight Mile Plains busway.
The $944 million Brisbane Metro will run over 21 kilometres with two new high-frequency, high-capacity lines.
Metro 1 links Eight Mile Plains to Roma Street, while Metro 2 links Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital to University of Queensland Lakes and all busway stations in between.
The Brisbane Metro works already under way included on-site monitoring and testing at various locations adjacent to the Brisbane Metro routes.
These include the Mater Hospital, the Queensland Performing Arts Complex, City Hall and the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.
Results from these tests will be part of the benchmark when the concept design is released in November.
