The Beerburrum to Nambour Rail Upgrade program involves the duplication of a 39-kilometre section of track between Beerburrum and Nambour on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
The upgrade is set to be delivered in multiple stages. Only details for Stage One - duplication of the rail line between Beerburrum and Beerwah have been released so far.
Stage One scope includes:
- duplication of the track between Beerburrum and Glass House Mountains on an improved alignment
- duplication of the track between Glass House Mountains and Beerwah within the existing corridor
- realignment of a 1km section of Steve Irwin Way between Nursery Road and Moffatt Road to accommodate the new rail corridor and track infrastructure
- Beerburrum Road and Steve Irwin Way intersection upgrade including a new road overpass on Beerburrum Road
- expansion of the park and ride facilities at Beerburrum, Landsborough and Nambour stations
- replacement of the Barrs Road level crossing in Glass House Mountains with a new road overpass connecting Barrs Road to Moffatt Road
- replacement of the Burgess Street road-over-rail bridge with a new road overpass, and
- construction of a new bus interchange at Landsborough.
A $6 million study into further stages of the program has been funded with the Queensland Government continuing discussions with the Australian Government regarding funding for future stages to deliver the full scope under the business case.
Key Dates
| Aug 2020 | RFP Open |
| Sep 2024 | Contract Award |
| 2025 | Expected Construction Commencement |
| 2027 | Expected Construction Completion |
Funding contributions
| Federal Government | |
| Queensland Government |
Procurement
| Procuring Agency: | Department of Transport and Main Roads, Queensland |
| Successful Tenderer: | John Holland and Seymour Whyte Joint Venture |
| Procurement note: | A Joint Venture comprising John Holland and Seymour Whyte, with SMEC and WSP as Joint Venture designers, have signed a preconstruction and design agreement (P&DA) to undertake enabling works and design for the project. Contingent on successful completion of the P&DA, the Joint Venture partners would assume preferred bidder status for the project’s main works contract. |
| Related contracts: |
PROJECT HISTORY
| Dec 2016 | Building Queensland completed a Business Case which was considered during the government budget process and also submitted to Infrastructure Australia (IA) for consideration on 19 July 2017. |
| Feb 2018 | Infrastructure Australia evaluated the project business case and listed on its Infrastructure Priority List as a Priority Project with a near term time frame. |
| May 2018 | Federal Government announced $390 million towards the project in the 2018-19 Budget |
| Jun 2018 | Queensland Government announced $160.8 million towards the project in 2018-19 Budget. The Budget also stated detailed design for the project will commence in 2018-19 with construction to be delivered in stages based on further negotiations with the Federal Government. |
| Jun 2020 | Stage One Early Works contract opened for tenders. |
| Jul 2020 | Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads held an industry briefing detailing its project pipeline. The Department said that the Stage One Main Works contract will become open for tenders in August 2020. |
| Aug 2020 | The Queensland Government issued a Request for Proposal for Stage One Design and Construct contract, closing on 24 September. |
| Dec 2020 | Alongwith 2020-21 Queensland Budget, the Queensland Transport and Roads Investment Programme (QTRIP) profiled the remaining expenditure ($535 million) for Stage One of the project over the forward estimates to FY2023-24. |
| Aug 2021 | The Queensland Government awarded the Early Works contract to Hall Contracting. |
| Sep 2021 | In the 2020-21 QTRIP, the remaining $535 million in expenditure for Stage One of the project was profiled over the forward estimates to FY2023-24. |
| Mar 2022 | Construction on the early works contract commenced. |
| Apr 2023 | The Queensland Government awarded an ECI Contract to a John Holland and Seymour Whyte Joint Venture. |
| Sep 2024 | The Main Works contract for Stage One was awarded to the John Holland and Seymour Whyte Joint Venture. This follows the completion of early and enabling works in late-2023. |
| Jun 2025 | The 2025-26 QLD Budget allocated $285 million in FY2025-26 to the project. |
