Upgrade for deadly level crossing closer after decades of failed promises

Brisbane City Council has voted to pass a significant contracting plan for the Lindum level crossing upgrade.

Meanwhile, the Coopers Plains railway crossing remains in limbo as the state government says it is committed to its "future delivery".

The contract to build the Lindum railway crossing will be put to tender in January next year.

As construction dates firm for a $105 million upgrade of a deadly level crossing, a project to fix another notorious junction a few suburbs away remains stagnant.

Brisbane City Council voted on Tuesday to pass the significant contracting plan for the Lindum level crossing upgrade, after underground powerlines were relocated earlier this year.

But just 30 minutes south-west of Lindum Station, the Coopers Plains level crossing at Boundary Road is still indefinitely stalled and federal Labor MP for Moreton Julie-Ann Campbell is demanding answers from the LNP state government.

Residents have called for upgrades to both crossings for decades, and plans to improve them have been protracted due to the need for co-operation between multiple levels of government and the two major political parties.

Lindum has been the site of two fatalities since 2019, when pedestrian Genevieve Payne was killed at the crossing after being hit by a train, and then in 2021, a 32-year-old South Korean woman died after her car was hit by a train.

A Queensland Rail spokeswoman said Lindum ranked in the top 10 for level crossing near-miss locations in the last financial year.

The federal government will pay $85 million dollars, and the state and council will each pay $10 million towards the project to upgrade the junction.

The council-led upgrade will move the railway crossing to the west and make it perpendicular to the tracks, while traffic lights will control all movements through the junction.

The right turn from Sibley Road onto Kianawah Road will be removed, and there will be new shared paths and bike lanes.

Brisbane City Council infrastructure chair Ryan Murphy said the misalignment of the crossing created dangerous distractions for drivers.

"[After the upgrade] we won't have the issues where cars could find themselves accidentally on the rail line while they tried to see cars coming the other way," he said

"There were too many things the driver needed to do."

All three levels of government have also promised to fund the Coopers Plains project, which, unlike Lindum, is led by the state government and will be an overpass.

Construction was supposed to start in 2025.

Ms Campbell told 612 ABC Brisbane's Steve Austin the consultation had been done, the designs completed, land acquired and buildings demolished for the major infrastructure project, but there was no start date for the construction.

"Can I tell you, when I first held up a sign standing at the side of the road to fight for this crossing to be fixed I was in my 20s and now I'm in my 40s," she said.

"And there are a lot of people in our community who've been waiting a lot longer than that; up to half a century."

She said state Labor MP for Toohey Peter Russo and Labor councillor for Moorooka Steve Griffiths were working together with the community to hold the state government to account to hand down a timeline to start construction.

The Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads provided a statement that it was committed to the project for "future delivery" and that planning was well advanced.

Ms Campbell will convene a public town hall on the project meeting on Monday, October 9, from 5:30pm at Coopers Plains State School.

The Lindum Railway contract will go to tender in January, after the design is finalised, with construction to begin in mid-2027.

It should be complete by the end of 2028.

The contracting plan noted high risks to the project due to "global and economic uncertainty and rising fuel costs resulting in increased costs", "a reduced number of competitive responses to tender" and needing to "interface works with Queensland Rail".

Cr Murphy said despite the squeeze on contractors, he expected about 10 would bid for the job and the council would shortlist up to three.

"And there is a significant contingency, about 30 per cent of the budget," he said.

He said council officers had worked to "de-risk" the site for the future contractor by finding and mapping the services under the junction, including high-pressure gas, data, rail signalling, water mains and sewerage.

A Queensland Rail spokeswoman said it supported the Brisbane City Council's upgrade at the Lindum level crossing.

Cr Murphy said the council had previously promised $40 million for an overpass but, even with federal funding, it was not enough without a bigger contribution from the state.

"A flyover would have exceeded $200 million, and all the advice was that [Lindum] would not even rank in the top 10 to receive a flyover, due to traffic volumes," he said.

Multiple representatives for Brisbane's bayside and eastern suburbs from local, state and federal governments and oppositions have promised various upgrades to the crossing — with different proposals and spends — since the early 2000s.

This is what the debate swirled around during the council meeting, with the LNP and Labor each claiming credit and accusing the other of ignoring the issue.

The motion passed with 22 votes in favour and one councillor abstaining.