Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to share with the chamber that we will be seeing some boots on the ground soon as the Brisbane Metro project kicks up a gear in 2021. The Brisbane Metro is being delivered by the Brisbane City Council and supported by the Morrison government with $300 million in funding. This city-shaping project will transform Brisbane's public transport network to get people home quicker and safer, with easy links to existing bus and train services. The depot and four stops will be located in my electorate of Bonner. I am pleased to see work progress this year, which is creating 2,600 jobs through its design and construction phase. It's the kind of public transport network we have envied in major cities around the world, and now Brisbane's modern all-electric metro system will become the enviable infrastructure for the rest of the country. The network will operate along the existing busway from Eight Mile Plains through to Roma Street and the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital to the University of Queensland. The best part is there is no timetable needed, with turn-up-and-go services every couple of minutes and 24-hour operation on weekends.

I recently caught up with the Brisbane Metro team, who provided an update on the Rochedale depot site. The depot will be located on School Road, and with initial site clearing nearing completion the design and construction contract will be awarded by the end of this month. Following this we will see some more site preparation and early works ahead of main construction later on in the year. The Rochedale depot site should wrap up main construction by 2023, which will be just in time for the delivery of the metro vehicle fleet. The fleet will consist of 60 all-electric high-capacity vehicles that will integrate seamlessly into Brisbane's existing busway operations. These world-leading vehicles are being built by HESS in partnership with Brisbane based supplier Volgren and electric infrastructure experts ABB. These manufacturers will deliver Brisbane a vehicle with zero tailpipe emissions and state-of-the-art flash-charging infrastructure. What a tremendous outcome for future planning and environmentally friendly public infrastructure. Once completed, the Brisbane Metro depot site will be one of the largest and most technologically advanced in Australia. It will house the stabling and maintenance for the 60 metro vehicles and it will feature advanced charging infrastructure, staff facilities and the capacity to grow the electric fleet in line with future population and service growth.

The Brisbane Metro will revolutionise public transport in my electorate of Bonner. I'm very excited to keep the community updated on when we'll be able to see this new service in action.