Transport projects tied to Brisbane 2032 and the suburbs they serve

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Kooky

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Almost every transport announcement in Queensland now carries a reference to 2032. That makes it hard for a household weighing a move, or an owner wondering what is coming to the end of the street, to tell which projects are part of the Games program and which simply share its decade.

This guide takes a narrow view. It covers the projects the Queensland Government lists under transport in its 2032 Delivery Plan and on its Games delivery website, and for each one sets out where it runs, which suburbs and stations it serves, what funding has been published and the status shown in official sources at the start of October 2026. Where a source gives no cost or date, the guide says so and does not fill the gap. It makes no claim about what any project does to property prices.

Department of Transport and Main Roads project pages; 2032 Delivery Plan for the Games date.

What "tied to the Games" means

The reference list is the 2032 Delivery Plan, published by the Queensland Government on 25 March 2025, and the transport page of the State's delivering2032 website, which presents transport as one of four legacy pillars alongside venues, tourism and grassroots sport.

That page names the Bruce Highway upgrade, the Coomera Connector, Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail, The Wave on the Sunshine Coast, Cross River Rail, a high-frequency bus network, bus priority corridors in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, a Transport Coordination Centre and the European Train Control System. The Delivery Plan adds Brisbane Metro expansion and future capacity upgrades on the M1 Pacific Motorway and the Gateway Motorway.

There is also a legal meaning. The Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games Arrangements Act 2021, as amended in 2025, contains a schedule of "games-related transport infrastructure". Under section 53DD of that Act, development for infrastructure on the schedule is taken to be lawful despite fifteen State Acts, the Planning Act 2016 among them. This guide works from the Government's published program, not from that schedule, and the two lists should not be assumed to be identical.

One caution applies throughout. Being on the list means a project is part of the State's Games plan. It does not mean the project is fully funded, and it does not mean it will be finished by 2032. Several entries below are explicit about that.

How the main projects compare in length

Length is a poor guide to importance. The shortest line on the chart is the one that changes the centre of Brisbane, and the longest is a motorway of which most stages are still in planning. The sections below take each in turn.

The Wave: Beerwah to the Sunshine Coast Airport

The Wave is the Delivery Plan's name for a new direct rail line from Beerwah to Birtinya, joined to a metro-style service running on to the Sunshine Coast Airport by way of the Maroochydore city centre.

Transport and Main Roads divides the rail section into two stages. Stage 1 runs from Beerwah to Caloundra, with an upgraded station at Beerwah and new stations at Bells Creek, which serves the Aura community, and at Caloundra. Stage 2 continues from Caloundra to Birtinya, with stations at Aroona and Birtinya. The line joins the existing North Coast Line north of Beerwah, and the department says trains will run through to Moreton Bay, the Brisbane CBD and beyond.

The funding position differs sharply between the stages. The department estimates Stage 1 at between $5.5 billion and $7 billion. The Australian and Queensland governments have each committed $2.75 billion, a combined $5.5 billion. Stage 2, in the department's words, "is subject to funding approval". No cost has been published for the metro-style link beyond Birtinya.

On status, the department's page describes 2024 to 2026 as pre-delivery, with environmental approvals and a reference design, and lists construction as expected to start in 2027, subject to approvals. Preliminary geotechnical investigations and utility relocations are under way. On 18 August 2026 Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg opened consultation on the three Stage 1 station precincts, which closed on 14 September; his statement gave early 2027 for the construction start and described Stage 1 as 19 kilometres of new dual track.

The Games connection is the Sunshine Coast's share of the event: an athlete village in the Maroochydore city centre, football at Sunshine Coast Stadium in Kawana and mountain biking at Maroochy River. The delivery website describes "the final public transport link to the airport" as due by 2032. Kawana and Maroochydore lie beyond the funded stage.

Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail

This is the largest funded rail project on the list by published budget. Transport and Main Roads puts the total investment at $5.75 billion, split equally: $2.875 billion from the Australian Government and $2.875 billion from the Queensland Government.

The project covers the section of the Gold Coast and Beenleigh lines between Kuraby and Beenleigh. The department describes it as a bottleneck where trains share track, so that all-stops services are held during peak periods. The Games delivery website summarises the fix as doubling the tracks between the two stations so that all-stops and express trains can move freely, with station upgrades, level crossing removals and better park 'n' ride facilities.

Nine stations are being upgraded: Kuraby, Trinder Park, Woodridge, Kingston, Loganlea, Bethania, Edens Landing, Holmview and Beenleigh. The department lists level crossing removals at Kuraby, Woodridge, Bethania, Holmview and Beenleigh.

On the department's project page, last updated on 6 October 2026, Kuraby and Loganlea are shown as under construction and the other stations as in pre-construction. The page gives no completion date.

For the Games, the corridor is the rail spine between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, where the Delivery Plan places an athlete village at Royal Pines. It also runs through Logan, where the Games authority is delivering a new indoor sports centre in the Logan Central precinct. For residents of the nine station suburbs, the nearer effects are years of works at their local station and, at five locations, a road that no longer crosses the tracks at grade.

Cross River Rail: the inner-city link

Cross River Rail is the most advanced rail project on the list. Its central section is 5.9 kilometres of twin tunnels under the Brisbane River and the CBD.

It adds four underground stations, at Boggo Road, Woolloongabba, Albert Street and Roma Street. Eight above-ground stations are being upgraded: Salisbury, Rocklea, Moorooka, Yeerongpilly, Yeronga, Fairfield, Dutton Park and Exhibition. The program also includes three new stations on the Gold Coast line, at Pimpama, Hope Island and Merrimac.

The project's website says major civil construction is nearing completion and that the project is moving into "the rigorous testing and commissioning process required before trains can safely take passengers underground". Hope Island station opened on 18 May 2026. Moorooka station closed for construction from 2 March 2026. Evening services on the Shorncliffe line are being altered through 2026 for testing, and track closures for several rail projects were scheduled from 19 September to 11 October. The site does not publish an opening date for the tunnels.

Two of its stations sit beside Games sites. Exhibition station serves the Brisbane Showgrounds, where the main athlete village will stand. Woolloongabba station serves the suburb that is home to the Gabba, which the Delivery Plan keeps among its existing venues.

Buses: priority corridors and Brisbane Metro

The bus items on the list are described more briefly in official sources than the rail projects, and none has a published cost or date on the Games delivery website.

The high-frequency bus network covers Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, and is described as bringing more frequency, reliability and capacity.

In Brisbane, two bus priority corridors are named. The northern one follows Gympie Road. The eastern one follows Old Cleveland Road, and the Delivery Plan describes it as a bus priority solution out to Capalaba. The stated aim is shorter journeys for the eastern and northern suburbs.

On the Gold Coast, an east-west bus priority corridor covers two routes: Nerang to Broadbeach and Robina to Miami.

The Delivery Plan also lists Brisbane Metro expansion among accelerated projects, without detail. The Games authority's page for Brisbane Stadium names Brisbane Metro and the busway network, with Cross River Rail, as the venue's transport connections.

For someone living along Gympie Road or Old Cleveland Road, the honest summary is that a commitment exists and a design has not been published in the sources used here.

Gold Coast roads: the Coomera Connector

The Coomera Connector is a north-south motorway corridor between Loganholme and Nerang, east of the M1 and the heavy rail line. Transport and Main Roads describes it as carrying up to six lanes, with an active transport path along its length, river crossings and wildlife passages. It passes through Coomera, Pimpama, Helensvale and Molendinar.

Stage 1's three sections total 16 kilometres, and the 29 kilometres between Loganholme and Coomera complete the 45-kilometre corridor; the 5 kilometres of Stage 2 lie inside that northern section. Only the first 4 kilometres are open, and nothing north of Coomera is yet under construction.

Two recent statements show how the Government links Gold Coast road works to the Games. On 14 August 2026 the Premier and the Transport Minister announced that expressions of interest were open for the design of Stage 2, within what they called a twenty-year Gold Coast Transport Plan that also covers upgrades to Pacific Motorway exits at Yatala, Ormeau, Dreamworld and Robina.

On 6 October 2026 Mr Mickelberg announced that design had begun on duplicating two bridges on Hope Island Road at Jabiru Island: the 236 metre Coombabah Creek bridge and a 194 metre flood relief channel bridge. Site investigations continue into early 2027. That statement says the project "supports the Queensland Government's 2032 Delivery Plan" and that the Gold Coast Transport Plan will help prepare the city for the Games.

The Bruce Highway and the regional venues

The Delivery Plan commits more than $9 billion to the Bruce Highway between Brisbane and Cairns, for safety, capacity and flood resilience. Three projects are named.

The Tiaro Bypass is a new four-lane bypass. A Government statement of 22 July 2026 was headed "Tiaro Bypass milestone reached as procurement now open".

The Rockhampton Ring Road is a new road around the city with a new crossing of the Fitzroy River. A statement of 18 September 2026 was headed "Rockhampton Ring Road reaches major construction milestones". Rockhampton hosts rowing and canoe sprint on the Fitzroy River in 2032, and an athlete village is planned there.

Goorganga Plains, near Proserpine, is a flood immunity and safety project. A statement of 9 September 2026 referred to safer overtaking and stronger flood resilience for the highway at Goorganga.

The highway's link to the Games is the regional program: football in Cairns, sailing at Townsville and the Whitsundays, rowing at Rockhampton. The Delivery Plan's tourism section expects half of international Games visitors to travel on through regional Queensland.

The systems passengers do not see

Two entries on the list are not corridors at all.

The European Train Control System is a signalling technology. The delivery website describes Level 2 of the system being implemented across what it calls Sector 1, the part of the network running from the Gold Coast through the Brisbane CBD to the Sunshine Coast and the Redcliffe Peninsula. The stated benefits are improved safety and more frequent services. It belongs with the track projects: signalling is one of the things that decides how many trains a line can carry.

The Transport Coordination Centre in Brisbane is to be new or upgraded, with new systems and digital capability, to improve incident response and network reliability.

Neither has a published cost or date on the delivery website.

Where the gaps are

Three kinds of gap are visible in the official material.

The first is funding. Stage 2 of The Wave and its metro link have no committed budget in the sources used here. Most of the Coomera Connector is in planning. The bus corridors have no published cost.

The second is access to venues. An audit by the Queenslanders with Disability Network and the advisory firm Urbis, reported by the ABC on 17 September 2026, found that at least four Greater Brisbane venues lack public transport access and would need network upgrades, extra services, event-specific transport or other options. The same audit found that 56 per cent of the Brisbane accommodation providers it surveyed could reach five or more venues by public transport within an hour.

The third is the difference between a list and a timetable. In the material read for this guide, only the Sunshine Coast airport link carries an explicit "by 2032" on the delivery website.

How to read a Games transport promise

Four questions sort a firm commitment from an aspiration, and each can be answered from the department's own project page.

Is there a budget, and who has committed it? Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail has $5.75 billion from two governments. Stage 2 of The Wave has none yet.

Is there a stage boundary? A station on a funded stage and a station on a later stage are different propositions, even on the same line. Caloundra is in the first group; Birtinya is in the second.

What is the current status word? Departments use a consistent vocabulary: planning, detailed design, pre-construction, under construction, completed. The word on the page on the day it was last updated is worth more than any artist's impression.

Does the source give a date? Where it does not, as with the opening of the Cross River Rail tunnels on the project's website, no date should be assumed.

Legal approval is a separate matter from all four. Listed transport infrastructure can be built without the usual State planning approvals under the Games Act, but that removes a step, not a cost. The projects in this guide will be decided by budgets and construction capacity. For the suburbs along them, the departments' project pages, each of which carries a last-updated date, remain the most reliable way to follow what is funded, what has started and what is still a line on a map.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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