Bloody fantastic!! Gotta love Anna
Underground for inner city Article from: The Courier-Mail | link 
John McCarthy
August 09, 2007 12:00am
AN underground rail system for central Brisbane is being investigated by the State Government to help cope with the city's massive growth.
Infrastructure Minister Anna Bligh last night revealed at the Our Future, Your Say forum that a feasibility study was currently being done to investigate another river crossing for trains.
The Grey St bridge was set to reach capacity within a decade.
Ms Bligh said the proposal would mean a train line going underground at Kangaroo Point, with the possibility of providing a new underground station at the QUT campus at Gardens Point and the line then linking to either Roma Street or Central Station.
There could also be an opportunity for stations at either the Myer Centre or near the Riverside Centre.
"It's early days. This is a 10 or 20-year project," Ms Bligh said.
"That's in the planning stages now and is a very important part of our thinking about managing growth."
She agreed that such a scheme would cost billions and would possibly require Federal Government funding.
The plan would coincide with another scheme to develop light rail in the inner city to link West End with the City, Fortitude Valley and Newstead.
Ms Bligh said congestion was one of the pains of growth in southeast Queensland and people loved their cars. However, without traffic measures there would be an extra 7 billion kilometres travelled on Brisbane roads by 2020.
Other speakers at last night's Customs House forum included actor and former Brisbane resident William McInnes, Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale and Lend Lease general manager of affordable housing and sustainability Guy Gibson.
Mr Gibson said a major plan to buy greenspace was needed to provide balance to the urban expansion.
The forum What price growth was the first in a series throughout Brisbane examining the impact of growth on our city.