LNP flags Sunshine Coast rail duplication

Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls has trotted out a 2015 Liberal National Party campaign promise to duplicate the Sunshine Coast rail line if elected.

Queensland Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls

Tim Nicholls has reissued a 2015 campaign promise for the Sunshine Coast if the LNP wins office. (AAP)

Queensland Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls has promised to duplicate the Sunshine Coast rail line, a project previously flagged by both sides of politics, if the LNP wins the state election.

The Liberal National Party has promised to commit $300 million to Stage One, duplicating 17km of track between Beerburrum and Landsborough, with an additional $300 million to come from the federal government.

"The LNP started work in our government to get the plans running, in fact made a commitment in the 2015 election campaign," Mr Nicholls told reporters in the Caloundra electorate on Wednesday.

The project was earmarked by former Labor premier Anna Bligh in 2008 and by the LNP at the 2015 poll, and the most recent calls for its expansion have come from One Nation's state leader Steve Dickson.

The 40km track between Beerburrum and Nambour is currently a single line track, and Mr Nicholls says there are plans to complete the duplication to Nambour in future.

Mr Nicholls would not say whether delivering the rail would divert funds from, and ultimately stall, Labor's flagship Cross River Rail project in Brisbane.

"The Sunshine Coast line is already at capacity; we have additional capacity on the Cross River Rail project to 2026, according to Infrastructure Australia, so this is a key priority," he said.

The opposition has refused to commit to funding Cross River Rail until they see the business case without redactions for commercial-in-confidence items.

In response to a report from infrastructure firms claiming a backflip on CRR would damage investor confidence, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says her government is fully committed to the line.

"That's why we didn't wait for federal government funding, and all of that is at risk if Tim Nicholls and the LNP get into power because we are yet to see whether they support it or not," she said in Cairns on Wednesday.

"We know our investment, we've already had briefings, and industry gets the confidence they need by investing in key infrastructure."

One Nation has continued its call to dump CRR.

Mr Dickson said in a statement on Wednesday that the party would use $850 million from that project to funding the entire length of the Sunshine Coast rail duplication.


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Source: AAP



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