The Queensland government has been cleared to start external recruitment of train drivers, after the Rail Tram and Bus Union attempted to block the move.
The RTBU lodged a formal dispute with QR, however the Fair Work Commission on Thursday afternoon ruled in the government's favour.
Advertising for drivers not already employed by Queensland Rail will start on Friday as originally scheduled.
Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Jackie Trad welcomed the development.
"I look forward to working collaboratively with the workforce and their union representatives to implement the decision of the commission and continue improving the customer service focus of Queensland Rail," Ms Trad said in a statement.
"I anticipate that Queensland Rail will continue to work with unions in good faith as we move through the recruitment process."
But opposition frontbencher Scott Emerson said the incident was the latest in nearly a year's worth of government "rail fails".
"We know that this government won't, can't and can never fix this problem because they can't control the unions," Mr Emerson told reporters on Thursday.
"We had the Strachan report make a very clear recommendation - get the drivers into QR. All we've seen is the government sit on its hands."
External recruitment of train crew was one of the key recommendations of the Strachan report into QR's systemic rostering failures last year, which saw crew shortages affect hundreds of services across southeast Queensland's rail network.
As of last month, QR had trained just 28 of the 200 new drivers needed to stabilise its roster, with QR staff employed in other roles considered for driver training in the first instance.
The RTBU has been approached for comment.
The union had flagged possible action over external recruitment earlier this year.
It claimed external recruitment would override provisions in the enterprise bargaining agreement for drivers which ensured candidates already employed by QR would be considered first.
The Strachan report identified those provisions as a major cause of train crew shortages which lead to the rostering failure.
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