Qld train bungle documents to be released

Cabinet documents about the bungled rollout of Queensland's new commuter trains will be released, paving the way for an inquiry into what went wrong.

Queensland Rail trains at a rail yard

Cabinet documents about the bungled rollout of Queensland's new commuter trains will be released. (AAP)

An independent inquiry into the bungled rollout of Queensland Rail's new trains appears likely after both sides of politics agreed to release cabinet documents relating to the project.

It's hoped the documents will provide clarity over what went wrong in the rollout of the $4.4 billion contract, with both sides of politics claiming they will be vindicated by any probe.

Current Liberal National Party Leader Deb Frecklington agreed to a request from former LNP Premier Campbell Newman to release documents relating to the project, while Acting Labor Premier Jackie Trad has also agreed to release relevant material.

The New Generation Rollingstock trains have been delayed and plagued with design problems, in particular failing to meet Australian requirements around disability access.

The procurement process started under the Bligh Labor government, but was signed off by the Newman LNP government, with the first trains delivered after Labor returned to power in 2015.

In calling for the review, Mr Newman said the Labor government had questions to answer about how the delivery process was managed.

However he conceded if the LNP government which he led as premier had made mistakes he would be happy for that to come to light as well.

Ms Trad said it was still unclear what form any inquiry would take, and defended not releasing the documents sooner.

"I think (the documents) will show these trains were procured and the contract was signed by the Newman LNP government, and at the time they crowed about the fact they had got half-price trains from India," Ms Trad told AAP.

"Now we're fixing them."

For her part, Ms Frecklington said she believed the documents would implicate Labor, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk the transport minister at the time the process was started

"People want to get to the bottom of the NGR issue, it started in the Bligh government and it will be interesting to see what is in those documents," she told reporters in Townsville.

The opposition leader said the inquiry shouldn't be a Royal Commission, because it would cost too much, but supported calls for an independent arbiter to look at the documents.

Robert Dow, from the Rail Back on Track advocacy group, welcomed the inquiry, saying it would prevent the costly failure ever being repeated.


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Source: AAP



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