The benefits of Cross River Rail have been "significantly overstated" and its $5.4 billion cost is likely to exceed its benefits, Infrastructure Australia says.
That led to a rebuke from Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Jackie Trad, who slammed the assessment as flawed.
![Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has slammed Infrastructure Australia's Cross River Rail assessment.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170726235945im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/j/4/s/j/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxj37k.png/1501052326165.jpg)
Infrastructure Australia's latest advice keeps Cross River Rail as a high priority initiative, recognising the issue of rail capacity through the Brisbane CBD.
But IA did not include the current proposal for Cross River Rail on the infrastructure priority list.
![From Infrastructure Australia's project evaluation summary of Cross River Rail.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170726235945im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/j/3/i/q/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gxj37k.png/1501052326165.jpg)
It said IA would welcome the opportunity to consider a revised business case which addressed its concerns with benefit estimation and clarified the estimated timeframe for the emerging capacity problem.
"A revised business case should also quantify potential benefits from land use change and urban renewal expected to result form the proposed project, and potential benefits from better integration of Brisbane's rail and bus networks," the IA project evaluation summary reads.
Infrastructure Australia also managed to invent a new suburb called "Hill Gate" in a map on the front page of its project evaluation summary - presumably it is an amalgamation of Hill End, West End and Highgate Hill.
Ms Trad said she did not know where "Hill Gate" was in Brisbane.
"Maybe it's a suburb near Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney but it certainly doesn't exist in Brisbane, so I was very curious as to why it appeared on the Infrastructure Australia map of the project," she said.
"I was also curious about why the CBD had moved to East Brisbane.
"I think Infrastructure Australia need to get some of those basic facts right."
Ms Trad said over the next 20 years, the population in south-east Queensland would grow by 1.5 million people.
Ms Trad said the Merivale Bridge currently had capacity for 24 trains, with 21 trains crossing during peak hour.
She said IA provided the Queensland government with its analysis two days ago, after having the Cross River Rail business case for 13 months.
"We have been backwards and forwards with Infrastructure Australia since they've had the business case and supplied additional information at their request," she said.
"None of that information has been included in their analysis of the business case. This is incredibly disappointing."
Ms Trad said IA's analysis was based on mistakes and assumptions that were "clearly false".
"What they are telling Queenslanders is Cross River Rail shouldn't be built until we reach a crisis on our network, until we see patronage figures increase to 150 per cent," she said.
Ms Trad accused IA of providing analysis, summaries and commentary that was consistent with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's position not to invest in Cross River Rail.
"We don't have faith in the process that Infrastructure Australia has undertaken," she said.
IA said the patronage figures in the Cross River Rail business case were "unprecedented".
"That is untrue, Melbourne experienced them only recently and here in the south-east Queensland network, as soon as we built the Merivale Bridge and electrified the train network we saw similar growth, 6.7 per cent in public transport," Ms Trad said.
In a briefing note, Cross River Rail Delivery Authority head Graeme Newton said IA's summary contained "inherently flawed advice, with 23 instances of unsubstantiated opinions, assertions or errors".
After a scathing review of the wrong assumptions in IA's report, Mr Newton recommended potentially withdrawing the CRR business case from the IA review process.
"Given the obvious lack of support from IA for the CRR Project's obvious benefits, it now seems that IA's ongoing involvement in the project serves no benefit other than to provide it an illegitimate role that it may use to undermine the CRR in the public domain," Mr Newton wrote.
The Queensland government has committed to fund the project without federal government assistance if necessary.
Ms Trad confirmed the Queensland government would still go ahead with funding Cross River Rail alone, but the IA assessment provided a "level of false analysis" around the state's number one infrastructure project.
"We do have other projects that have been submitted to Infrastructure Australia and I am hoping that they treat those projects in terms of their analysis with much more independence and impartiality," she said.
RACQ spokesman Paul Turner said it was disappointing IA said south-east Queensland needed to reach "crisis point" before Cross River Rail was funded.
But Deputy Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said the LNP agreed with IA's assessment the business case used "dud figures" and the costs of Cross River Rail was likely to exceed its benefits.
"The LNP supports another heavy rail crossing across the Brisbane River, but we need to get the infrastructure solution right," Ms Frecklington said.
An IA spokesman said it had completed an independent evaluation of the business case, following a "rigorous assessment process".
He said IA sent a draft evaluation summary to the Queensland government on Monday asking for a fact and commercial-in-confidence check.
"The Queensland government has not provided us with any specific feedback on the evaluation summary," he said.
"Infrastructure Australia will publish the final evaluation summary on its website shortly."
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