Egis will design the signalling for the northern section of Brisbane's AU$19 billion Cross River Rail, after the Queensland project confirmed the firm in March 2026 as preferred signalling design delivery team for the Cross River Rail North package. The appointment adds to Egis's existing contract covering signalling design and systems implementation for the southern package of works — one of the largest signalling design contracts let in Queensland.

Cross River Rail itself is a 10.2 km new line comprising 5.9 km of twin tunnels beneath the Brisbane River and the central business district, plus four new underground stations. CPB Contractors is the client for the Egis packages. The project timeline runs from 2021 to 2028.

The engineering case is straightforward: until now, Brisbane's rail network has depended on a single bridge crossing of the Brisbane River. Southeast Queensland ranks among Australia's fastest-growing regions, and that single crossing forms a bottleneck capable of injecting congestion and delay across the whole transport network. A second river crossing with new CBD stations is intended to lift network capacity materially and to support more frequent and more reliable train services region-wide, with a corresponding reduction in road traffic congestion.

Egis's Rail Systems and Signalling Team — formerly Omada Rail — did not start at this scale. The team was first engaged on a Time and Materials basis to deliver smaller signalling design packages. Meeting deadlines and delivering quality output on those packages led to the award of the full Cross River Rail South Signalling Design Package.

On the ground, the southern works have covered several concrete operational changes. Early activity relocated signalling infrastructure to clear the way for construction. Egis established Clapham Yard, a new 19-road stabling yard equipped with a new Microlok II interlocking and a local control panel. The team also carried out major multistage commissioning for complex upgrades at Yeerongpilly, Tennyson and Moorooka, enabling bi-directional operation between Moorooka and Salisbury — a change that directly improves operational flexibility and capacity on that corridor.

The technical environment was demanding. Multiple interlocking technologies — VPI, Westlock, Microlok II, SSI and RRI — sit within the project footprint, each imposing complex system interface requirements. Egis consolidated staged commissioning events to minimise disruption to the live network during cutovers.

Delivery has drawn on more than 50 dedicated Egis staff across Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria, supplemented by resources from the wider Egis global network. Technical, commercial and legal teams worked together to bring external partners on board quickly. Chris Miller, Director – Rail & Signalling, Australia at Egis, described the North package win as evidence of how far the team has progressed. "Securing one of the most complex signalling projects in Queensland required close collaboration across Engineering, Commercial, and Legal. Together, we negotiated a contract that is fair, commercially robust, and reflective of the project's complexity and risk," he said.

The project will implement ETCS Level 2, which Egis cites as delivering increased safety alongside the capacity gains from the new infrastructure. As with any supplier announcement, the claimed outcomes remain projections until commissioning completes. The headline economic figures in particular are high-level estimates rather than measured results: the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority suggests the project will generate direct and indirect benefits of up to A$15 billion to A$20 billion per annum of Gross State Product over a 20 to 30-year horizon, with up to 35,000 jobs created.

Completion is targeted by 2028, with the network upgrade positioned to bring Brisbane's rail system up to world-class standards ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games. Work now continues on the northern package design as the southern commissioning programme advances toward full bi-directional operation on the Moorooka–Salisbury section.