An "absolute catastrophic failure" is how one of Queensland's leading koala experts describes planning by successive state governments leading to the death of 281 koalas during the Moreton Bay Rail Link project from March 2013 to June 2016.

That would make the LNP and Labor state government policy failures the biggest killers of koalas in the highly-sensitive Koala Coast in the past three years.

281 koalas have died in Brisbane's northern suburbs during the project to build a rail line from Petrie to Kippa Ring. Credit:Glenn Hunt

The new rail line will eventually run from Petrie to Kippa Ring – through one of the most significant koala habitats in south-east Queensland - once a separate investigation into its botched signalling systems is resolved.

However on Tuesday Griffith University's Professor Darryl Jones – as he explained the success of a network of bridges and tunnels to protect koalas – shuddered at the complete failure of the Moreton Bay Rail Link project team to protect koalas.