For the third time in eight years, and with its fourth premier, the Queensland government has to start from scratch to find a new cross river rail line for Brisbane.

South East Queensland has a growing rail congestion problem because it has only one rail bridge across the Brisbane River.

No Brisbane trains are reaching the CBD early on Tuesday morning. Credit:Michelle Smith

In 2007 Beattie unveiled SEQ's Inner City Rail Capacity Study which clearly said the region needed a new rail bridge by 2016 because the Merivale Rail Bridge could not cope.

In 2009 Anna Bligh's government put together the $7 billion cross river rail twin-tunnel project and released the first concepts in 2010.