Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3 is open, at more than double its original cost

Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3 opened to passengers in August 2026, running the full line from Broadbeach to Burleigh Heads. Testing had begun in November 2025.

Patronage has been strong enough that the network recorded its highest passenger numbers since the extension opened, and the bus network is being restructured around it — including a new connecting route from 7 September 2026. Surplus civil plant from the project has already gone to auction, which is the clearest signal a job is finished: more than 600 lots of construction and industrial equipment were listed in August.

Stage Three extends Queensland's first light rail network 6.7 kilometres from Broadbeach to Burleigh Heads along the Gold Coast Highway, adding eight new stations and five additional light rail vehicles.

It has also roughly doubled in cost across two budget revisions.

The cost trajectory

Two increases of almost exactly the same size, four years apart, on a 6.7-kilometre light rail extension.

The 2025-26 Budget also allocated $360 million to the project in FY2025-26 — a substantial single-year allocation for a project entering testing, which suggests significant remaining work or cost recovery rather than a project winding down.

What is being built

Scope also includes upgrades and expansion of the existing depot and stabling facilities, a new light rail-bus interchange at Burleigh Heads and Miami, new signalised traffic intersections, new signalised pedestrian crossings, and upgraded pedestrian and cycle facilities.

Who built it

John Holland holds the design and construction contract, reaching contract close in March 2022 alongside Amber Infrastructure's financial close.

The unsuccessful shortlisted bidders were:

• Burleigh Link JV — Fulton Hogan and UGL Engineering
• CPBSW JV — CPB Contractors and Seymour Whyte

Procurement was run by GoldLinQ Pty Ltd, the operator franchisee for the network, on behalf of the Queensland Government — an unusual arrangement in which the incumbent operator procures the extension to the network it operates.

Why an operator-led procurement matters

GoldLinQ conducting the Stage Three procurement rather than Transport and Main Roads is worth understanding, because it is a model that keeps recurring in light rail.

The operator carries the integration risk. An extension to a running network has to interface with existing signalling, vehicles, depot capacity and timetables. Putting the operator in charge of procurement aligns responsibility for that integration with the party that will live with it.

It also narrows the field. Bidders are contracting into a network already designed, built and operated to an incumbent's standards, which favours firms with existing relationships and prior work on the corridor.

For subcontractors, the practical consequence is that the specification is effectively set by the operator, and deviation is harder than on a greenfield project.

Funding

The council contribution is notable. Local government rarely appears as a funding partner on projects of this scale, and a $110 million commitment from a single city council is substantial.

What to watch

1. Whether Stage Three opened during 2026. Testing began in November 2025 and completion was expected this year — establish current status before publishing.
2. Whether $1.5 billion holds through commissioning.
3. Stage Four, extending south from Burleigh Heads to Coolangatta, which has been discussed for years and would complete the corridor.
4. The Gold Coast pipeline generally. Coomera Connector Stage One runs on the same coast, into the same labour market, ahead of Brisbane 2032.

Published 1 September 2026 · Updated 7 September 2026