With the demolition of the existing station’s western platform complete, the 75-person construction team will turn attention to building foundations for the new tracks. The station’s remaining platforms will be demolished following next year’s Ekka.

A pedestrian link will connect the new station to Bowen Bridge Road with lifts to make the two island platforms, about four metres above the showgrounds, fully accessible.

The station will be operational for the Cross River Rail opening in 2025, the same year the showground marks its 150-year anniversary.

Asked about any heritage considerations in building the new station, Cross River Rail chief executive Graeme Newton said most of the structures were within the showground itself and would not be impacted.

Other adjacent elements worked through with the Queensland Heritage Council were “only minor and not of state significance,” Mr Newston said.

He said the modern-looking station would feature brickwork to tie back to the nearby historical buildings.

Mr Newton said work was “progressing well” on the southern corridor between the Fairfield and Salisbury stations, with final testing under way before tunnel boring from Woolloongabba towards the Alfred Street CBD site could begin.

The $5.4 billion project marked its first year of major construction in 2020, with 11 work sites opened.

Mr Bailey told a budget estimates hearing in December the large-scale infrastructure project would not be operational until 2025, after it was initially expected to open to passengers the year before. He said construction would be finished in 2024 with a “complex” testing phase to then take place before passenger services began.

Brisbane Times has previously revealed a rail infrastructure expert who worked on the project asked the Auditor-General to investigate his claims Cross River Rail could not deliver the additional trains it had promised.

Loading

Also speaking on Thursday, RNA chief executive Brendan Christou said the new all-year station would also be a boon for about 250 other events at the site each year, with construction work likely to only affect some amenities and meaning the site “may not look as pretty”.

Plans for this year’s Ekka were “full steam ahead”, he said.

While optimistic for a relatively normal event, organisers were also factoring in COVID-19 contingencies after the pandemic forced its cancellation in 2020.