Melbourne Airport Rail is a rail link under construction from the

Melbourne CBD The Melbourne central business district (also known colloquially as simply "The City" or "The CBD") is the city centre and main urban area of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city lai ...

Melbourne Airport Melbourne Airport , colloquially known as Tullamarine Airport, is the primary airport serving the city of Melbourne, and the second busiest airport in Australia. It opened in 1970 to replace the nearby Essendon Airport. Melbourne Airport is t ...

Tullamarine Tullamarine is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Brimbank, Hume and Merri-bek local government areas. Tullamarine recorded a population of 6,733 at t ...

. Since October 2022 the project has also been branded as SRL Airport. The rail link is to run through the under-construction

Metro Tunnel The Metro Tunnel (previously known during planning as the Melbourne Metro Rail Project) is a metropolitan rail infrastructure project currently under construction in Melbourne, Australia. It includes the construction of twin 9-kilometre rail tun ...

, running 27 km from the airport to Town Hall station in the city centre with 12 km of new track between the airport and Sunshine station. The link will be a new branch of the Melbourne Metro rail network and run High-Capacity Metro Trains at a 10-minute frequency. The project is being delivered by the Victorian state government agency

Rail Projects Victoria Rail Projects Victoria (RPV) is an agency of the Government of Victoria, Australia, responsible for the management of certain major infrastructure projects on the Victorian rail network. Originally established as the Melbourne Metro Rail Authorit ...

. A rail link to Melbourne Airport has been proposed in multiple forms at various times in the history of the airport. Most such proposals have been for a

heavy rail Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas: Rapid transit A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid accelerati ...

line between the airport Melbourne CBD, often as an integrated component of the

Melbourne rail network The Melbourne rail network is a passenger and freight train system in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The metropolitan passenger rail network is centred on the Melbourne CBD and consists of 222 stations across 16 lines, which ser ...

. Some plans, however, have utilised alternative forms of

mass transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

or suggested a segregated and dedicated

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

link to the airport. Relieving

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...

and creating better access to the airport are frequently cited as reasons for the development of the link. Businesses that would be negatively impacted by an airport rail link include

Transurban Transurban is a road operator company that manages and develops urban toll road networks in Australia, Canada and the United States. It is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Transurban is the full owner of CityLink in Melbour ...

, whose

CityLink CityLink is a network of tollways in Melbourne, Australia, linking the Tullamarine, West Gate and Monash Freeways and incorporating Bolte Bridge, Burnley Tunnel and other works. In 1996, Transurban was awarded the contract to augment two exi ...

toll revenue would be affected, and Melbourne Airport, whose revenue from car parking would be reduced. In 2018, the

Victorian government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...

announced its intention to proceed with a link running via Sunshine station. A preliminary business case was completed later that year, and in early 2019, the federal government agreed to partially fund the project. In 2020 it was announced that the link would run through the city via the Metro Tunnel. Construction started in 2022 with an estimated completion in 2029.

Background

Melbourne Airport is located north-west of the Melbourne City Centre adjacent to the industrial suburb of

. In the 2016–17

financial year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many j ...

, 34.8 million passengers and 237,000 aircraft movements were recorded, making it the second-busiest airport in Australia by passenger numbers. The airport is served by the

Tullamarine Freeway The Tullamarine Freeway (commonly referred to as "The Tulla"), is a major urban freeway in Melbourne, linking Melbourne Airport to the Melbourne city centre, Melbourne City Centre. It carries up to 210,000 vehicles per day and is one of Australi ...

, which connects to the Melbourne city centre via the

tollway A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...

. An express bus service, SkyBus, connects the airport to

Southern Cross railway station Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Victoria, Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, Melbourne, Spencer Street, between Collins Street, Melbourne, Collins ...

, a main

railway terminus A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

, with a 20–40 minute travel time and various private bus services also serve the airport precinct. A

SmartBus SmartBus is a network of bus services in the city of Melbourne, Australia. Overseen by Public Transport Victoria, the network comprises nine key cross-town and orbital bus routes around Melbourne. Key aspects of the service include more frequen ...

route connects to Broadmeadows railway station with a one-hour journey time to the CBD at regular public transport fares.

History

20th century

With the appointment of a panel to examine the aviation needs of the growing city of Melbourne in 1958, and its recommendation of a site at Tullamarine on the city's north-western outskirts in 1959, the earliest suggestions for a railway line were made by stakeholders in the new facility's success. The City Development Association proposed connecting any new airport to the public transport as early as 1958, and

Trans Australia Airlines Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), renamed Australian Airlines in 1986, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its merger with Qantas in September 1992. As a result of the "COBRA" (or Common Brand ...

proposed tunnelling directly between the CBD and the airport when the site was announced.

Reg Ansett Sir Reginald Myles Ansett KBE (13 February 1909 – 23 December 1981) was an Australian businessman and aviator. He was best known for founding Ansett Transport Industries, which owned one of Australia's two leading domestic airlines between ...

, however, another direct beneficiary of the new airport, envisioned helicopters and freeways becoming the primary modes of transport for passengers and staff. The first legislative attempt at a rail link to the new airport was made in 1965, while it was still under construction. Minister for Transport

Edward Meagher Edward Raymond Meagher (22 November 1908 – 31 May 1988) was an Australian politician. Background He was born in Brunswick to storeman Edward Roden Meagher and Florence May Williams. He attended Melbourne Technical College, and from 193 ...

introduced the ''Glenroy Tullamarine Rail Construction Bill 1965'' to the state parliament, proposing the construction of a link between the Broadmeadows line at Glenroy and the new "jetport". During the bill's reading in the Lower House, Meagher estimated the new line's cost at £1.5 million, and suggested that it ought to be constructed in conjunction with a third track into the city along the existing line, works which formed part of the

Victorian Railways The Victorian Railways (VR), trading from 1974 as VicRail, was the state-owned operator of most rail transport in the Australian state of Victoria from 1859 to 1983. The first railways in Victoria were private companies, but when these companie ...

10-year strategic plan at the time. The bill was focused on acquiring land and protecting the reservation for a future railway line in the interests of cost savings, and Meagher acknowledged that construction could not be justified at least until the airport had opened. However, opposing parties voted against the bill on the basis that such a railway would never be economically viable, instead suggesting a branch from the Albion–Jacana freight line in order to extend public transport option to the growing north-western suburbs. Nevertheless, the plan did reach the Upper House, where it was referred to a committee for further evaluation, but the parliamentary session lapsed before any further action was taken, and subsequent rounds of railway funding did not include any related works. In the decades following the opening of Melbourne Airport, a number of proposals for mass transit links to the CBD emerged, many of which came from private investors and utilised emergent or unconventional technologies. One such proposal, Aerotrain, was presented by a consortium which had received the backing of the French government in the early 1970s to construct a

monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and "rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, ...

from

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Pontoise Pontoise () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the " new town" of Cergy-Pontoise. Administration Pontoise is the official ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-d'Oise ''dépa ...

. The company proposed a similar system for Melbourne, and a feasibility study was conducted, which found the technology had a significant cost advantage over traditional heavy rail. The company's efforts were stymied by the French government's withdrawal of support in 1974 and the death of its leader in 1975, and no further progress eventuated.

Development of Sunshine route

The Liberal state government led by

Jeff Kennett Jeffrey Gibb Kennett (born 2 March 1948) is a former Australian politician who was the 43rd Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999, and currently a media commentator. He was previously the president of the Hawthorn Football Club, serving ...

reserved land for an extension of what was then the Broadmeadows line to the airport via

Westmeadows Westmeadows is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hume local government area. Westmeadows recorded a population of 6,502 at the . Mainly a residential sub ...

. Then, in 2001, the

Bracks Bracks is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Kate Bracks (born 1974), Australian reality television cook *Nick Bracks (born 1987), Australian male model, fashion designer and TV personality *Steve Bracks (born 1954), former Austra ...

government investigated the construction of a heavy rail link to the airport under the

Linking Victoria The Linking Victoria was a State Government program launched in 1999 by the Premier, Steve Bracks, to upgrade transport infrastructure in Victoria, Australia. If implemented, the estimate cost of the program would have been $3.5 billion, including ...

programme. Two options were considered; the first branched off the Craigieburn line to the east, and the second branched off the Albion–Jacana freight line, which passes close to the airport's boundary to the south. The second option was preferred. Market research concluded most passengers preferred travelling to the airport by taxi or car, and poor patronage of similar links in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

cast doubt on the viability of the project. This led to the project being deferred until at least 2012. On 21 July 2008, the

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Steve Bracks Stephen Phillip Bracks (born 15 October 1954) is a former Australian politician and was the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Labor Party and was party leader and premier from 1999 ...

reaffirmed the government's commitment to a rail link and said that it would be considered within three to five years. To maximise future development options, the airport lobbied for the on-grounds section of the railway to be underground. In 2010,

Martin Pakula Martin Philip Pakula (born 7 January 1969) is a former Australian politician. He has been a Labor Party member of the Parliament of Victoria since 2006: in the Legislative Council for Western Metropolitan Region from 2006 to 2010, and then in ...

of the Labor Party, newly appointed Minister for Public Transport, announced that the rail link had been taken off the agenda with new freeway options being explored instead, however a change of government at the

2010 Victorian State Election The 2010 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 27 November 2010, was for the 57th Parliament of Victoria. The election was to elect all 88 members of the Legislative Assembly and all 40 members of the Legislative Council. The incumbent ce ...

to Liberals, saw policy for the introduction of the rail link return to the agenda, with a promise by the incoming Coalition government to undertake planning for its construction. Proposals in January 2013 to improve the bus service to the airport involving turning emergency lanes into bus lanes on the freeway and the

Bolte Bridge The Bolte Bridge is a large twin cantilever road bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Bolte Bridge carries a total of eight lanes of traffic – four lanes northbound and four lanes southbound. While officially only 490 metres in leng ...

and allowing

Myki Myki ( ), stylised as myki, is a reloadable credit card-sized contactless smart card ticketing system used for electronic payment of fares on most public transport services in Melbourne and regional Victoria, Australia. Myki replaced the ...

to be used on SkyBus services were challenged by

operator

, because it would limit its toll revenue, and by Melbourne Airport, because it would reduce its car parking profits.SkyBus lane faces fight
''Traveller'' 4 January 2013 Similar objections would apply to a rail link. On 13 March 2013, the Victorian Liberal government under then Premier,

Denis Napthine Denis Vincent Napthine (born 6 March 1952) is a former Australian politician who was the 47th Premier of Victoria. Napthine was a Liberal Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, representing the electoral district of Portland from ...

, announced that the Melbourne Airport Rail Link would be constructed around 2015/16 running from the CBD via Sunshine station and the Albion–Jacana freight line. This proposal never became a reality, with the Napthine Government losing office to the Labor Party at the 2014 state election.

Andrews government proposal

Melbourne rail map with former lines and planned extensions

From the mid-2010s, following the construction of the

Regional Rail Link The Regional Rail Link (RRL) was a project to build a 47.5 kilometre length of railway through the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, the main aim of which was to separate regional V/Line Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong services from the el ...

, consensus shifted toward integrating an airport rail link into the regional rail network instead of the stand-alone metropolitan line affirmed by the NDPMR. A much-publicised 2016 report by advocacy group the Rail Futures Institute, which primarily focused on improving capacity and journey times to regional centres, recommended using a new diversion of the

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

and Seymour lines to serve the airport at the same time as segregating the regional lines from metropolitan services. In 2015 and 2016, the

Andrews Andrews may refer to: Places Australia *Andrews, Queensland *Andrews, South Australia United States *Andrews, Florida (disambiguation), various places *Andrews, Indiana * Andrews, Nebraska *Andrews, North Carolina * Andrews, Oregon * Andrews, Sou ...

government decided to shelve the Airport rail link proposal and instead focus on inner city rail projects such as the

Melbourne Metro Rail Project The Metro Tunnel (previously known during planning as the Melbourne Metro Rail Project) is a metropolitan rail infrastructure project currently under construction in Melbourne, Australia. It includes the construction of twin 9-kilometre rail tun ...

. The airport line was excluded from the Metro Tunnel's eventual 2016 business case, with

Public Transport Victoria Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is the brand name for public transport in the Australian state of Victoria, Australia, Victoria. It was the trading name of the Go Public Transport Development Authority (PTDA), a now-defunct statutory authorit ...

(PTV) recognising the tunnel's entire capacity would be needed to serve the Sunbury and newly electrified Melton lines; planners recommended that any airport link would have to use further new capacity into the city. But after enormous pressure from the

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

Federal Governments of

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Londo ...

and

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Turnbull grad ...

to plan for a proposal, the Andrews Government announced in May 2017 that it would spend $10 million along with the Turnbull Government’s $30 million to devise a rail link planning study. On 23 November 2017, Premier Daniel Andrews told business groups that construction on a rail link between the Airport and Melbourne's

Southern Cross station Southern Cross railway station (until 2005 known as Spencer Street station) is a major railway station in Docklands, Melbourne. It is on Spencer Street, between Collins and La Trobe Streets, at the western edge of the Melbourne central busi ...

via Sunshine station would begin construction within the next 10 years. On 12 April 2018, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that the Federal Government would pledge $5 billion for a rail link between the airport and Melbourne's CBD. He had also stated that the Victorian State Government would also have to match Federal funding in order for the project to proceed. With a 50-50 funding split between the State and Federal governments, a possible private investment in the project could see the total cost rise to $15 billion. On 22 July 2018, the State Government announced that it would provide $5 billion to match Federal Government funding for the Airport rail link, allowing the project to become a reality. Under the state government's plan, a business case would be completed by the end of 2019 and construction would commence by 2022. Then, in early September, the airport link featured in the state government's

Suburban Rail Loop The Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) is a fully automated rapid transit system under construction in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The project would connect suburbs from the Central Business District (CBD) along an approximately corridor. The two ...

proposal, as part of an orbital line extending from

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

in the city's east to

Werribee Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census. Werribee i ...

in the west. Later in September, a private consortium including the operators of Melbourne Airport and Southern Cross station, as well as

Metro Trains Melbourne Metro Trains Melbourne, often known simply as Metro, is the franchise operator of the electrified suburban passenger service on the Melbourne rail network. Metro Trains Melbourne is a joint venture between Hong Kong-based MTR Corporation (60% ...

, the incumbent metropolitan rail franchisee, and

IFM Investors IFM Investors is a provider of investment services. As at 30 June 2021, IFM Investors invests on behalf of more than 550 institutions worldwide, including pension, superannuation and sovereign wealth funds, universities, insurers, endowment fun ...

, presented an unsolicited proposal to the government, offering to contribute $5 billion in private equity alongside the existing government contributions. The consortium, AirRail Melbourne, proposed using the funds to substantially rebuild Southern Cross, and provide dedicated tracks along the entire route via Sunshine. Following the state election in November, the returned Andrews government confirmed that a preliminary business case for the project had been completed. However, it refused to release the document, instead claiming that a full business case would be completed the following year and publicly released. Prime Minister

Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (; born 13 May 1968) is an Australian politician. He served as the 30th prime minister of Australia and as Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2018 to 2022, and is currently the member of parliament (MP) for t ...

and Premier Andrews announced at a joint media conference in March 2019 that an agreement had been reached between the state and federal government to provide $5 billion in funding each towards the airport link. The agreement provided for a total cost of up to $13 billion, with the remaining funds to be sought from private sector investors, and committed the state government to completing a business case within 12 months. Andrews restated the government's intention to start construction by 2022, and said that he expected construction to take up to nine years.

Planning

Route options

The 2013 study conducted by PTV assessed over 80 options in addition to the Albion East "base case" developed by previous planning work. Ultimately, four options were shortlisted and recommended for further analysis. The same four options were presented in 2018 by the federal government during its announcement of funds, on the understanding that a preliminary business case to be completed in September that year would recommend one of the options. * Sunshine/Albion East: The Albion East route uses existing passenger rail alignments from the city centre to

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than 'Britain' today. The name for Scot ...

via

Sunshine Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when th ...

. It then follows the Albion–Jacana line alignment, used primarily for freight traffic, before following a new reservation north-west to the airport. This route was identified as the preferred option by the 2013 PTV study, and is the preferred option of the Andrews state government, in both cases due to its connectivity to the existing network. * Direct Tunnel: This route uses an entirely new alignment, constructed as a tunnel between the city centre and the above-ground reservation used by the Albion East route, from which point it continues to the airport. Because of its directness, this route provides the fastest travel time to the airport of the four shortlisted routes. The tunnel potentially travels via the Victoria University campus at Footscray,

Highpoint Shopping Centre Highpoint Shopping Centre is a super regional shopping centre located in Maribyrnong, Victoria, in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. Highpoint is Victoria's third largest shopping centre and the fifth largest in Australia, with an an ...

and the site of the former

Department of Defence Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

munitions factory at Maribyrnong. Although this option is the most expensive among the shortlisted routes, and was therefore not recommended by the PTV study, it was the preferred option of the federal government because of its potential to service a new

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States a ...

on the Defence site. * Flemington - via Milleara Road, Highpoint Shopping Centre, Flemington * Craigieburn - via Attwood,

Coolaroo Coolaroo is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hume local government area. Coolaroo recorded a population of 3,193 at the 2021 census. History Coolaroo is th ...

Broadmeadows Broadmeadows is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Hume Local government areas of Victoria, local ...

Preferred route

The Victorian State government has committed to the Sunshine route, with the release of its Strategic Assessment of the route in July 2018. The Federal government under then-Prime Minister

had pushed for the direct tunnel route through Maribyrnong, as it proposed to redevelop the unused Defence site along the

Maribyrnong River The Maribyrnong River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment, located in the northwestern suburbs of Melbourne, in the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. Course The Maribyrnong River draws its headwaters from near ...

into a new residential area and connect the airport to the nearby Highpoint Shopping Centre. In 2019, under the new Prime Minister

, both the federal and state governments backed the Sunshine route as part of their funding commitments to the project. Government planning explored a number of questions about the route: including how it will interact with the under construction

, the planned

, and potential faster rail to

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

and

. The State Government had indicated that new Sunshine to CBD rail capacity, built as part of the Airport Rail Link, could be used by new, faster train services to Geelong and Ballarat. This would be delivered alongside new, electrified Metro lines to Melton and

Wyndham Vale Wyndham Vale is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Wyndham Vale recorded a population of 20,518 at the . The suburb of Ma ...

as part of the Government's

Western Rail Plan The Western Rail Plan is a metropolitan rail infrastructure project being planned in Melbourne, Australia. The project was initially announced during the 2018 Victorian State Election by the State Government. It includes the electrification of two ...

. Planning for regional fast rail will take place alongside the business case development for the Airport Rail Link. This proposal would have built upon a plan by the Rail Futures Institute to use the Airport Rail Link to deliver faster regional rail. In 2019 the Government indicated it did not want to build a dedicated tunnel between the CBD and Sunshine for Airport and regional trains due to cost.

Metro Tunnel branch

In late 2020 the State and Federal Governments announced that the Airport Rail Link would be built as a branch of the metropolitan lines that are to run through the

, with trains not running to Southern Cross Station but instead running into the CBD through the five new underground Metro Tunnel stations, then on towards Pakenham and Cranbourne. New twin track is to be built from Sunshine to the airport, with modified High-Capacity Metro Trains to share track with Sunbury trains towards the city. Trains are to run every 10 minutes, taking 29 minutes to run from Town Hall station in the city centre to the Airport. More than 30 stations will have a one-seat journey to the airport under the plan. The government also rejected a private-sector offer to build a 7 km express tunnel from Southern Cross to West Footscray. Instead construction is set to start in 2022 with the full line opening in 2029. The government also announced it was considering adding an additional station along the new line between Sunshine and the airport, near

Airport West Airport West is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Moonee Valley local government area. Airport West recorded a population of 8,173 at the . Bounded b ...

and

Keilor Park Keilor Park is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Brimbank local government area. Keilor Park recorded a population of 2,684 at the 2021 census. Keilor P ...

. In September 2022, the State Government released the project's business case, which found the project would return an economic benefit of $2.10 for every dollar spent. The Transport Infrastructure Minister

Jacinta Allan Jacinta Marie Allan (born 19 September 1973) is an Australian politician serving as the 29th and current deputy premier of Victoria since June 2022. She is a member of the Victorian Branch of the Australian Labor Party and has been a member of ...

also announced that the airport station would be elevated, rather than underground, and that a new station would be added at Keilor Park in Melbourne's north-west. The elevated design, Allan said, would be quicker to build, cheaper and cause less disruption. Melbourne Airport objected to the proposal, calling for the station to be underground in order to facilitate its plans for terminal expansion.

Project description

The airport link will be a branch of Melbourne's existing metropolitan rail network, running express from Sunshine to the airport. 12 km of new double track will be built from Sunshine station to a new premium station at Melbourne Airport. A new rail bridge will be built above the Maribynong River next to the existing heritage Albion Viaduct. The new bridge will be 55 metres high and 383 metres long and become the second-highest bridge in Victoria after the

West Gate Bridge The West Gate Bridge is a steel, box girder, cable-stayed bridge in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, spanning the Yarra River just north of its mouth into Port Phillip. It carries the West Gate Freeway and is a vital link between the inner ci ...

. Sunshine station will be expanded as part of the plan, becoming a new hub for transfers from suburban and regional services to the airport line. A new concourse will be built, along with new platforms, platform extensions and accessibility upgrades. A large 18 metre high flyover will be built above Albion station and Ballarat Road. There will be a 6 km long section of elevated rail over the

Western Ring Road The M80 Ring Road (also known as simply the Ring Road or by the name of its constituent parts: Western Ring Road and Metropolitan Ring Road) is a currently incomplete urban freeway ring road around Melbourne, Australia. This article will deal ...

and Airport Drive. The airport station will be an elevated terminal station, connected by walkway to the airport's main terminals. The design will accommodate a future Suburban Rail Loop connection. A second new station is to be built along the line at the border of Airport West and Keilor Park to serve Melbourne's north-west. At the city end, the airport line will run through the new underground Metro Tunnel stations at

State Library A national library is established by the government of a nation to serve as the pre-eminent repository of information for that country. Unlike public libraries, they rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuab ...

and

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

, which will allow interchange to all other suburban services via the existing major stations Melbourne Central and Flinders Street, respectively.

High Capacity Metro Trains The High Capacity Metro Train (HCMT) is a type of electric multiple unit (EMU) train for use by Metro Trains Melbourne on the Melbourne rail network. The first train set entered service on 27 December 2020 and will become the primary rolling sto ...

, 7-car trains introduced as part of the Metro Tunnel project, will run to the airport, and high-capacity signalling will be installed along the new airport line. Airport trains will run every ten minutes all-day, taking approximately 30 minutes to reach the CBD from the airport. Ticketing will be through the metropolitan rail network's

smart-card system and be priced similar to existing Skybus fares.

Construction

The airport link is to be delivered across a number of construction packages. In June 2021, the first package was put out to tender for works around Sunshine and Albion stations. In November 2021 two works packages were put out for the premium station at Melbourne Airport and a 6 km long section of elevated rail over the Western Ring Road and above Airport Drive. In March 2022, a contract was awarded to

Laing O'Rourke Laing O'Rourke is a multinational construction company headquartered in Dartford, England. It was founded in 1978 by Ray O'Rourke. It is the largest privately owned construction company in the United Kingdom. History The company was founded by ...

as managing contractor to deliver early works on the project, including the relocation and protection of utilities along the route, with works to begin in late 2022. In late October 2022, construction starting on the rail link with works to relocate six electricity transmission towers. The Premier announced a consortium of FCC Construction Australia, Winslow Infrastructure and McConnell Dowell had been awarded a major works contract, including the new 550m bridge over the Maribyrnong River. A consortium of John Holland, CPB, KBR and AECOM were selected to deliver the Sunshine station systems works, including building new elevated tracks and rebuilding Sunshine and

stations. The Premier also announced $143 million in extra funding for developing Sunshine station and its surroundings, including a new bus interchange and new open space as part of the Sunshine station masterplan. The project was also rebranded as ''SRL Airport'' to emphasise its role in the

corridor.

In December 2022, a consortium of FCC Construction Australia and Winslow Infrastructure was selected to deliver the package of construction works including the 550m bridge over the Maribynong River. A second contract of works, the Sunshine Systems Alliance package, was awarded to a consortium of John Holland, CPB, KBR and

AECOM AECOM (, ; formerly AECOM Technology Corporation) is an American multinational infrastructure consulting firm. AECOM has approximately 51,000 employees, and is number 157 on the 2019 Fortune 500 list. The company's official name from 1990 t ...

, and included train signalling across the entire Airport rail corridor, works to Sunshine station, works to Albion station, and twin tracks between Sunshine station and the Albion-Jacana corridor, including the new Albion rail flyover. The Corridor Package, which includes the new Keilor East station and new track over the Western Ring Road, was set to be awarded in 2023.

References

Bibliography

*{{cite book, last1=Aroozoo, first1=Marianne, title=Research paper: Melbourne Airport rail link, date=October 2017, publisher=Parliamentary Library & Information Service, url=https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/publications/research-papers/send/36-research-papers/13828-melbourne-airport-rail-link, access-date=23 January 2018

External links

Melbourne Airport Rail website
*Public Transport Victoria
Melbourne Airport Rail Link Study
Proposed railway lines in Australia Railway lines in Melbourne Rail transport in Melbourne Public transport in Melbourne Airport rail links in Australia 2029 in rail transport