Direct services every 10 minutes locked in for Melbourne’s airport rail link
As a decision nears on the design of Melbourne’s long-awaited airport rail link, commuters have been guaranteed direct services from Melbourne Airport to the CBD running every 10 minutes.
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Melbourne’s airport rail link will take commuters directly from Tullamarine to the CBD, regardless of which design is chosen to deliver the long-awaited project.
The Herald Sun can reveal the state government’s preferred option — moving people into the city via the Metro Tunnel — allows travellers to avoid changing trains on their journey to and from the CBD.
The Metro Tunnel option also enables airport services every 10 minutes, with some only stopping at the Sunshine rail hub and others likely stopping at suburban stations through the inner west.
A decision on the final design of the project is imminent, with the state and federal governments also considering a private sector offer featuring a new 6km tunnel from West Footscray to Southern Cross station.
This proposal — backed by a $7 billion investment from a consortium including Metro Trains and Melbourne Airport — also offers direct services every 10 minutes.
The Herald Sun can reveal this option has been costed at $11.5 billion, including $6.5 billion for the tunnel and $1.2 billion to redevelop Sunshine station, but government modelling has put the bill as high as $14-20 billion.
Sources close to the deliberations say some government bureaucrats found the market-led proposal was unique and represented value-for-money — two key criteria for it to be approved.
But the state government has been concerned about the consortium — which is bankrolled by super fund giant IFM Investors — owning the tunnel and charging access fees for other rail services which use it.
The Herald Sun understands the consortium has rejected overtures to ditch its tunnel plan and invest in different versions of the proposed project.
Having spent $40 million on its bid, it maintains the tunnel is the most effective solution, and has offered to take on the risk of the underground build — another key issue given the problems gripping construction of the West Gate Tunnel and Metro Tunnel.
After months of negotiations, the state and federal governments are believed to be close to locking in the final design of the project, to which both governments have committed $5 billion.
If the consortium’s offer is rejected, a key sticking point will be how to create extra track capacity through Melbourne’s west to improve services to a booming growth corridor and deliver fast rail to Geelong.
This could involve longer-term works, with a second Metro Tunnel — taking trains through Werribee and then under the CBD via Newport, Fishermans Bend and Clifton Hill — touted as a potential solution.
A state government spokeswoman said all options being assessed for the airport rail link would stop at Sunshine and connect to the Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo lines.
Federal Urban Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge said the project “frankly should have been built decades ago”.
“Our objective has always been to deliver a rail connection that is fast, affordable and built as quickly as possible,” he said.
“We are working constructively with the state government on determining the best approach for this once-in-a-generation project.”
OPTION ONE: AIRRAIL CONSORTIUM’S $7 BILLION BID
A tunnel through Melbourne’s inner west is the centrepiece of an airport rail plan pushed by a powerful private consortium including Melbourne Airport and Metro Trains.
The Herald Sun revealed this week that the AirRail Melbourne group had upped its proposed $5 billion contribution to the project to $7 billion in a last-ditch effort to win government support.
The consortium — bankrolled by super fund giant IFM Investors — delivered its market-led proposal to the state government in September 2018, promising to run custom-built trains around the clock every 10 minutes.
Tickets would be $20 and fully integrated with the existing myki system.
The plan includes a 6km tunnel built from Southern Cross station to West Footscray, with new tracks running into Sunshine station and north to Tullamarine.
A smaller cut-and-cover tunnel would be built into an underground station below the airport forecourt, integrated with the terminals.
The plan has been costed at $11.5 billion, including $6.5 billion for the 6km tunnel and $1.2 billion to redevelop Sunshine station.
Travellers would only stop at Sunshine between the airport and the CBD, and it is understood the whole trip would likely take 18 minutes — which could even be cut to 16 minutes.
The new city access tunnel would be capable of handling 22 trains every hour, with 16 of those to be regional services to enable a fast rail connection to Geelong.
The consortium would own the tunnel for up to 40 years and charge access fees to the government for other rail services using it to recover its $7 billion investment.
In an effort to ease the government’s concerns about this arrangement, the consortium offered to let the charges be independently regulated and to share any “super-profits” with the state.
IFM has long been considered an obvious investor in the airport rail project, given it owns Southern Cross station and a quarter of Melbourne Airport.
The Herald Sun understands the consortium had 100 people working on its market-led proposal for a year before it was lodged with the government, and has so far spent about $40 million on the bid.
It had initially told the government it would be ready to start construction this year.
OPTION TWO: MAKE USE OF METRO TUNNEL
A rail link to Melbourne Airport using the $11 billion Metro Tunnel would be cheaper and quicker to build than constructing another new tunnel to access the CBD.
This option, preferred by senior state government figures, would require new above-ground tracks to be built from the airport to a redeveloped Sunshine station.
Commuters would then be able to catch one train all the way from the airport to the CBD, travelling into city via the Metro Tunnel.
The Herald Sun understands services could run every 10 minutes, with the option of direct services stopping only at Sunshine and other services stopping at existing suburban stations in the inner west.
The Metro Tunnel project — due to be finished in 2025 — means trains will run all the way from Sunbury out to the Cranbourne and Pakenham lines into Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs.
State government figures have warmed to using the Metro Tunnel as part of the airport rail link because it provides easier access for travellers wanting to get to Tullamarine from the southeast.
It also offers a direct route to the airport from the Metro Tunnel’s five new stations — Arden, Parkville, State Library, Town Hall and Anzac — instead of taking commuters only to Southern Cross station.
While travel times to the city have not been made public, the Herald Sun understands the state government believes it would be similar to the consortium’s plan, given most commuters would have to catch another train or tram from Southern Cross.
Research shows 93 per cent of airport travellers make their way to Tullamarine from their homes.
Transport bureaucrats have also been working on a $150 million program to determine how to create track extra capacity into the CBD for fast regional services, particularly to and from Geelong.
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Integrating the airport rail link into the Metro Tunnel means other tracks will likely be needed in the future to enable improved regional services.
One option on the table involves the construction of a second Metro Tunnel, which would enable regional services from the west to connect through Werribee into an underground link via Newport, Fishermans Bend, the CBD and Clifton Hill.
But it is understood more work is needed to determine a final solution for adding extra tracks into the CBD from the west.