Kinks emerge in Andrews Government’s Suburban Rail Loop plan

The ambitious $50 billion Suburban Rail Loop could instead end up as a series of disjointed shuttle services, with a push to shoehorn the airport rail link into the project causing serious planning headaches.

The $50 billion Suburban Rail Loop could end up as a series of disjointed shuttle services, forcing commuters to change trains to navigate around it.

Concerns are mounting about how the loop will service Melbourne’s west, with the government’s push to shoehorn the airport rail link into the project causing headaches.

The first two sections of the biggest public transport project in the nation’s history are supposed to be a tunnel from Cheltenham to Box Hill, and the airport rail connection in the northwest.

While design work is well advanced on the southeastern section, with construction to start in 2022, continuing uncertainty about airport rail has become a stumbling block on the western side.

The proposed Suburban Rail Loop is planned to traverse Melbourne’s outer suburbs.

The government’s preferred airport rail link via the Metro Tunnel means new tracks between Sunshine and Tullamarine will be designed for high-capacity trains — not the dedicated hi-tech fleet promised for the Suburban Rail Loop.

With the rest of the loop to be built in stages, this means commuters may have to change trains several times to travel around the 90km line.

Insiders say doubt has also emerged about the government’s commitment to round out the loop with new tracks from Sunshine’s transport super hub to Werribee.

Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said the loop had “huge potential” to open up the west.

“The eastern section is pretty well defined but the west might have to involve more tracks,” he said.

Rail Futures Institute president John Hearsch raised similar questions, saying the loop “doesn’t do anything for the western suburbs because it doesn’t do anything that isn’t already there”.

He also said it was clear the idea of a continuous orbital loop “was never going to work”.

An artist's concept of a Suburban Rail Loop train at Cheltenham. Source: Suburban Rail Loop Authority

Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said airport rail was “being designed and planned in conjunction with the Suburban Rail Loop to provide commuters with the fastest and most direct connections”.

But authorities are grappling with whether the airport rail link itself will become part of the loop, or if dedicated lines — and extra platforms at a new Tullamarine underground station and at Sunshine — would be required too.

Mr Hearsch said integrating a separate loop line would require Melbourne Airport to build a bigger station which may not fit with roadworks already underway outside the terminals.

Ms Allan said: “Suburban Rail Loop will transform our public transport system, changing the way we move around Melbourne and easing congestion right across our road and train networks.”

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