Push to pause funding for controversial Suburban Rail Loop

A lobby group is pushing for Suburban Rail Loop funding to be stalled, saying a roads-based approach is a better way to upgrade Melbourne’s public transport.

Funding of the Suburban Rail Loop should be paused while alternatives such as vastly improved bus services are considered, says a submission to a key infrastructure body.

The Victorian Transport Action Group (VTAG) said that a roads-based approach to upgrading Melbourne’s orbital public transport was a better option.

“(This) would involve some new infrastructure (platform stops, electric buses or trackless

trams) but this would be a very small impost relative to the current entirely

underground heavy rail SRL,” it said.

“It would also provide a politically astute option to pause further expenditure on the SRL while the ‘road option’ confirms the viability of the business case.”

“In effect, it would be an extension of the highly successful but largely overlooked Smart Bus network.”

The 90km SRL project has been estimated to cost up to $200bn.

The 90km SRL project has been estimated to cost up to $200bn, with new Premier Jacinta Allan under pressure from some quarters to dump it given the state’s parlous finances.

Infrastructure Victoria, which has been asked to give advice on the SRL, has released a 30-year strategy paper and called for submissions.

VTAG, chaired by former Labor state MP Glenys Romanes, is an independent forum covering experts in transport, planning, engineering, urban design with links to government and industry.

Its submission said that to be serious about reaching net zero carbon soon, “we will need to seriously address the allocation of carbon/energy/non-renewable resources into major new capital works infrastructure projects”.

“This is a key argument for making better use of the infrastructure we already have (especially existing roads),” it said.

“We do not have time to wait for SRL to be completed by 2050, or for that matter any of the other new heavy rail projects for which there is now no completion date this decade.”

“With much lower capital investment, upgrades could be made to the SkyBus network serving Tullamarine airport with electric buses and better utilisation of existing road space in that corridor, while opening up other corridors in the north and west where rail exists but accessibility to the airport by public transport is very poor.”

Jacinta Allan is under pressure from some quarters to dump the Suburban Rail Loop. Picture: Wayne Taylor

VTAG questioned the mass rollout of electric vehicles (EV), saying this was dependent on

“availability of minerals in unprecedented quantities, unless alternative technical

advances reach rapid fruition”.

“Put simply, EVs are not such an obvious or straightforward panacea to Victoria’s

greenhouse challenges,” the submission said.

“A resilient strategy must adopt a multiple-pronged approach that provides fleshed-out scenarios and meaningful options (and) VTAG urges Infrastructure Victoria to view Victoria’s auto-dependency as a severe and urgent problem in need of new ways of thinking.”

It called for the prioritisation of environmentally and socially positive travel modes such as walking, cycling and public transport.