Rejuvenated push for stalled $10bn Melbourne Airport rail link
The push to build an underground train station at Melbourne Airport is set to be rejuvenated, with a million homes to receive newsletters about the project.
News
Don't miss out on the headlines from News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Melbourne Airport’s push for a Tullamarine station to be built underground as part of a stalled $10bn rail link will hit a million letterboxes next week.
The airport’s community newsletter to households and stakeholders in huge swathes of Melbourne spruiks the benefits of an underground station, and also hones in on the project’s importance to booming western suburbs.
The State Government, which put the project on ice early last year amid Budget pressures, wants a cheaper elevated station to be built — a looming sticking point for the mega-project to get back on track.
Early works for the link, which joins Tullamarine to Sunshine before using existing tracks to get to the CBD, were progressing last year when the Andrews Government suspended contract negotiations and shifted its staff to other projects.
The Albanese Government — a co-funder of the project — allowed the link to be mothballed while it conducted a review of federally-funded infrastructure projects, which eventually recommended the rail connection be continued.
Since that recommitment in November, brawling between the airport and State over the station design has ramped up, prompting the Commonwealth to call in a mediator to settle the dispute.
As revealed by the Herald Sun last month, a mediator is yet to be appointed.
Industry figures say there is an expectation the project will remain off the rails until at least next year, pushing out the opening date from 2029 to at least 2031 and increasing the risk of cost overruns.
They say both the State and Airport have talked about their support of the project but no one appears ready to compromise to allow the globally-significant project to take flight.
Melbourne Airport’s newsletter says it welcomes the Federal Government’s recommitment to the “long-awaited airport rail link”.
It says the project would provide passengers more choice and improved access, and makes particular mention of the benefits to the “growing western suburbs”.
“Melbourne Airport continues to advocate for an underground station to ensure future-proofing of the rail line and terminal precinct,” it says.
“If the rail line is ever to be extended beyond the airport, it must be built below ground, as building over the top of the runways is impossible.”
It is understood no formal talks have been held on the station standoff, but that recently-appointed transport infrastructure minister, Danny Pearson, has met airport chiefs as part of his transition to the new portfolio.
Premier Jacinta Allan, who was transport infrastructure minister when the project was paused under former premier Daniel Andrews, has backed the continuation of the project, while deputy premier Ben Carroll has been vocal in his support for a link that will connect some of his constituents to the metropolitan rail line for the first time.
matthew.johnston@news.com.au
Vic govt auctions off medical equipment amid health system budget squeeze
Nearly a million items of medical equipment, including gowns, gloves and masks, will go under the hammer during the fire sale, but the government insists it has nothing to do with money woes.
Abusive 1am phone call shocks the entire Block
One team makes a jaw-droppingly dumb decision to deliberately lose the week, but it’s another’s 1am phone call to a shop staff member that really blows everyone away.