Travellers face special fee on Melbourne Airport Rail Link
The documents reveal the additional fee passengers could pay on top of their myki fare to travel on the long-awaited Melbourne Airport Rail Link.
Victoria
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Passengers on the long-awaited Melbourne Airport Rail Link face a special $18 surcharge to catch the train to Tullamarine.
The Herald Sun can reveal the project’s secret business case, which is yet to be released, uses the fee in its analysis of operating costs.
If added to the price of a two-hour myki fare, the most adults would pay to get to the airport via public transport from anywhere in Melbourne would be $22.50.
The Herald Sun can also reveal that group discounts – such as family passes – and special fares for airport workers are being considered as part of the rail plan.
The Andrews government said ticketing was “still being finalised” and it would be a matter for future governments to decide how a surcharge would link with myki fares.
State and federal governments have committed $5bn each to fund the mega-link, which is set to cost at least $10bn and be built by the end of this decade.
Once opened, it would pave the way for 30-minute trips from the heart of the CBD to the airport, with services every 10 minutes.
It is understood the business case for the project is close to being released, and several packages of work to build the link are already out to market.
Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said the details of how much customers would be charged for a ticket on the new trains were being worked through but would ensure an affordable trip.
“Ticketing is still to be finalised, however, it is important that we provide a frequent, affordable and accessible airport rail service for all Victorians and visitors to the state,” she said.
“Melbourne Airport Rail will change the way passengers move to and from the airport forever, with direct trips of around 30 minutes to the heart of the CBD and easy connections to key services and our growing regions.”
The surcharge figure is buried in a report by consultant KPMG for the government’s $34.5bn Suburban Rail Loop, which modelled demand for travel between Cheltenham and the airport on a planned orbital route.
“As assumed by the MAR Business Case, there will be an $18 surcharge for passengers boarding and alighting SRL … at Melbourne Airport,” it says.
“Transferring passengers between SRL-Cheltenham to Airport and MAR (Melbourne Airport Rail) will not be subject to this surcharge.”
The surcharge is slightly higher than the $15 to access Sydney’s airport by rail – although the Melbourne link won’t open until the end of this decade – and similar to the cost of Skybus.
At the moment, Skybus costs $19.75 for a one-way adult trip to the airport, or $32 for a return journey.
The cost of getting to Southern Cross is additional, with a two-hour myki fare costing $4.50 for an adult.
Sydney fares rise and fall depending on the hour of the journey, but in peak traffic the cost between the airport and Circular Quay is $18.79 – including a $15.13 fee for “airport access”.
Several sample fare structures were modelled in the Melbourne Airport Rail Link business case, which the government told the Herald Sun were considered “operational costs and the price of a comparable city-airport Skybus ticket”.
The government says the final ticket price is “expected to be comparable to other airport rail services operating across Australia”.
Melbourne is one of just 18 cities in the busiest 100 airports across the world without a rail link. This has resulted in 90 per cent of airport users travelling to Tullamarine by private vehicle, choking freeways.
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