Source : Perth Now news
More than 60 years since it was first posited by a state’s government, construction plans for the next stage in an embattled airport rail project have been unveiled.
An outline of the second of three phases of the jointly-funded Melbourne Airport Rail project was announced by Victorian Premier Ben Carroll and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday.
Yet scepticism continues to enshroud the long-awaited venture, which has been bogged down by decision fatigue and high-profile stand-offs for decades.
HOW LONG HAS MELBOURNE BEEN WAITING FOR TRAINS TO THE AIRPORT?
* The Bolte government introduced a bill proposing a link between the Broadmeadows line at Glenroy and the new “jetport” more than 60 years ago in 1965, years before Tullamarine Airport opened
* After the airport opened to passengers in 1971, a deal with the French government to build a monorail ‘aerotrain’ over the freeway was briefly pitched, but it was forgotten by 1975 when the project’s designer passed away
* In the 1980s, lofty plans for a high-speed rail line connecting Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney included a stop at Melbourne’s airport, but that project also folded
* In 1999, then-Victorian Labor leader Steve Bracks’ ascension to premier hinged on an election pledge to build the airport rail, but he backflipped on the decision three years later after analysis suggested it wouldn’t be commercially viable for at least another decade* Mr Bracks reaffirmed his commitment to a rail link in 2008 and said it would be considered within three to five years, before taking it off the table again just two years later
*A newly-elected Liberal government in 2010 vowed to undertake project planning, but faced backlash from the airport and tolling companies who benefited from passengers’ reliance on road routes to the airport
* In 2013 then-premier Denis Napthine announced the line would be constructed around 2015, but lost the election to Labor under Daniel Andrews the following year, which stymied the pledge* After initially pushing the rail link down the list of priorities, In 2017 Mr Andrews announced his government would devise a rail link planning study amid mounting pressure from the Abbott and Turnbull coalition governments
* The Andrews government matched a $5 billion federal investment for the rail link in July 2018, marking the formal launch of the project, with construction originally slated to begin in 2022 and be ready by 2029
* Contract tendering and early works were paused in 2023 when construction for the project was halted after Melbourne Airport Rail became entangled in a protracted federal infrastructure review
* When the review finally gave it the green light to continue, the airport and state government were at loggerheads over whether the planned station at Tullamarine should be underground or elevated.
* Mediator Neil Scales was hired to end the dispute and found the underground station should no longer be an option, prompting the airport to relent in July 2024
* Construction on a six-platform superhub at Sunshine started in February, and marked the most complex part of the project, the government has previously said.
* Works on the second phase of the project, laying out a 7.4km rail line from Albion to a new Keilor East station is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2031* The final stage of the project, which encompasses an above ground station at the airport precinct, remains without a clear completion date or price tag* The government most recently suggested the entire infrastructure project would be finished by 2033, but have since refused to put a timeline on the works
