Sunshine Station upgrade plans have been expanded to include a new regional platform by 2029, as part of the broader Melbourne Airport Rail Link project.

This upgrade will allow more regional services to stop at Sunshine Station, including Bendigo services, paving the way for the Western Rail Plan and the Melbourne Airport Rail Link. Construction is slated to begin mid-2022.

The announcement adds to previously announced Sunshine Station upgrades, including extending existing regional platforms to accommodate longer nine-car VLocity trains and a new, second concourse to make transfers easier between metro, regional and airport services.

Melbourne Airport Rail Link will establish new offices at Sunshine Plaza, bringing around 340 team members closer to the project and hundreds of potential customers to local Sunshine businesses.

Victorian Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Jacinta Allan, said the new platform is an investment in developing Sunshine as the centre of Melbourne’s west.

“With most people travelling directly between the airport and their home, Melbourne Airport Rail Link route via Sunshine provides a solution that benefits most Victorians through good connectivity to the existing metropolitan and regional rail network,” Ms Allan said.

“Pre-COVID, over 40 per cent of the 20,000-plus daily regional trips made to and from Melbourne Airport came from Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong.

“This is why supporting development of Sunshine’s superhub and running airport services through the Metro Tunnel is so beneficial – it provides easy connections to these regions, to key city services and trips into the heart of the CBD in around 30 minutes.”

Once Sunshine’s transformation is complete, trains will run every two to three minutes at peak times, including airport services every ten minutes and an approximately 11-minute trip to Melbourne Airport.

Federal Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, Paul Fletcher, said the Federal Government had committed $5 billion to the Melbourne Airport Rail Link.

“The Melbourne Airport Rail Link will provide fast, reliable train services between the airport and the CBD, and help manage the transport needs of Melbourne’s growing population,” Mr Fletcher said.

The project is a part of the federal government’s plan to deliver transformational infrastructure throughout the state as part of a $110 billion infrastructure plan. 

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