Construction on Melbourne’s new airport rail will now include a brand-new station for residents of Keilor East in the city’s western suburbs.
The new station will, for the first time, link more than 150,000 residents in the City of Moonee Valley area to Victoria’s rail network.
Victoria’s Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Jacinta Allan, said the project would deliver new and improved services for Melbourne residents.
“This is a world class project for a world-class city – and the addition of this new station will make it even better,” Ms Allan said.
“The new station at Keilor East means airport rail will truly be a new rail line for Melbourne’s west, connecting hundreds of thousands of people to Melbourne’s train network for the first time.
“This project stacks up. Not only will it better connect Victorians to our city, our suburbs and the world – it will repay every cent invested in opportunities for local workers and businesses.”
The Business Case for the project was also released, showing Melbourne Airport Rail will deliver wide-ranging economic and connectivity benefits.
The Business Case assesses a new elevated station at Melbourne Airport as the best solution for passengers as it will better integrate with the precinct and have fewer impacts on planned future developments at the airport. An elevated station will also be quicker and more cost effective to deliver and reduce disruption to airport users during construction.
It also proposes an elevated rail bridge over the busy M80 Freeway, and major upgrades to Sunshine Station – including a new concourse, improvements to existing station facilities, and car parking.
The State Government expects the project will increase Victoria’s Gross State Product by up to $17.9 billion and create up to 8,000 jobs during construction, with further opportunities for hundreds of apprentices, trainees and cadets through the Victorian Government’s Major Project Skills Guarantee.
The airport rail project will also run through Sunshine Station and the Metro Tunnel – maximising connections to Melbourne’s booming west and south-east, and Victoria’s major regional centres of Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong and Gippsland.
