An elusive rail development to Australia's second-largest airport is to be accelerated, with a date set to lay the first tracks from the city.
Victorian Premier Ben Carroll stood beside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday to commit work on stage two of the Melbourne Airport rail link.
It will connect the Sunshine superhub, in the city's outer west, to the airport via a new Keilor East station, in the premier's marginal electorate.
A $12 billion joint commitment from the Albanese and Carroll Labor governments been announced. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)
"A new Keilor East station will give locals direct access to the city via the metro tunnel," Mr Carroll said on Wednesday.
Stage two will include a 7.4km rail line from Albion to the edge of the airport precinct via the new Keilor East station.
A 500-metre rail bridge will also be built to transport trains over the Maribyrnong River.
Site investigations and procurement will begin within weeks, but major construction is not slated to start until 2028.
Labor predicts that Keilor East station will connect an estimated 5200 passengers to the city each day.
A new bridge over the Maribyrnong River will form part of the airport rail link. (HANDOUT/VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT)
The airport rail line is expected to be used by 6600 passengers and airport workers every hour.
"We're building Victoria's future, unlocking capacity to run more trains, more often and ensuring we have a train line to Melbourne Airport," Mr Albanese said.
The $12 billion joint commitment from the Albanese and Carroll Labor governments is expected to be completed in 2031, one year after stage one of the project is earmarked to be ready.
The $4.1 billion first phase is touted to untangle six kilometres of track between West Footscray and Albion into a six-platform superhub connected through Sunshine station.
The final stage of the project, which encompasses an above ground station at the airport precinct, remains without a clear completion date.
Stage two of the Melbourne rail link is expected to be completed by 2031. (HANDOUT/Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority)
Establishing an airport rail in Melbourne has been toyed with since the 1960s, but has been plagued by decades of backflips and delays.
Construction for the project was paused in 2023 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.
Construction at Sunshine started in February and marked the most complex part of the project, the government has previously said.
SOURCE/AUTHOR : AAP NEWS/Allanah Sciberras and Eleanor Wilson in Melbourne
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