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A BIG update on the Melbourne Airport Rail Link!
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- čas přidán 18. 08. 2024
- The future of the Melbourne Airport Train project has been in doubt... until now! The government has finally released its long awaited review into whether or not they should defund the project!
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This is only the latest in a long series of attempts Melbourne has made at building an airport train line - but it has been the most promising! In this video I unpack the recent news about the projects future, and look at where the project can go from here.
Check out my other video on the Melbourne Airport Rail link for even more details: • What happened to Melbo...
I'm a few days off 70.
Melbourne airport opened 53 years ago in 1970.
I have waited for half a century for THE most obvious infrastructure project to be completed.
The Airport HATES the idea, imagine how many millions of parking $ those thieves will loose.
Straya, GET ON WITH IT
I thought it was the dithering by a succession of governments, who have reviewed it to death. I’m sure fifty years of feasibility studies exceeded the cost of the line in the sixties.
…also the taxi industry protecting their interests.
I would still park there. It's nice to be able to just chuck your suitcase in the car and just go home without having to change trains
@@emusaurusbahaha it will lose a ton of money.
There is no business case for this. Nobody wants it. It will be expensive. You can get a bus to your hotel for less. They could build a train that would take hundreds of thousands of cars off the road daily and instead we are getting this. Lol. All because people are stupid.
Completely agree, however it makes no sense. People will still park at the airport. If you look at other countries that have rail links to their airports you can see that not everyone takes the train, particularly those that don’t want to take a train to a city centre or lug 3/4 bags around on a train.
if the airport wants the underground station they should be forced to pay extra, the state government shouldn't need to pay extra purely for the airports own intrest
The airport doesn't want this link at all. They make huge money from parking and the rail link will cut into their profit base significantly. That's why they're doing everything to make this difficult and delay it as much as possible.
@@zsaleebaProfits before people.
They offered to build it.
@@JimmiAlliinb4 they pull a Sydney airport and privatise the airport stations
Yes because we should be building the el cheapo version. Trust transit fan boys to wet themselves. The airport was designed from the start to have an underground terminal. Not some half-ass designed shoehorned between buildings.
Melbourne Airport's concerns are not founded. They should even be disregarded. For decades, they have gotten in the way of improving our city. For what it's worth, they are also staunch opponents of high speed rail.
We should just nationalise it again.
I wonder if they're also the reason I didn't enjoy my train from Sydney to Southern Cross. The ride and service just felt so meh even compared to US Amtrak.
That said I don't know why an airport would oppose a metro connection, because that would encourage flying in and out of there as opposed to relying on local contacts and taxis.
@@shrakapretty sure it's still owned by us, just operated by a commercial company (like the rail network I guess?) So it'd be pretty easy to do if there was the political willpower
They are literally just saying underground rail as an objection to slow the project and to eventually stop it. They make so much from parking and the airport bus, why would they want to loose all that.
It ought to be made illegal for any corporation, espcially a public service like an aiport to earn profit from car parking.
I saw the Geelong fast rail cancellation as well 🤨 yet the rest of the infrastructure list was 70% roads. I'm not even from Melbourne and yet even I think it ridiculous that there is no Melb-Gee fast rail when it would be so much quicker and easier to build than Sydney-Melbourne.
It’s 70 km away. You don’t need a fast link. The existing line could cope with a fast link
@@xr6lad It's a pilot project, shows what fast rail can do. Then having started, don't stop, go on to Ballarat.
I am super angry about cancellation of the geelong fast rail. A few years back the line was altered from a fairly direct route to one that takes in many of the new western suburbs. And it takes significantly longer to travel by rail from Geelong to Melbourne than it used to. Many previous train commuters moved to car commute because of this. We are very poorly rail serviced in Gtown; especially on weekends where there are no late rail services and an already irregular timetable is reduced to impractical levels.
@@bernadmannyoh you mean like the Bendigo line and Ballarat lines were meant to be like 17 years ago. And the RRL through Tarniet was meant to be for Geelong like 15 years ago? But we’ll spend even more money until we get it right? With the right train and not stopping at stupid rail stations you could get Geelong in 40 minutes now. People need to UNDERSTAND in this country fast rail MEANS fast rail - it doesn’t mean stopping at Tarneit, Wyndumn Vale, Little River. Oh and when you build an express fast relief line you don’t then fill it with politically driven rail stations for locals. You run it fast.
@bernadmanny It was a pathetic project. The State Government had no idea as to how they would implement it. The Bracks govt. removed the Geelong line from the Newport corridor because it was constantly delayed by Metro services to Williamstown and Werribee. Now they wanted to bring back to the same restricted corridor between South Kensington and Newport. And you know who wont benefit from a Geelong Fast Rail. Yes Western Suburbs commuters. Already sold a pup with RRL and unlikely to get an uptick in services because Geelong Fast Rail will have to be accommodated. Canning Geelong Fast Rail was the right thing to do.
Hope it gets built but I'm not holding my breath.
I have a feeling the airport are saying underground just to delay it. They have no intention of wanting an train station, they never have and they never will. They make so much revenue from parking and other streams like airport bus (which they own), which will all take a hit.
Enough of the conspiracy theories. SkyBus is not owned by the Airport. It is owned by the Kinetic group which is majority owned by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).
@@mjcats2011is there a revenue share arrangement at all? $25 a trip tickets is a lot of money
@tobysmith9204 Yes there will be a revenue share because the State Government insists on the station being in the middle of the Airport precinct. You can be sure that the Airport will be charging access fees.
If they repurpose the car park near T4 they will avoid charges.
Bahaha making up nonsense.
The airport will win either way. People will still drive and park because it's more convenient. Nobody wants to do a 10+ hour flight to go anywhere and then catch a 2.5 hour train out to the eastern suburbs or up north.
Business users won't use it because they'll just get Ubers and Taxis.
If you're staying at a city hotel above 3 stars (aka not a backpackers), you'll just get a bus, door to door. If you're staying at a backpackers you'll probably also just get the bus, door to door.
This project serves such a small, tiny subset of people and the only ones who will lose money are the Victorian taxpayer.
Lol the airport losing money. You clown 🤡
The airport’s argument against the above ground station as proposed is that it limits options for redevelopment/integration of the terminal buildings at a later date and the train line would be built as a terminus without options for extension at a later date. While these are valid, I suspect it’s a negotiating tactic to get the rail project to pay for more of the integration with the existing precinct.
Even if you tunnel underground, all the machinery and equipment has to be hired from overseas. It only really works if once it is being done, everything is widened for future capacity. Once underground tunnelling is completed, it is usually at capacity. When the skills, labour, expertise and equipment are here, it may as well be done all in the one go.
@rayjohnson6286 awesome!
Sounds like it's their fault for not reserving some ROW for a rail line. Bulldoze their parking lots and if they complain nationalise the airport again.
I’m not entirely clear how an underground station would not limit what could be built over it either. Any future redevelopment would surely intergrate the station. Future extension of the line are more about reserved corridors then station disigns arnt they ?
@@shrakasounds like you’re 5 years old with no knowledge of the airport. It was designed from the start to have an underground station in the forecourt
If Melbourne Airport want the train station underground they can pay for the damn difference
You should definitely start a city skylines 2 series building a melbourne like city with the proper urban planning foresight.
I am posting this before actually watch this video, so if I sound uninformed, it's probably because I am. Every time this rail link is talked about, they find a way to make it more difficult and expensive. The latest I've read is that the Airport Authority want the Airport station to be underground. Why? Why keep changing the plan every few years. just build it, with an above ground station, if that's feasible.
It's only a short distance, it shouldn't be that hard.
Considering it had been in the pipeline since the mid 70's. It has been around 50 years of delays.
The Airport knows it is more expensive to make it underground, and they want it like that because they know money is not infinite. The Airport does not want to lose its parking money
@@hughmiller925 The first proposal was 1958.
@@thethirdman225 Awesome! I think it was covered by the roads and transportation act. Phillip Mallis YT channel explains it, I think.
@@hughmiller925 I’ll be honest and say I can’t remember where I saw or heard that (1958).
Do Melbourne Airport want the station underground so the train line is less visible, thereby possibly getting less people using it, thereby not harming their enormous car parking cash cow? Just a thought. Anyway, great it still might happen. It should happen, if Melbourne is the big city it claims to be.
I recommended the projected route way back in 1982 - more than 40 years ago. I said then that other stations should be added on the route, and back then there was no Ring Road to cross. At the airport the line should go underground because it's visually much cleaner. But now there's something to add. I think the line should continue underground in a NW direction below the airport, then surface and go overland, before joining the Bendigo train line north of Sunbury, near Clarkefield. This will make the airport just another stop on that line.
And how long would the trip take from the airport to city then? I'd rather catch skybus if they make that monstrosity of a line.
Ewwww. My lord I'd rather just pay for an Uber.
@@DesA-hj7ms Then do. Some people are one eyed about the airport line that they do not see other benefits. I would rather the State Build a cheap bog standard line that will serve Airport West and Sunshine North as well as Keilor East which will help local workers for $4 to $5 billion then build a high speed dedicated line for $13 Billion or more so that one can get to the airport quickly. Ever though that by building it that way it would ease pressure on the Craigieburn line and the 59 tram?
I know it's probably of little concern, but as a traveller, I would find an above-ground station less disorienting. If you're in a city for the first time, I think it helps!
Agree. They've had plenty of opportunities to preserve ROW for a train line and built parking there instead. I'd ignore their concerns.
At least it's just a parking lot though. It's not so easy to reclaim space that has humans living and working on top of it.
As a traveller, I totally disagree. A separate station means an extra 5-10 minute walk outdoors, where it might be 40 degrees or freezing. Perth went with this shoddy approach and I vastly prefer any airport where the station is simply underneath the terminal.
@@CaptainKremmen That's a reasonable perspective as well!
I suppose everyone will have a preference in this regard and you won't please everyone.
@@CaptainKremmen I'm also a traveller. 5-10 minutes? Just put the train station just outside the terminal like they do for car pickup. Are you a regular traveller? Because if the station isn't at the terminal I'm surprised you didn't think of just adding an airport mass transit system like they do at plenty of other airports around the world.
They could also have air conditioned viaducts to the station with platform doors. Just because it's above ground doesn't mean it has to be outside.
The airport has already messed this up for their ride share pickups so clearly they don't care about people having to go outside that much.
Melbourne Airport has never been interested in any rail link, as they already make money off the taxi licences, skybus operational fees and car parking. There's no interest in public transportation infrastructure that offers them little in return. The push back has always been from The Melbourne Airport corporation. Buy hey, the private sector can do no wrong, and is not possible of making things worse.
Umm, the last time I checked, airlines were public transport, so the whole business model of the airport is to provide public transportation.
@@Dave_Sisson Yes, but Melbourne Airport as a business and entity is private.
@@Dave_Sisson The airlines are all private transportation services, provided by a private corporation, in this case Melbourne Airport.
@@Dave_SissonAll airlines are private companies.
Nationalise it again. Maybe then they'll stop getting in the way of fast / HSR rail to Sydney.
The elevated platforms at Brisbane are perfectly fine! When you've arrived on an international flight, & gone through immigration & customs, being out in fresh air for a few minutes is very welcome.
Thanks for the update! I appreciated your first video too. I agree it's ridiculous that Sydney, Brisbane and Perth all have operating train lines from their airports to their cities, yet Melbourne is still straggling so much. This should be the absolute top priority infrastructure project for Melbourne, allowing locals who live in the CBD, tourists and business travellers fast, easy, direct access to the CBD. Locals who live in the suburbs can also benefit if it stops along the way or by connecting to their local train/bus sevices from the CBD. The SkyBus takes too long, is too expensive, is not as smooth travelling as a train, and is a higher risk form of transport.
I was not impressed with the Skybus either
In the least weird way possible I love hearing someone from the other side of the world discussing the intricacies of my city
It's just oddly satisfying to hear a bunch of suburbs I live near pronounced in a different accent, like some kind of crossover event
Appreciate the update. Fingers crossed the Fed. Gov. can resolve this issue sooner rather than later! Thanks 👍
Thank god - they really need to just get this done now.
A tunnel would mean longer return times on investment and that means passengers would have to pay more to get to the Airport. Also Melbourne really needs to work on speed and frequency especially for the Airport line otherwise it would bw a total failure footfall wise.
What they can do is forget about high speed expresses to the Airport and concentrate on providing a service that will serve the unserved suburbs in the NW of Melbourne and do it as cheap as possible. A lot less than $10 Billion.
No. It only needs a tunnel for the last km to the airport and much of that would be under the long-term carpark.
@@mjcats2011why build a rail line that would service hundreds of thousands of people and move just as many cars off your congested roads when you can build an airport rail nobody will use?
An airport link burdened with other urban chores fails to meet the needs of its primary purpose, to capture airport bound passengers and remove them from choked roads. If the city needs other transit lines too, justify them independently. Don't hold this fifty years overdue Tulla infrastructure hostage to other goals. Remember, this line is about replacing the 20 minute non-stop ride on SkyBus with something that promotes Melbourne as the great transit city that it is. The airport train into Sydney isn't a bad working model, with few stops. Writing from another city that can't get it's airport transit story together, greetings from Los Angeles! By the way, when did Southwest start flying to Tulla?
Crazy Sydney are building their second airport with a metro link already under construction before Melbourne even get their first sorted.
Great news! Also glad to see that Southwest Airlines is now servicing Melbourne, Australia!!!
Definitely agree on extra stations and transit oriented development! They are somewhat limited in where they can build as part of the route is a freight train line, and they can’t build too close to the Airport because of noise restrictions, but it’s definitely a good idea!
I assume SRL North - if it happens - would be another reason why the government would rather build Sunshine-Airport above ground, especially if SRL North uses the same rollingstock as East.
I am for the rail link to Melbourne Airport, my last visit was 5 years ago and the taxi is expensive and I got the airport bus service but was not pleased, having to lift my bag onto the luggage rack at chest height is not easy for me. The luggage racks at floor level were taken by the time I got on the bus. So next time I will take a taxi. It is so good visiting Sydney when you can just get the train to the city.
Completely agree. The only thing I would add is that the station needs to be able to be used as a through station by the SRL if/when it arrives such that it an run all the way to at least Sunshine. That would allow, in 20-30 years, for Airport-CBD line to be run via a Higpoint tunnel while still leaving airport service to Sunshine.
I’ll believe this when I see it!
Promising events, but I'm not holding my breath.
What is not so well known (and spoken about) is that Transurban (Citylink) had written into their original contract, that they can be compensated if competing infrastructure was ever built. (for example, a train line). Although the route goes westward to Sunshine and then kinda follows the ring road (a freeway), Transurban may still fight this. I suspect a lot of the delays and haggling could be related to this.
Yeah and they have axed the brand new long-awaited Sunshine Coast Rail link in Qld in the process
Your presentations are very clear & well thought out I enjoyed them, your suggestions about the possibilities of futue stations along that line and the 'keep it simple' strategy you suggest is good ..... I think you will find there are/were 'Commercial in Confidence' clauses Including 'you can't build a rail link for so many years'..... buried deep in the paperwork of the Citilink contract documentation! You know the ones that are hidden & we are not allowed to know anything about!... this was in the Kennett Era! & Citilink was being built during the Bracks & Brumby era! if you think back absolutly nothing happened with public transport, in the Ballieu Government, being the next liberal government after Kennett. My memory escapes me a little......At least Dan Andrews when he eventually came along got a few things happening... & whilst I don't necessarily agree with it all. I actually think the suburban loop is a good idea long term. should have been started from the other end but still done after the airport link was finished.... After Kennett I think everything stopped relating the the Tullamarine Airport rail which confirms my general suspition that there was something in that paperwork....Citilink was also massive project! but could have been handled differently!.....The reliance on the car Sucks!..I live near Pakenham right now & actively avoid the Monash freeway at various times.... Marcus
After 40 years and countless studies a basic thing like the Airport station location hasn't been decided on! How were these projects costed then? BTW a 30 minute travel time is slower than the existing Skybus, and adding further stations as suggested would make it even slower.
It is not just about the travel time Cliff. It is also about capacity. Whilst I support in principle a airport link, I would rather they did not build one if it is going to cost a lot of money.
Second only to properly fixing our totally neglected rural road network, this should be the ex-Minister for the Commonwealth Games Delivery's no 1 infrastructure project.
Completely agree on adding new stations
Imagine all the infrastructure projects that could be completed with the $362 billion we are about to spend on nuclear submarines we don't need.
💯
It'll be a Trillion by the time we do
Not a lot of point building assets if you can't protect them.
@@tonybloomfield5635 yeah we going to stop china 🤣
@@tonybloomfield5635 Yeah, we do need to protect ourselves from our biggest trading partner and the single biggest source of prosperity we have had for decades. Great idea! 🥸👍
"I'm getting a little bit off track."
You don't wanna do that... the paperwork for a derailment is a nightmare 😎
I came in 30s hoping this will be built and now I feel I will be in my 60s before this happens. I liked that the review board kept the project. I can’t imagine something the entire population of Melb deserves is held at ransom with corporate profiteering; total inept corrupt politicians over decades.
It’s embarrassing that Melbourne doesn’t have airport rail. I just got back from Sydney, theirs works so well. The fact visitors have to catch a cab or bus along a pretty crappy part of the city and get stuck in traffic really spoils the experience of coming to one of the worlds most livable cities… as long as you don’t need to fly anywhere
It maybe for you. But If the Airport line is going to be really costly I would rather it not be built.
Polluting cars and trucks are the reality of the Tullamarine freeway, and that looks like continuing for many more years.
Don’t think it will happen until the first sod is turned. There is certain to be more battles before the line is constructed
I do really hope the costs can be looked at, unsure why elevated and surface/bridge options so far is still as expensive as it is… especially the costs is similar to Metro Tunnel 1, quite frustrating that it’s already quite expensive before they even talk about a tunnel 😅
Hopefully too that they do add more stations and maybe if they want a tunnel, use up airport car park land to stage it and it being a cut-and-cover one before tunneling underneath the terminals to the future terminal that the airport wants to build (in the middle of the future four runways). Airport should honestly just foot that cost and call it a day
The cost are so high because the real expense in building a train line is in the stations. Then probably bridges next on the cost per km scale.
Tunnelling actually isn't all that expensive. If we aren't worried about putting a station in every 1km or so, you'd be surprised how far you could tunnel for the same cost as the Metro project.
For reference, we have Cross River Rail in Brisbane, including 4 underground stations, 1 above ground and about 6km of dual bore tunnel. Off the top of my head it is costing about $9bn.
One of the issues with inland rail in Queensland is that it won't reach the port, due to challenges facing getting double stacked freight through the inner suburban rail network. Some private company came up with the idea of a 52km freight tunnel to resolve this, quoting the cost at being around $6bn. Obvioisly that price tag deserves some serious scrutiny, but essnetially 52km of tunnelled track vs 12km (dual tunnels) and 4 underground stations does come well in favour of the 52km of tunnel.
Basically, it's going to cost a fortune either way becuase you have to build a station. It'll probably cost more going underground because building a station underground is going to cost more. That and an underground or above ground station at the airport isn't going to change any of the infrastructure needs between the airport and Southern Cross.
I agree that the airport needs to play nicely. But I’m also in support of an underground integrated airport. Look at all the big airports around the world where you head down stairs to the train. It’s really easy when you’ve got no idea where you are. Also factor in how windy and miserable the weather is at the airport for 6 months of the year. And Brisbane’s airport terminus feels a bit half-baked to me. Just some thoughts. Overall this is great news.
There really isn't a consistent standard between above ground, ground level and underground stations for airports globally. The main consideration is always going to be project specific in the end.
Brisbane's airport line was always going to terminate at the airport. It honestly wouldn't have been that impractical to build it at ground level if they wanted, but usually elevated is better to avoid at grade crossings.
In Sydney's case the airport line was always designed to be a 'through' link, with trains running on from the airport regardless of if they are inbound or outbound. That and the approach through established inner city suburbs was always going to have to be underground anyway, compared to Brisbane where a viable elevated pathway was possible with minimal disruption to anyone other then industrial sites.
For Perth, the combination of the river crossing and the need to run the line from one side of the airport to the other were pretty key in pushing it underground. That and the line was planned to continue past the airport too, which favours whatever option makes through running more practical.
It's also not uncommon for cities to run a heavy line into the airport precinct, with direct transfers to an automated people mover system to then forward them on to the specific terminals they need to go to.
Basically, there is no one size fits all option becuase the best option is entirely dictated by local context. If Melbourne Airport wants an underground station, they're going to need a much better argument then 'Sydney has one'.
Of course every airport that's decent has a underground station..being above ground is just being cheap and not doing it right
@danb5944 of the top 20 airports by passengers in 2022, 9 have elevated stations, 10 have underground stations, 1 has a ground level station and 2 have no rail link at all (this is more then 20 becuase there are a few with both elevated and underground stations). All these airports received over twice as many passengers as Melbourne did in 2022.
To get a more fair comparison by airport scale, 40th to 50th by passenger numbers are much closer to Melbourne Airport (and includes Sydney). Here we have 3 with elevated stations, 5 with underground stations, 1 with a ground level station and 4 with no rail link at all (again, we have airports that have multiple types of stations at once, including 1 case were a single line has an underground station at one terminal and then an elevated station at the next terminal).
There is no special gold standard associated with using an underground station over an elevated one. Whether you build the station elevated, at ground level or underground is dictated by local context, not what some other airport did that looks cool.
Every airport that is decent has transport links appropriate to their needs
Build it cheaply and redirect the rest of the money to the Western Rail Plan which is far more important.
@@danb5944 Good. As far as the Airport line is concerned, cheap is good. Wyndhamvale,Tarneit, Melton and Caroline Springs deserve a decent Metro service. If I had my way it would by a V/Line train every 15 to 20 for the Airport.
Attach it to the bendigo vline and upgrade and separate that line from freight and metro wherever possible
create government project, allow contractors to charge 15x cost, make drastic changes based on unreasonable complaints , cancel project for being over budget, repeat
what a wonderful time
Well that what happens when major government infrastructure projects are tendered out to the PRIVATE SECTOR.
@@hughmiller925 yeah that part dont help either, but i mean either way the contractors actually doing the building a private companies, even if the entire project is owned by the government
@@vincentgrinn2665 So what you're saying is the government should have a public construction company? Agreed.
@@shraka honestly i dont trust the government to not screw that up as well
but yeah, public government projects should be built at cost. no company at any point in the supply chain should make a profit
australias a long way from having enough nationalized industry for every part of the supply chain to be publically owned company though
@@vincentgrinn2665 Oh they definitely will - at least at first - but so do private companies and at least this way nobody will be making a profit off cost over runs.
Are you sure ? I have heard some rumours, that the Stony Point Line out of Frankston is kept open only for being the link to the planned Melbourne-Henry Bolte Airport, compulsory acquiring the Mornington Peninsula Airfield in Tyabb, servicing the region, which is highly dependent on tourism, reaching as far as Philip Island and its world renowned Fairy Penguins and Motorsport events. In close proximity, the naval base of HMAS Cerberus will benefit from this facility too, especially for commuting personnel and transporting some supplies by air.
We have been waiting for years for this with more feasibility studies than necessary. If they had only extended the light rail along the freeway from the old Essendon airport to go up and over the terminus's at Tullamarine, it would have been solved years ago. Even running the tram line where the bus terminals are located outside Departure/Arrivals. Sorry just an old opinion I keep harping about.
Guess we need a new update after the Victorian State Budget because its been delayed at least another four years. Again because of negotiations between the government and the airport.
No, because the State is broke and is insisting that funds are directed to the SRL, NE Link and Western Tunnel.
Make the airport link then a tram link that runs on a limited stop basis into Melbourne. Much cheaper and more useful for the communities ito Melbourne who get another public transport route.
Agreed. Go above ground and just get it done, not for a fortune
And build one to Avalon as a loop for the Geelong line, as there are more suburbs there too
Singapore's airport to city rain is high above the ground and is amazing.
If I was in charge of this State sometimes in the earlier days this project would have been completed back in the 1980s, WHY? Because I am the man with a vision for the future.
We would have had this years ago if the Andrews Govt didn’t waste so much money building bridges for rail lines that already exist.
Maate. Stop blaming the Andrews Government. It did not get built by the Kennett Government, Nor the Bracks, Brumby or Ballieu/Napthine Governments. Having rail to the Airport is not that pressing.
Well done with the quick update, Moose. But additional stations can be built later, right? Lets not introduce any scope creep at the outset ... that's just a recipe for further delays.
No build it with additional stations and Build the Airport Station at the Transport hub behind T4.
Underground doesn’t obstruct runway approach paths.
Underground is nice, but because of the cost, the choice seems to be whether or not the link will be built at all, at least in the foreseeable future.
The folks running the airport make so much money from car parking, they don't want a rail connection. The push for an underground station is just a delaying tactic. The federal government needs to step in and show the airport who's in charge.
If you want to use rail to the Melbourne Airport then catch the train to Broadmeadows then bus 901 to the airport. $5......bargain.
Last time I did that the bus arrived at Broady station with a 27 minute wait until the next citybound train. Wouldn't want to be in a hurry to get to the airport!
@@deanstyles2567 I found the connections pretty good....I live in Sydney and have used this method for years. But yes if you're running late....!!
Stinks in the weekends and most lines in Melbourne at the weekends are subject to Bustitutions.
I hope to see this line operating in my lifetime.
Mostly good, but unfortunately none of that would cool housing prices - we have high immigration but the prices are more related to our investment property problem. Until those are curtailed the prices aren’t coming down
I have caught that stupid Skybus countless times over the years, ridiculous. We were in Brisbane for a few days recently and caught the airport train from Southbank Station to the airport for our flight home. It was so different from the Melbourne experience, nice clean train, no stress, no traffic concerns.
Attempts to build a rail link to Tullamarine have repeatedly been blocked by the Taxi industry, right up until Uber's advent, which appears to have broken the taxi companies near monopoly of services in to the airport.
Underground would be a better option, to keep the passenger link seperate from the freight link, afterall, the only place rail makes profits is in freight. Passenger services run at such a loss that ticket prices are a drop in the bucket of their government funding.
The Taxi Industry does not have that much power. It is the Airport itself that does have the power.
No do not build it underground. At least a Billion more would have to be found due to the geological formations out in the North West. Flint hard basalt. Very hard to mine through.
There is a lot of unused Broad Gauge Freight infrastructure between Footscray West and Airport West and there is only money in Standard Gauge Freight. If the WA Government can build a 8 km tunnel with 3 new stations, 2 underground for $2 Billion, we in Victoria should be able to build one for between $4 and $5 Billion.
Time to start planning to build the Koo Wee Rup airport and have an underground train station built in from day one.
Airports have a business model which relies a lot on parking lots for revenue. Parking lots rely on good access roads. Elevated rail would usually reduce some exisiting parking lot capacity, as well as strategic opportunities for airport or runway expansion in future.
Because rapid transit reduces the need for parking lots because travellers much prefer that to driving, the airport wants a means to be compensated for losin parking revenues. This is what happened at Sydney, Vancouver Canada, Newark and JFK in USA and other airports where there is a premium paid to compensate airport for loss of parking revenues.
By demanding underground access, the airport may be asked to contribute the cost difference, but at that point, gets control over the station and how much is charged to use transit to/from airport. If govt pays for elevated, the airport has no leverage to get to set rates to include a premium which it keeps.
Montréal's remaining airport is eventually getting tunneled rapid transit from an outfit that refused to use the existing trasit station under one terminal that had been built for that in mind. But it initially insisted in contrbuting to construction so it could control access/rates and get its cut of revenues. And as part of this started a white elephant project to cover a whole area with a glass dome so people getting out of underground station wouldn't have to walk outdoors to get to terminal (they didn't think of putting station under terminal). COVID happened, airport rain out of cash and stopped its work on the wghile elehant project, and could no longer afford its ahred of the trasit station. Federal government intervened an piped in $300m to replace airport's share but as a result, airport lost its ability to set premium rates to use that station ad keep the revenues.
Adding additional stations is unfounded, Melbourne airport rail is projected to be 15-18mins from southern cross. Whereas skybus is ~20min off peak hours.
So if more stations are added it defeats the purpose of a faster train
That's kind of simplistic thinking. Add stations with bypass tracks. Have express trains that cost a bit more, and local trains that also run on the line.
@@shraka you may need more then just bypass tracks to make that work. Scheduling local trains becomes significantly more complicated when you add alternatively sequenced services to the same track pair. It's a big blow to the overall capacity and reliability of that track pair. This is the reason why Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne are all transitioning more and more to sectorisation, dedicating tracks to specific services where possible rather then multi-running different services on the same tracks.
That and just at a glance I am not sure if the justification for additional stations is really there. You'd basically be looking at stations for Sunshine North (which basically already exist with Albion) and Kelior East/Airport West. While these suburbs don't already have trains, these days when you build a station it comes with significant development intensification around the station site. You'd be looking at building TODs around the station sites and I'd be suspicious about if those suburbs really represent good opportunities for such development. I'd also be concerned about the ability for a rail service to compete as a transit option for anything east of Footscray in these two suburbs. It'd be a very round about route compared to catching a bus direct.
My gut instinct is that it wouldn't be providing those areas with best practice public transport so much as it would be a half-baked attempt to justify a project that has little to do with those areas.
@@91Caesar Yeah maybe - and I agree we should just spring for the better option and run entirely different track if we’re doing express trains, but Melbourne likes to do things half arsed so I was just sticking with that spirit.
I’m a little confused they didn’t choose to link the line up with Craigieburn - though that does need a level crossing removed at Kensington.
I’ma little confused by a lot of the new upgrades. I’m glad new projects are going ahead I’m not particularly in love with the current overall strategy. We could probably do with an inner city mass transit metro, split the suburban rail out, and probably a bunch more orbital connections.
Forget about an express to the airport. In any case, the Airport link will not be running from Southern Cross but rather using the Metro Tunnel. I would rather a line be built as another normal Metro line serving more communities like Sunshine North as well as Keilor East.
@@mjcats2011 🙄
Well...if they want to save money they just need to do underground and join up to the station that's already built under the airport from back in the 80s. But you know, too much money comes in from the carpark.
Dan flushed our budget down the toilet blowing money left and right to keep the unions happy, but this is one of the ones that do actually make sense.
Hopefully the airport gets steamrolled
They won't. The Airport holds all the cards and will not allow the Government to build above ground in the middle of the precinct.
Build it at the existing Transit hub behind T4.
Sky rail to the airport down the middle of City Link… in my dreams
Train lines down the middle of a road aren't a great idea. Bulldoze a few citylink lanes and put it on the side. Using that ROW is a good idea though.
They could have built a railway or even a tramway along the freeway reserve instead of widening the freeway for more cars and then tolling it.
@@AshleyReynolds-vc6ly Absolutely. The tollway is way too wide. Take two freeway lanes out (maybe three in the curves) and you could fit a rail line in there with 3 - 5 times the capacity of the whole current freeway.
Be a good idea - could run trains express down there and convert some of the other lines to light rail.
Dream on.
@@shraka while having stations along a highway median is a bad idea, it could potentially work as a throughfare
The other reason that an Airport Rail Link is important is because it's probably the best corridor for a potential high-speed rail link between Melbourne and Sydney -- all of the current lines approaching Melbourne are too congested, but if you build four tracks along the rail link, you can use it as a dedicated high-speed corridor. That means the alignment has to be above ground, because a four-track tunnel is exponentially more expensive than a two-track tunnel, whereas a four-track above-ground corridor (even if the tracks are stacked two by two on viaducts!) is not much more expensive than a two-track.
What?
In the meantime can PTV add some reasonable bus routes that go to the airport via suburbs? I live near Flemmington Bridge station, which the Skybus drives riiight past on the motorway, but it is much cheaper and faster for me to Uber than travel backwards into the city to catch the Skybus.
Buses? This Government. It does not involve a lot of Infrastructure so they could not give a flying.
Just do an above line and call it a day. I don’t want more tunnel works to delay and make the project more expensive. I’m already mad it took so long to fund this.
Melbourne is also now Australia’s most populated city so the airport rail link will probably quickly become one of the most heavily used lines on the train network when completed.
No it won't, unless it serves Intermediate suburbs such as Airport West and Sunshine North.
@@mjcats2011
Yeah the crowds on that line would probably also be seasonal so it might only be regularly really busy during the holiday seasons! :)
Hoppers crossing 🚸 Tullamarine 😅
This is the sort of project we should have a binding public vote on… screw all this self interest.
Good one!
In terms of priority, I find it difficult to understand as to why a rail link to the airport is necessary. The expense and politics of this project and the lack of clarity about whether the station is underground or ground level, or even the number of stations along the way, demonstrate the lack of vision and understanding about the benefits for such a project. Certainly if the design and facilities of the rail link are not well thought out, it could very easily become a white elephant. Frankly, I don't have the confidence in our politicians to put aside their stupid ideological and personal differences to come up with a truly viable, cost effective and well thought out plan. Far more important is the total, abysmal failure of Australian politicians to have come up with a high speed rail link between Melbourne & Sydney, let alone Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane in the 21st century. Surely such a project would've been far more worthwhile for a country like Australia with the vast distances between its major cities.
I see this happening some time well after the Bendigo East electorate gets rid of the dud member that it currently has. As a Bendigo (West) resident I would like a rail option direct through from Bendigo to the airport. As neither option is likely to happen for decades I doubt that I will be disappointed. The good news is that instead of funding the massive cost blowouts that the project will have I will be dead and buried.
WHAT I FIND Bizzare is that its not a direct route like most City to Airport Trains. Its should be direct and fast, the ideal place would be next to and or above following The Tullamarine Freeway. Why it is going out to the West is Crazy
The owners of Tullamarine Fwy are not going to allow someone to build high speed rail on their corridor. Also it will cost a lot of money. Any Goverment who wants to spend more than $10 on a train to the Airport has completely lost the plot.
I would rather they can it
it would be a lot better if it branched off from the Craigieburn line rather than the Sunbury line, would probably slash travel times in half. unfortunately it's too late to do that now because the Metro Tunnel has already been dug, and it has no connection to the Craigieburn line
@TheLostProbe It was never proposed to link the Craigieburn line to the Melbourne Metro. At least not, the Craigieburn line is a fair distance from the tunnel portal at South Ken.
And it would not slash times in half unless of course you intend to run express services.
The Craigieburn line has numerous level crossings and regional services operating on it, limiting frequency. The level crossings and the re routing of Shepparton and Seymour trains will have to take place.
The latter was a priority, but it seems now that the Suburban Rail Loop trumps everything.
@@mjcats2011 I think you may be a little out of touch , the Skybus Express costs $22 one way to the Airport from the City. I have travelled the World and almost all Cities have direct quick rail to the Airport, not a Trip that takes me out to the back blocks of the West and we get there when we get there approach.
@AussieOutlaw I meant more than $10 Billion to build the bloody thing!
The back blocks of the West, hardly. What do you expect? A high speed rail via a tunnel from Southern Cross? The State is doing the right thing and building it using an existing corridor for most of the way. And they can make it even cheaper if they don't insist on flyovers using and renovating the broad gauge freight much of it unused. And re purpose the car park at the back of t4 for the station.
If they can build it for between 4 and 5 billion and serve the under-served suburbs like Keilor, Airport West, and Sunshine North, to my mind, that would be far more useful.
Making sure that Tarneit, Wyndhamvale and Melton get decent services via the Western Rail Plan is far more important.
Ludicrous that Melbourne does not have an airport train ... shame on Vic and Aussie pollies.
Given the Airport operator has just banged up 10 storey carpark, and installed additional road flyovers, it is VERY CLEAR they are motivated to block the rail link purely to protect carparking fees.
lol nickel and diming Victoria, as per usual the airport station should be underground full stop, to free up land for further development around the airport, anything else is shortermism
At this point they should set a date for the parties to come to an agreement on the station. If they cant come to an agreement one should be forced by the government thats funding the project. Its an embarrassment
If Airport station is above ground, how will the extension for Suburban Rail Loop be built around that airport?
Forget the train, I’m excited that Southwest now flys into Melbourne. 😒
The airport doesn’t genuinely care if the station is underground or above ground - they’re just looking for every single excuse to delay the project to keep their parking income going for as long as possible. Just use eminent domain laws to tell them to f#%k off. It’s a national embarrassment this project has taken so many DECADES.
We already have a freight rail line that passes outside thr airport. No need for anything fancy. Just use this line and be done with it. A special underground line is a ridiculous waste of public money. Scrap the airport rail link!
Who said the whole line has to be underground?? Make it skyrail until the last half a kilometre, then take it underground.
@@simont6337 No way. It basalt out there.
@@mjcats2011 I thought that too but given that the "powers that be" have considered a tunnel maybe they know something that us lesser mortals don't.
Your stock footage of Perth is quite dated - BHP Billiton hasn't existed since 2018 and they updated their logo since as well as several new buildings and the Rio building going to charcoal
Yeah it's an old photo of Perth..no Ritz Carlton or chevron tower
In the opening comments, High Speed Rail to Geelong ! Geelong already has high speed rail or at least it would have if every train didn’t stop at every station and that’s kind of one of the problems with the airport rail link, what suburbs is it going to serve ? My suggestion would be none of them ! Flinders st & Southern Cross to serve the CBD and express to the Airport via Sunshine, which could be an interchange for Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong.
If a rail link isn’t quicker than the sky bus then it’s a waste of time and money.
The federal government should step in and say elevated station at the airport, elevated line to link with the closest existing rail corridor and give airport trains express priority with trains running at 30 minute intervals.
Reality is this should have happened 20 years ago, it’s called planning for the future instead of playing catch up.
Geelong needs a dedicated high speed train which runs express from cbd to cbd.
Sorry but that is all nonsense. Why spend so much coin for an express service? So that people can catch the train to the airport and sod everyone else? Why not build just a bog standard metro line utilising the mainly mothballed broad gauge freight infrastructure and build stations at Sunshine North and Airport West to serve local airport workers.
And Geelong does not need a High Speed Train. That is ridiculous.
@@mjcats2011 starting at and including Flinders st yeah make it 15 station line that’s what like 45 minutes ? Uber taxi and the bus is quicker
@@davidblowe9096 The point is that it should not be just about speed to the Airport. What about local workers? Hell, people are willing to take an all stopping Craigieburn service to Broadmeadows and then the 901 Bus. If they want to build an express service just because it is going to the blasted airport costing lots, I would rather they NOT build it.
Bog standard metro costing $4 to $5billion Serving Airport West and Sunshine North as well as Keilor East.
If the government wasn’t wasteful they would be using boring co to build tunnels direct for a metro.
Hi,
Where can I follow up the Rail project? I'm planning to move to Mambourin for our first home and sales agents are telling us that there's an new train station at Mambourin. But I couldn't find any information.
Why Melbourne has not extended the Airport West Tram lines into the Airport Taxi banking area already id long beyond understanding AND it would be quicker and cheaper to build, cheaper to run and guaranteed to be popular IF they were smart enough to make ticketing easy to access at the airport
Because it would be part of the Legacy Tram Route 59, which takes upwards of 50 mins to get to Airport West. And much of the route is in shared traffic.
I came across information years ago that an underground railway station already exists at Tullamarine Airport or the facility for it exists, is this true?
The airport doesn't want the railway. A large slice of their revenue is parking and taxi access levies. Any way they can stall or damage the business case for the rail link they will try.
Just review the airport licence, its not as though they have been the best corporate citizens.
Housing availability are you serious there is 60 high rise apartment blocks empty after 5 years of building
Federal Government should nationalise the airport again.
Yes they should, but the Libs will only sell it off again if they ever get back in power.
Thanks for providing this update. However, I am still wondering: is there an agreement with the Melbourne airport authority yet, and whether the final approach is above or below ground? It sounds like one of several hurdles is cleared but other hurdles remain…
Still not used to Dan not being premier lol
It’s hilarious reading the Comments against the airport authority and nobody understanding they are a federal body; this is purely about state v fed and who is going to pay
The Sunshine station hub should be scraped , Build underground tunnel under airport and connected Sunbury line on West side and Broadmeadows line East side done. Metro and Express trains can use it either way from Southren Cross Station. Look at Sydney and Perth all are Tunnel to Airport,
Buddy, absolutely not. Perth and Sydney Stations are far closer to the CBD than Melbourne's. Sydney's was built as relief for the East Hills and Main South lines via Sydenham. Perth Managed to keep costs down by repurposing the Unused Car Park.
The Sunshine corridor has a lot of Unused Broad Gauge Freight Infrastructure that can be reused to keep costs down. Why spend a lot of unnecessary coin building direct tunnels into the CBD?
Good point and i think project is still idle for more few years@@mjcats2011