Community feedback

In late 2020, RPV began talking to the community and finding out what you had to say about Melbourne Airport Rail. Our engagement has happened in three phases:

Phase one

December 2020 – March 2021

We asked local communities what was important to them and what they to identify opportunities for improvements as part of the Melbourne Airport Rail project.

Phase two

June 2021 – October 2021

We sought community feedback on key elements of the Melbourne Airport Rail project scope and potential construction impacts, with the aim of incorporating and addressing concerns in design and construction approaches.

Phase three

December 2021 – February 2022

We encouraged the community to provide further feedback about planning and environment matters, as well as gathering insights for walking and cycling opportunities that can be potentially included as part of the project.

How we have engaged

RPV has engaged with as many local communities and stakeholders across Melbourne as possible over the past three years, with face-to-face opportunities, online surveys and online briefings supported with newsletters, fact sheets, virtual information sessions, social media and website updates and letterbox drops to the local areas.

Every piece of your feedback – from pins on a map to ratings of importance through to individual comments – is helping plan and design Melbourne Airport Rail.

From over 5,500 individual comments and over 3,600 survey responses, community and stakeholder feedback has been used to shape the design and construction methodology for Melbourne Airport Rail, including:

• refinement of the design of the flyover at Albion, and updated the design requirements for the delivery partner
• changes to the placement of shared use paths at the Western Ring Road and Albion
• updates to the design of the new bridge over the Maribyrnong River Valley to further reduce any potential environmental impacts.

What’s next?

In the second half of 2022, construction will begin on Melbourne Airport Rail*. As the project progresses, there will be many opportunities to share your local insights.

There are seven works packages associated with Melbourne Airport Rail, which will have varying delivery partners. Once a delivery partner has been awarded a package of work, there will be further consultation on how the design of the project may have changed and how it is progressing towards construction.

We look forward to sharing these designs when they are available and will invite the community to participate in future consultation phases as they happen.