Melbourne Airport is an incredibly busy thoroughfare, and the design of Melbourne Airport Rail, including a new station at the airport, has to consider a range of existing infrastructure and any future expansion plans of airport owners APAM.
Now that we’ve confirmed the Melbourne Airport Rail route between Sunshine and the CBD via the Metro Tunnel, we’re entering into more detailed discussions with key stakeholders – including APAM – to come up with the best design and determine the exact location for the new train station at Melbourne Airport.
The area from Sharps Road to Melbourne Airport is on Commonwealth land and subject to separate planning approvals processes.
The new station will accommodate a future connection with Suburban Rail Loop services.
Yes, we will build a new station at Keilor East, connecting more than 150,000 residents in the City of Moonee Valley area to Victoria’s rail network for the first time.
Some land acquisition will be required for the construction and future operation of Melbourne Airport Rail. At this stage we expect this to be limited to commercial properties only.
There is a Public Acquisition Overlay (PAO 7) in place in areas between Tullamarine and Sunshine to reserve land for a rail line. This was put in place in 2005, when landowners and tenants were notified of a possible future acquisition.
There is still a considerable amount of design work to do to finalise land impacts, including identifying properties required under the PAO, whether additional land outside the PAO areas will be required and whether properties are required permanently or temporarily as part of the project.
Some commercial properties need to be acquired for the delivery of upgrades around Sunshine Station.
We are committed to working closely with impacted landowners and tenants to keep them informed as planning progresses.
Melbourne Airport Rail services will run every 10 minutes, which equates to 6 services per hour with seamless travel to the heart of Melbourne’s CBD in around 30 minutes.
Melbourne Airport Rail will use the new fleet of High Capacity Metro Trains. These trains will be the most modern, highest capacity and passenger friendly trains operating on the Victorian network.
These bigger and better trains will have more carriages, better accessibility features, more hand-holds and more space than existing trains.
Passengers on the Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Gippsland lines will be able to access Melbourne Airport with only one transport interchange.
Melbourne Airport Rail trains will stop at Sunshine Station, connecting passengers from the key western regional centres of Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo. Running trains through the Metro Tunnel provides a direct connection to the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines allowing Gippsland passengers to access airport services through one interchange on that line.
