Melbourne Airport Rail Stage 1 and 2 are now underway between West Footscray and Keilor East. The projects will delivering new and upgraded stations at Tottenham, Sunshine, Albion and Keilor East.
Stage 1 of the project includes new and upgraded track and signalling between West Footscray and Albion, the Sunshine Station transport superhub and new stations at Tottenham and Albion.
Stage 2 includes building a 7.4km rail line from Albion to Keilor East and a new station at Keilor East.
Construction is underway on Stage 1, while site investigations will start this year for Stage 2, with trains running from the new station at Keilor East to the CBD via the Metro Tunnel in 2031.
Getting on with this work now is critical for a rail to Melbourne Airport.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Australian and Victorian governments, and Australia Pacific Airports (Melbourne) Pty Ltd, the operator of Melbourne Airport, with the 3 parties working together to progress the planning of a rail line to the airport.
Melbourne Airport Rail route
The Melbourne Airport Rail route, will be built along the existing Albion-Jacana freight corridor between Sunshine and Airport West. The tracks will divert off the freight corridor crossing the Western Ring Road (M80) and head towards the airport following Airport Drive, before arriving at a new premium train station at Melbourne Airport.
The Melbourne Airport Rail Business Case shows the significant benefits the project will bring – better connecting people in Melbourne and regional Victoria to the Airport and the world.
The Strategic Appraisal (PDF, 749.5 KB) found that the Sunshine route performs better than other route options that were considered.
This route provides improved connections to more areas of Melbourne including the Metro Tunnel as well as better connections to regional Victoria via the Sunshine Superhub.