The long-promised train to Melbourne airport appears to have hit yet another snag, after the prolonged and bitter standoff between Victoria and the airport that has delayed the line for years intensified, despite government-imposed mediation.
The train project – which would be funded by the federal and state governments – has stalled over the state’s insistence it would only finance a cheaper above-ground train station instead of the costlier underground option demanded by the airport.
In an attempt to settle the argument between the Victorian government and Melbourne airport’s owner and operator, Australia Pacific Airports Melbourne, the federal government appointed a mediator to determine a path forward on the project.
In his report delivered to the Albanese government, the mediator appointed to settle the long-running dispute, Neil Scales, “recommended against further commonwealth and state consideration of an underground option at this time”.
Despite this, responding to the mediator’s report, a Melbourne airport spokesperson said it would continue to fight for the underground station.
Scales’ report did recommend leaving the door open to the underground station option if the airport’s owners still “wish to progress” with it.
The report leaves the ball in the airport’s court to produce a “comprehensive business case” so governments “can examine the proposal in detail” if they are to be convinced to fund the more expensive option.
In the interim, Scales recommended that the federal and Victorian governments proceed with initial construction works on the rail line.
These include “no regrets” work at Sunshine station that could be built regardless of whether the airport station is above or below ground. The report said the works at Sunshine would “capitalise on the early works already completed for the Melbourne Airport Rail Link” before the project stalled.
Instead of committing to commissioning a new business case to convince the governments, the airport spokesperson said it would “leverage existing business cases that resulted in world class underground stations, including at Western Sydney Airport”.
“We remain consistent in our view that an underground station at the airport is the right solution for the traveller, the airport and the city,” the spokesperson said.
They said the airport would revisit such work in anticipation of approval of its third runway – itself a jab at the federal transport minister, Catherine King, over the long-overdue decision on the new runway that industry figures have been eagerly awaiting.
The airport also noted it had been working “in good faith” with the Victorian government on an above-ground station “until it abandoned negotiations in April 2023 and referred the project to the Federal Infrastructure Review” – a move insiders suggested the government took so it could delay the construction costs of the project to improve its budget position.
The Victorian government announced at least a four-year delay to the airport rail link project in its May budget.
In response to the mediator’s recommendations, Victoria’s transport infrastructure minister, Danny Pearson, said the report vindicated the government’s view that the airport’s “demand for an underground station does not stack up”.
“It will involve greater disruption, take almost two years longer to deliver and cost taxpayers billions more,” Pearson said.
The Transport Workers’ Union Victorian branch – which represents thousands of workers who have to commute to the airport each day – welcomed the recommendation for the above ground station, and called on Melbourne Airport “to stop being obstructionists so works can urgently commence”.
Melbourne airport and the Victorian government have been at loggerheads over a rail link to the Tullamarine airport – a project first proposed in the 1960s – for years.
Despite the state and federal governments each committing $5bn to the rail line in 2020, they had been unable to reach an agreement with the airport’s private operators over its demand for the more expensive underground station.
In May, Victoria’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, threatened to consider instead building a train station at the Avalon airport, which is closer to Geelong, if the four-year stoush continued.
The Victorian government had rejected a 2019 offer, as part of a consortium, to invest $7bn in an underground airport station and express tracks from Sunshine. But the government said that proposal would have been a “terrible deal” for Victorian commuters and taxpayers.
Melbourne is considered the most populous city in the developed world without a rail link to its main airport, with travellers to the city of 5 million residents forced to rely on buses, taxis or private vehicles.
