Project Owner: To be announced

Budget: $3.6 Billion

Stage: Publicly announced

Commencement: 2018

Jobs: Up to an estimated 23,000 jobs by 2033

The State Government of Victoria has committed to the planning and building of a new airport rail link in its upcoming state budget after almost a decade of debate.

Melbourne Airport is located in Victoria, Australia. It is one of Australia’s major international entry points and caters for over 28 million air passengers each year.

The new, electrified rail link will replace Melbourne’s SkyBus, and in turn will see services leaving every 10 minutes from Southern Cross Station to Melbourne Airport.

It will be no longer than 19 km long, meaning it will take less than 25 minutes, which in turn will be shorter travel time than the current form of public airline transportation, The aforementioned SkyBus. This will be to cater for over 60 million passengers who are set to travel in the next 20 years, a significant growth in comparison to previous time periods.

This project is estimated to cost up to $3.6 billion dollars. $6.5 million dollars was allocated from the 2012 state budget. A detailed design and plan is currently being undertaken to identify whether a Metro or Vline route would be more effective.

This will open up a world of opportunities for job seekers. Melbourne Airport itself generates approximately 14,300 direct jobs and 43,000 indirect jobs, making the site and surrounding areas an important employment cluster for people living in the surrounding area.

With this project in place, the employment for the Melbourne Airport and surrounding areas is projected to grow to up to 23,000 direct jobs.

The final design for this project will be completed in the next 18 months, pre-production in 2017 and the construction of the full project to be started at the end of 2018.

Although the rail way line is estimated to finish in 2026, the project itself will not begin operating until approximately 2033.

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