InfrastructureHudson FarrFri 02 Oct 26
Trains Roll to Keilor East by 2031, Melbourne Airport Will Have to Wait
Work on the second stage of Melbourne Airport Rail will kick off in the coming weeks, more than 60 years after a rail link to the airport was first proposed.
But the final connection to the terminal has no delivery date.
Victorian Premier Ben Carroll and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that Stage 2 would deliver a 7.4km rail line from Albion towards the airport precinct, including a new station at Keilor East.
It forms part of a $12-billion joint commitment from the state and federal governments.
“We’re building Victoria’s future, unlocking capacity to run more trains, more often, and ensuring we have a train line to Melbourne Airport,” Albanese said.
Site investigations, procurement and development works will start first, with community engagement and early designs to follow next year. Major construction is scheduled to start in 2028 and finish in 2031, when trains will carry passengers to Keilor East for the first time.
The line will run alongside the Jacana freight corridor and connect to the Metro Tunnel, using the same high-capacity signalling to support frequent services.
It will include a 500m rail bridge over the Maribyrnong River and 1.1km of elevated rail near Albion Station.
Keilor East station will have a carpark and bus interchange. The government estimates it will connect about 5200 passengers a day to the city, while the line is expected to carry 6600 passengers and airport workers an hour.
Stage 2 will proceed alongside the $4.1 billion Sunshine Superhub, the first stage of the project, which started construction in February.
Due for completion in 2030, it will rebuild Sunshine Station as a six-platform hub and untangle 6km of track between West Footscray and Albion, creating capacity for 1000 trains a day.
The works will allow more services on the Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo lines and pave the way for electrification of the Melton line.
The announcement did not extend to the airport. The Melbourne Airport Rail Steering Committee is still considering options for Stage 3, which will include an above-ground station in the airport precinct. There is no completion date or price tag for that third stage.
The project has a long record of delays. The Bolte government introduced a Bill in 1965 proposing a link between the Broadmeadows line at Glenroy and the new airport, years before Tullamarine opened.
A 1980s plan for high-speed rail between Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney included an airport stop, but also folded.
The current project was originally due to open in 2029. In April 2023, then deputy premier Jacinta Allan said that date would not be met because of slow and frustrating negotiations with Melbourne Airport, including how the airport would keep operating during construction.
A month later, the state government paused further contracting until the completion of a federal review of the national infrastructure pipeline. The federal government reaffirmed its funding commitment in November 2023. In May 2024, the Victorian government confirmed a four-year delay, pushing completion to 2033.
Melbourne Airport agreed to an elevated station rather than an underground one in July 2024. The government has since declined to commit to a timeline for the full project.
