Melbourne Airport Rail Project moves forward after resolution of airport-state government dispute

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The path has cleared for Melbourne's Airport Rail Project after the long-standing battle between Melbourne Airport and the State Government came to an end. Reporter Mikaela Ortolan has more.

Transcript

00:00A long-standing dispute about the location of the airport rail link station has finally

00:08come to an end, with Melbourne Airport announcing that it will agree to the Victorian Government's

00:14preferred option of building the station above ground.

00:18Now it has been in dispute for quite a long time now.

00:21The Victorian Government wants to build the station above ground because it's the cheaper

00:25option and it would also see the project completed quicker.

00:29But the airport has maintained its position for some time saying an underground station

00:34would be better in terms of future proofing the airport.

00:38Now we heard from the CEO earlier today and here's a little bit of what she had to say.

00:43I think the compromise was necessary because equally we need to make sure that we have

00:47a rail link to the airport and those public connections are really important.

00:51So we need to prioritise the growth of the third runway.

00:54We need to prioritise the fact that we will have 76 million people in and out of this

00:58terminal by 2042 and we can't afford to be a few years down the track and still having

01:03this same conversation.

01:05The airport is still in talks with the Government and they're hoping that the project will be

01:10complete by 2030 now that they've come to this agreement.

01:14That will be in line with the airport's third runway opening.

01:18Now they said about 45 million passengers will come through Melbourne Airport once that

01:24third runway does open.

01:27So it's welcome news and hopefully we can see some work done sooner rather than later.

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