Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says a ‘ring road’ of rail around Melbourne will take 200,000 cars off the city’s congested roads.
An underground, 90-kilometre ring of passenger rail around Melbourne is the big, bold announcement upon which Premier Andrews will build his 2018 election campaign, after the Labor Party unveiled the $50 billion project on Tuesday morning.
The Andrews Government is calling the Suburban Rail Loop “the biggest public transport project in history”.
The Loop will carry 400,000 passengers each day, taking thousands off existing citybound trains, the Government said.
It will also take 200,000 vehicles off Melbourne’s roads, according to Labor.
The Loop will be a new underground rail network connecting every major rail line from the Frankston line in Melbourne’s south-east, to Werribee in the west.
In a video posted to Andrews’ Facebook page, the Government said the project would provide 20,000 jobs during construction.
The current route for the proposed line begins near Cheltenham on the Frankston Line, heading to an interchange with the Cranbourne-Pakenham Line at Clayton.
The loop would then move to a new station at Monash, before continuing to Glen Waverly (the terminus of the Glen Waverly Line) and then onto Box Hill via another new station at Burwood.
From Box Hill, the loop would intersect with the Hurstbridge Line at Heidelberg, but not before passing through a new station at Doncaster.
Another new station would be built at Bundoora, before the loop then extended to Reservoir on the Mernda Line, and then Fawkner on the Upfiled Line.
The loop would then move to Broadmeadows, before extending to a new station at Melbourne Airport – presumably intersecting then with the planned Melbourne Airport Rail Line.
From there it would continue with an interchange at Sunshine, before reaching its western terminus at Werribee.
“The Suburban Rail Loop includes connections to major jobs precincts, universities and TAFEs, hospitals and retail centres,” the Government said.
The project would also see new regional rail interchanges built at Sunshine, Broadmeadows and Clayton, “to better connect regional commuters to every corner of Melbourne without having to travel into the city”.