Melbourne Airport supports above-ground railway station
Melbourne Airport will support the creation of an above-ground station for the airport’s proposed rail line, part of a wider initiative to prepare for the extended capacity a third runway will bring.
Although the airport had previously “consistently advocated for an underground station,” its management are prepared to compromise “to ensure we have more transport options in place for the millions of new passengers that will visit Victoria and the airport precinct’s expanding workforce,” explained Melbourne Airport chief executive officer Lorie Argus.
Airport officials now welcome the “immediate recommencement of discussions with government over the airport station with an initial focus on its design, the sequencing of construction works and redress for the land required for the above ground option”.
Argus added that “with an estimated 45 million travellers a year predicted to be using our airport when the third runway opens, the rail link will support a massive increase in passenger numbers and billions of dollars in additional economic activity for Victoria”.
Plans for an approximately 3,000m long third runway have been under discussion since 2013, although an initial east-west orientation was superseded by a north-south configuration in 2019. The development plan is currently before the Federal Government for review, although Melbourne Airport states that following a four-year construction timeframe, the $3 billion runway development will accommodate more than 76 million passengers by 2042.
Growing exponentially from its inauguration in 1970, Melbourne Airport currently welcomes around 100,000 passengers a day, a figure set to more than double in less than 20 years.
