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Legislative Assembly
 
MELBOURNE AIRPORT RAIL LINK

05 March 2020
Adjournment
Frank McGuire  (ALP)

 


Mr McGUIRE (Broadmeadows) (17:39): (2029) My adjournment request is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure. The action I seek is an update on the landmark Melbourne Airport rail project. I want to acknowledge the minister for the work that she is doing right across the system, redesigning it—this is a big-picture vision—and attempting to deliver the greatest good for the greatest number. Within that what has been raised with me is a proposition to look at how we can deliver on the Melbourne Airport rail link and the Suburban Rail Loop and what that can actually do to connect up with the super-hubs that are proposed for Sunshine and Broadmeadows—obviously the closest to my heart—and Clayton, and how that will directly connect the growing employment precincts outside the central business district and deliver better access to jobs and services for Victorians.

I want to look as part of this update at a proposal that has been raised with me about the electrification of platform 3 at Broadmeadows station. This could actually increase capacity, because what is happening at the moment is that the Broadmeadows railway station acts as a de facto gateway to Melbourne Airport. People come from the city and from the country to the Broadmeadows railway station and then they get on a SmartBus service, the 901 route, and go to the airport. They are doing this for the cost of a Myki ticket, and what has been suggested is if we could have a look—and this is what would need to be explored with the minister and with her department and other officials—to see if there is a way we can leverage this proposition to get perhaps express trains from the CBD to Broadmeadows that then connect up with this bus option as a short- to medium-term option.

I think that this is part of what the Andrews government is doing. I want to thank the minister for the $14.3 million investment into the Broadmeadows railway station after we had the reverse Robin Hood of the one-term coalition government taking the money out and transferring that down the train line to Frankston, so that is deeply appreciated by the people I represent and me as the local MP. This is part of how we can deliver better infrastructure, connect people up and give them the strategy to also address increased population growth and place Broadmeadows as a key hub in Melbourne’s north.