It’s a $4 billion rail ‘superhub’. But these passengers will watch it pass from the train window

2 hours ago 3

Rail passengers from Victoria’s north-east will be denied easy access to the new Metro Tunnel and future Melbourne Airport rail link due to a decision not to rebuild a platform at Sunshine as part of the $4 billion station upgrade.

V/Line trains on the Albury line and XPT trains from NSW pass through Sunshine station en route to Southern Cross but have not been able to stop there since a platform on the standard gauge line was removed in 2004.

The Albury line serves Albury, Wodonga, Chiltern, Springhurst, Wangaratta, Benalla, Violet Town, Euroa and Avenel.

The state government has confirmed that reinstating the platform is not part of the $4 billion Sunshine “superhub” redevelopment, which will prepare the congested junction for the airport rail link and the extension of Metro train services to Melton.

Passengers on the Albury line and NSW XTP trains will be unable to transfer at Sunshine even after its “superhub” upgrades, unlike those on the Geelong and Ballarat V/Lines (pictured).

That means passengers cannot transfer at Sunshine onto Metro trains bound for the new $15.5 billion Metro Tunnel – which the Allan government said on Tuesday would open in early December – or eventually use the Melbourne Airport rail link, due to open in the early 2030s.

Rail Futures Institute president John Hearsch said Albury line passengers travelling to the Metro Tunnel station at the university and medical precinct in Parkville would have longer and less convenient journeys with two transfers. The first would be at Southern Cross or Broadmeadows onto a City Loop train to Flinders Street or Melbourne Central, from which they would have to walk to the Town Hall or State Library stations to board a Metro Tunnel train.

Hearsch said transferring from the Albury line onto Geelong or Ballarat trains – which will continue to stop at Sunshine – would also mean travelling up to an extra hour to Southern Cross and back out through Sunshine.

“It just doesn’t make sense when they have got this $4 billion superhub that something as simple as that is not included in the project,” Hearsch said.

“The space for [the platform] is still there. It would be petty cash in the scheme of what they’re going to spend. We’ve never had a rational reason as to why they won’t do it.”

Sunshine has been earmarked as a future employment and services centre. The Age is strengthening its focus on Melbourne’s booming west with a series examining the positives and challenges the western suburbs of Melbourne face. Later this month, our reporters will moderate a West of Melbourne Economic Development Alliance’s (WoMEDA) summit to discuss a vision for the western suburbs’ success.

John Dunstan, of the Border Rail Action Group, based in Albury/Wodonga, said the inability to alight at Sunshine would become even more frustrating when the Metro Tunnel and airport link opened.

“It’s not a hub for us, let alone a ‘superhub’, because people on the north-east line will never get to see Sunshine,” Dunstan said. “They physically can’t get off there.”

The Allan government argues that even with airport rail, it would be quicker for Albury line passengers to get off at Broadmeadows and take the route 901 bus to Melbourne Airport, which takes 20 minutes.

But Dunstan said Broadmeadows was a terrible connection, with an exposed station platform, a series of Disability Discrimination Act non-compliant ramps, and suburban buses unsuitable for passengers with luggage.

“Then when you get to Tullamarine you’re plopped the furthest you can be from the terminals,” he said.

A spokesperson for Transport Minister Gabrielle Williams said the decision not to include a platform for Albury and XPT trains in the Sunshine redevelopment followed “extensive feasibility studies”.

“The project is prioritising critical infrastructure that will boost services and cater to the largest number of passengers – while delivering the best value for investment,” the spokesperson said.

The Suburban Rail Loop North, which is expected to open in about 30 years, would include a train connection from Broadmeadows to Melbourne Airport, the spokesperson said.

State opposition transport spokesman Matthew Guy said it “beggars belief that the government could spend $19 billion on new rail infrastructure and not get rail connectivity right”.

The omission of an Albury platform is the second major issue that raises questions about the planning of the Sunshine redevelopment, which is jointly funded by the state and federal governments.

The Age revealed in August that the redevelopment would shut a key rail freight route to the Port of Melbourne, which threatens to push thousands of tonnes of goods onto trucks and has also jeopardised a multibillion-dollar rail freight terminal planned at Deer Park.

The Metro Tunnel project forms a new cross-city train line connecting the existing Sunbury and Cranbourne/Pakenham lines via five new underground stations in the inner city.

Premier Jacinta Allan said on Tuesday the tunnel would open to passengers in early December, but for only five hours a day and with a limited timetable, before commencing full services on February 1, 2026.

The West of Melbourne Summit, presented by WoMEDA with The Age, will be held on October 22-23. For details go to womeda.com.au