Melbourne Airport supports an above-ground station for the proposed airport rail line to ensure the public transport link is in place for the millions of additional passengers that will use the gateway when the third runway is opened.

Melbourne Airport is working constructively with both the state and federal governments to ensure this important piece of infrastructure is delivered for Victoria.

The airport currently welcomes around 100,000 passengers a day and is the largest employment hub outside of the Melbourne CBD. More than 210,000 passengers will use the airport every day in less than 20 years and the expanded airport is forecast to add $5.9 billion to the state economy every year and support 51,000 jobs.

Melbourne Airport will spend about $3 billion building an additional north-south runway to accommodate more than 76 million passengers by 2042. It will take more than four years to construct the third runway and employ more than 500 people during construction.

Date: 20 March 2025

MELBOURNE AIRPORT RAIL LINK MOVING AHEAD

The Melbourne Airport Rail Link (MARL) project has taken a big step forward today with the agreement of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) reached between the Albanese Government, Allan Government and Australia Pacific Airports (Melbourne) Pty Ltd.

The MoU means all three parties have committed to work together to commence delivery of MARL and will establish a Steering Committee led by senior officials from each organisation to progress this project. 

With this understanding, all parties will work collectively, in good faith, to finalise the path to construction and deliver this important project for all Victorians.

The MoU is the next step in delivering MARL and builds on the recent decision to kick start works on rebuilding Sunshine Station.

MARL remains an important project for Victoria, which is why the Albanese Government brought in an independent mediator last year to ensure continued progress.

With an agreement to proceed with an above ground station, we have since been acting on the mediator’s recommendations including the work at Sunshine Station.

Rebuilding Sunshine Station is essential to enable services to the airport and Keilor East, with the project set to untangle six kilometres of track between West Footscray and Albion to cater for freight, metro trains and 70 per cent of the V/Line network – while also paving the way for future upgrades in the west.

Today’s announcement is another signal of our joint commitment to progress this project following the Albanese Government’s recent $2 billion additional investment and the Allan Government bringing forward funding to enable works at Sunshine Station.