State loses bid on Avalon link: Rail plan left off federal funds list

BY JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
A PROPOSED Avalon Airport rail link has failed to win a place on Infrastructure Australia’s priority list for funding.
State Government will now have to resubmit the project with a revised business case to secure federal funding.
State Government submitted the $250 million railway proposal to Infrastructure Australia as a key project seeking $30 million from Canberra.
Infrastructure Australia’s priority list indicates projects the peak body believes have the best cost-benefit analysis. Federal Government established the organisaiton in 2008 to provide advice on issues including existing and future infrastructure requirements and financing mechanisms.
The Baillieu Government revealed plans for the Avalon link as a pre-election promise, along with a fuel line to the airport.
Other suburban rail projects were included on Infrastructure Australia’s priority list.
Curtin University Professor Peter Newman, an Infrastructure Australia board member, said Avalon needed a “plan” to win funding.
“It’s hard to justify the case for a railway to an airport. It has to demonstrate wider benefits,” Prof Newman said.
“The State Government will need to do a detailed study of this area. You need a plan before you get funding for infrastructure these days.
“The plan needs include an analysis of the value the project can deliver and how to tap into that value to help pay for it.
“Beyond planning for an airport link, it needs to demonstrate the broader strategy of why rail is needed.
“When you think that Tullamarine doesn’t have a rail link as yet, the case won’t stand up too well.”
Prof Newman said the Infrastructure Australia knock-back would not preclude the Avalon project from securing funding in the future.
Victorian Transport Minister Terry Mulder announced in March that State Government had allocated $3 million to planning and development of the Avalon rail link.
Mr Mulder said work, including technical, economic and environmental assessments and community consultation, was underway.
The state was seeking $30 million from the Commonwealth for the second phase of the project, he said.
The Infrastructure Australia priority list included a Melbourne International Freight Terminal.
The terminal has been proposed to handle container traffic through Port of Melbourne on a site that Melbourne’s wholesale market will vacate this year.
The terminal listing could threaten funding for an intermodal freight centre proposed for Lara, adjacent to Avalon Airport.