Six million people a year would use train to Melbourne Airport

[Must...Fly!]

As already posted/linked here, just a loop line from Watergardens or Broady .

Neither of those are particularly realistic options due to capacity, particularly Broadmeadows.

 

[Hvr]

And here's the latest review review and funding proposal:

The Prime Minister has pledged up to $5 billion to help build the long-awaited rail link from Melbourne's airport to its CBD.

A Melbourne airport train line has been debated and planned for decades, but Malcolm Turnbull has declared his funding promise will ensure it becomes a reality.
Turnbull announces $5bn funding for Melbourne's airport-CBD rail link

 

[cove]

So it will get done by 2035?

 

[tgh]

Experiences create opinions.
1 Airtrain to bne domestic late morning weekday , maybe 10 max passengers on and similar returing.
Stopped all station , carriages were well abused but clean and quiet.
2 mid afternoon Air bus to Melb. Less than 3 min from carousel to front row seat upstairs.
Clean fast pleasant direct trip to Spencer St terminal

= my opinion ….Rail is a waste of money...

 

[jb747]

$5 billion...and wanting another $5 billion. Holy cow, you build an entire decent second airport for that.

Sounds like the NBN of railways.

 

[tgh]

These things are driven by ideology.
The business cases are constructed to meet the political and idealogical needs

 

[travelislife]

Experiences create opinions.
1 Airtrain to bne domestic late morning weekday , maybe 10 max passengers on and similar returing.
Stopped all station , carriages were well abused but clean and quiet.
2 mid afternoon Air bus to Melb. Less than 3 min from carousel to front row seat upstairs.
Clean fast pleasant direct trip to Spencer St terminal

= my opinion ….Rail is a waste of money...

Try the trip from city to airport pretty much anytime from 4pm-6pm....

And it’s ridiculous that the skybus isn’t part of the public transport system. The fare should be $5 and part of PTV. It would still be massively profitable. I love in Europe how public buses are available at the airports. And yes I know it is available at MEL with the bus to Broadmeadows then train, but very convoluted, don’t know why PTV couldn’t provide a direct city bus.

 

[travelislife]

These things are driven by ideology.
The business cases are constructed to meet the political and idealogical needs

With an economic assessment you have to include the lost productivity time. In MEL I generally have to leave minimum 2 hours before flight departs, 3 hours on a Friday afternoon. In SYD on the train I commonly leave the city less than an hour before departure.

I would argue all those lost hours sitting in traffic pretty quickly make the business case stack up. I know it wouldn’t on hard costs/revenue fare basis.

 

[Melburnian1]

travelislife, very good points.

Anyone who doesn't believe MEL needs an airport train must not travel to many other airports round the globe that have one, or indeed travel much on CityLink early in the morning at say 0630 or as you say 1600 - 1800 hours (and beyond) out to MEL. Plus getting into the city is no better by road. Congestion is now frequent.

 

[Dannyism]

OMG YES !
Please build this damn train what the heck has taken so long!!

 

[Dannyism]

1 bne.
2 mid afternoon Air bus to Melb.

OK. so. First of all, I'm not disagreeing with you or being personal. I don't doubt that you had the experiences you describe and that's fine.

However, refering to the experiences specifically. Brisbane.... Brisbane is a tiny city. The experience of taking the airtrain in Sydney? It's way busier, probably a better comparison.

Melbourne airbus in mid afternoon. Well, the experience of driving or taxiing from 6:30-9:30 in the morning or 3:30-6:00 in the evening? With the current roadworks? It's hellish. And as a solo traveller it's expensive. Have you parked at MEL carpark? it's expensive AF

 

[UP4014]

Two thirds of the money is land cost.

 

[travelislife]

Two thirds of the money is land cost.

Typical piss poor Australian planning! The land should have been acquired/set aside when the airport was constructed.

 

[UP4014]

Typical piss poor Australian planning! The land should have been acquired/set aside when the airport was constructed.

Agree, there is a narrow corridor off the standard gauge line which goes to the airport along Airport Drive, 7 km. But I'm guessing the powers that be including Skybus think it should be broadgauge like the rest of the Melbourne metro system which pushes up the price.

Putting it on the Standard gauge would also mean less train congestion as it has its own separate route into Spencer Street.

 

[Dalescott]

All the plan in the Herald Scum this morning, show it as a part of the existing network. The cheapest as an extension of the Broadmeadows line, the dearest as only a minimal part of the existing network. None show it as a stand alone line, from Southern Cross to Tulla Airport. To my knowledge most airport rail links are high speed and therefore direct to and not part of an existing network, I will stand corrected on this ?
My preferred choice is a maglev from Southern Cross direct to Tulla Airport . Fast, efficient, and a tourist attraction in it's own right.
A short chat to our Chinese friend in Shanghai, would be the answer. Both Financial and construction, I'm sure they would be more than willing to help.

 

[kookaburra75]

Experiences create opinions.
1 Airtrain to bne domestic late morning weekday , maybe 10 max passengers on and similar returing.
Stopped all station , carriages were well abused but clean and quiet.
2 mid afternoon Air bus to Melb. Less than 3 min from carousel to front row seat upstairs.
Clean fast pleasant direct trip to Spencer St terminal

= my opinion ….Rail is a waste of money...

Try the trip from city to airport pretty much anytime from 4pm-6pm....

And it’s ridiculous that the skybus isn’t part of the public transport system. The fare should be $5 and part of PTV. It would still be massively profitable. I love in Europe how public buses are available at the airports. And yes I know it is available at MEL with the bus to Broadmeadows then train, but very convoluted, don’t know why PTV couldn’t provide a direct city bus.

I was at an infrastructure conference last year, and there was a good presentation by the Rail Futures Institute on a future airport rail link - which was the first one I've seen that made sense, from economic and transport points of view. They were talking about going from Southern Cross to Sunshine, and then up to the Airport. That allowed people from the west to get to Sunshine and out to the airport in one go. Also if anyone wanted to head out to the east, they could change trains there, rather than going into Southern Cross. And the land corridors are clear.

Connected with the plan, was to bring the Melb-Sydney and Melb-Bendigo lines through the airport as well, so it could be used as a freight hub. I think that would make a lot of sense, and importantly, attract the funding required.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

I was at an infrastructure conference last year, and there was a good presentation by the Rail Futures Institute on a future airport rail link - which was the first one I've seen that made sense, from economic and transport points of view. .

Thank you, and that does make sense (and I work in infrastructure).

 

[serfty]

Earlier this year I decided to use Skybus from Spencer St to the Airport - 5pm on Friday afternoon. Cost $16.20 (10% discount).

The bus did not arrive at T3 until 6:05pm.

Last month on a Friday at 5pm, I tool a 5pm train Flinders St. to Broadmeadows and a 901 bus to the airport. Cost was moot as I had a 365 day Myki pass.

The 901 bus arrived T4 at 5:55pm.

 

[Isochronous]

The best airport trains I have experienced are at HKG and KUL. Copy either of those and MEL will be set. The joke that is the Tulla Freeway is a real disincentive to visiting MEL for me now; I almost missed my last flight from MEL because the traffic delayed the taxi horrendously.

 

[jb747]

The best airport trains I have experienced are at HKG and KUL. Copy either of those and MEL will be set. The joke that is the Tulla Freeway is a real disincentive to visiting MEL for me now; I almost missed my last flight from MEL because the traffic delayed the taxi horrendously.

You're looking at it the wrong way. The Tulla freeway is an extension of Melbourne airport's signature product. Car parking.