Premier Jacinta Allan has dashed hopes that Melbourne's long-awaited airport rail link could be opened by the end of the decade, despite the airport's operators backing down on demands for an underground station.
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00:00Ask jet-setting Melbournians and they'll probably tell you they want an airport train.
00:06It's definitely needed.
00:07Just having a train is a bonus for Melbourne because it's one of the only cities that doesn't have a railings.
00:15Above ground, underground, I think get it done, build it wherever.
00:19The State Government's plans to build that line have been held up by a dispute with the airport's operators who wanted the station underground.
00:25A position Melbourne Airport has finally abandoned.
00:28The time is now to compromise and accept the above ground solution so that we can get on and build this desperately needed airport rail link.
00:36The Premier was given the heads up late last night.
00:38Their position has only changed in the last 24 hours and that does not wash away the four years of delay that has been caused by their previous insistence that it be an underground station that costs time and money.
00:53Now the airport wants the rail link to be up and running by 2030.
00:56But the state used its May budget to delay the project by four years, meaning nothing will be operational until at least 2033.
01:04And the state won't budge.
01:06That they've acknowledged their unreasonable demands don't stack up are welcome, but they don't change the fact that we've lost four years.
01:14Jacinta Ellen is still digging her heels in and ensuring that airport rail will not be built.
01:19The state and Commonwealth have both committed $5 billion to the project.
01:24Melbourne Airport's backflip comes as it plans for a third runway and 45 million passengers a year, which needs federal approval.
01:31Any rail is better than no rail.
01:33Early work started, then stopped.
01:35The airport, a private business, also wants compensation for giving up land for the rail link.
01:41Now that's still something that clearly needs to be unresolved.
01:44The plans do include suburban stations in the northwest and one council has a very simple message.
01:50About bloody time, let's get on with it.
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