Infrastructure experts are split on the Victorian government's plan to build an orbital train link through Melbourne's middle suburbs. Some experts say the project will address population growth and spur economic development near the train line. Others say the project will cost too much and siphon funding away from housing, health and education
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Across Melbourne's east, digging and drilling is well underway, on stage one of the largest
00:07and most expensive infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Australia.
00:11Boring on the twin train tunnels starts here next year.
00:15The sheer size of the rail loop linking Melbourne's suburbs is matched by the price.
00:19The first leg between Cheltenham and Box Hill will cost at least $34 billion alone.
00:25It's a gigantic investment, but experts are torn on whether or not it's a good idea to
00:29build an orbital train line through Melbourne's suburbs.
00:33I think the project is a bit visionary.
00:35It's a tomorrow project, enabling us to deal with crippling traffic congestion and changing
00:41the urban development profile of Melbourne to make it much more liveable.
00:45If we're going to be the size of Tokyo, we have no choice.
00:49It's going to transform the nature of Melbourne, and the bit that I really like about it is
00:53not so much what's happening below ground, it's all of the housing and retail and other
00:58development above ground.
01:00It might be a good idea conceptually, but when you take account of the enormous cost
01:07of the first stage of it, let alone subsequent stages, it's hard to say that the benefits
01:13of it will exceed those costs.
01:16And that's the biggest problem for the so-called SRL.
01:20It's the eye-watering cost.
01:22Victoria is going to pay a third, and that's going to drive state debt up to $188 billion.
01:28Interest payments on debt are $26 million a day.
01:32It means that an increasing proportion of the taxes which Victorians pay, and the grants
01:37which Victoria gets from the federal government, are being used to pay interest rather than
01:43to provide health, education, policing, child protection and other services.
01:48Victoria is the most indebted of all the states, so we don't have a feasible plan to pay for it.
01:53If we choose to do this project, we do without a lot of other projects that might be higher value.
01:59So it's going to crowd out things like Geelong Fast Rail, Melbourne Airport Rail, because
02:05the government simply can't afford them all.
02:07Even those excited by the concept are conscious of the cost.
02:11The government's got to keep a lid on the costs and make sure that other high-priority
02:15investments are also made, be they in public transport or other fields.
02:20To get new trains on tracks, the state has asked Canberra to stump up a third of the cost.
02:25But Infrastructure Australia is still assessing the case.
02:27It means that federal funding for this project will be a hot topic at next year's federal election.
02:33Hi, I'm Jacinta.
02:34Regardless, the state has already signed contracts worth $7.5 billion.
02:38I don't think it's a good idea.
02:40I think if it was a good idea, the government would have told us why it was, and it hasn't
02:45really done that, and it would have told Infrastructure Australia why it's a good idea.
02:49And with so much labour and capital tied up in the project, even those that are supportive
02:53are urging the government to pump the brakes.
02:55Let's say they push it out to 2038.
02:57Is that really going to matter?
02:58But what it will do, it will free up some of the resources to be redeployed elsewhere
03:02where it's needed right now.
03:03There's also disquiet among some Labor MPs about the merits of the project.
03:07But those at the top are unwavering.
03:10There's no turning back.
03:11We're not for quitting.