How often have you travelled over to Melbourne (quite possibly to enjoy a concert in the live music capital of the world), only to realise you’re SOL in regards to transport once you step off the plane? Well, there is potentially some good news on the horizon, with plans for a rail link between the city and Melbourne Airport.
As it stands, once you step off a plane at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport, the only way to get yourself into the city is to take a taxi, Uber, or the SkyBus, which is all well and good until you realise you’re paying way more than you have to for a cramped trip into the CBD with the added features of no air conditioning and the traffic, oh God, the traffic.
However, as Junkee reports, the Federal government have now pledged $5 billion towards a new rail link between the city and airport, and are calling on the Victorian government to front the remaining $5 billion for the project.
“Other great cities, most great cities with big airports, have railway linkages,” said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of the new project. “Melbourne has been left behind by failures to make decisions about investment in this railway.”
Mr. Turnbull explained on 3AW that even if the project reaches its funding goal, construction wouldn’t begin until at least 2020, meaning that once Melbourne finishes building their new Metro Tunnel, they can get right to work on the new rail link.
So who knows, maybe if you decide to visit Melbourne sometime in the ’20s (okay, that sounds really weird to say), you might find yourself with a much easier ride into the city than millions before you have experienced.
