New 15km Melbourne rail tunnel project ‘riddled with risk’

Melbourne is set to get a new 15 kilometre rail tunnel under the Yarra River within two decades.

The Metro 2 project will link Melbourne’s west to the north-east, and is estimated to cost between $22bn and $29bn.

Transport and cities program director at the Grattan Institute, Marion Terrill, says the project, which includes two crossings under the river, is “riddled with risk”.

“These sort of projects are fraught with risk and all sorts of things do go wrong with them,” she told Ross and Russel.

“These sort of projects, where the initial cost estimate is $1 billion or more, have a cost overrun almost half the time and the average increase in cost is 30 per cent.

“I’d be astonished if it came in at $22bn to $29bn.”

New underground rail stations would likely be built at Newport, Fishermans Bend West, Fishermans Bend Sandridge and Southern Cross as part of the first stage of the project.

The tunnel promises to cut trips from the CBD to western suburbs such as Laverton by 10 minutes, and would enable faster Geelong services.

The route for the second phase of the project has not yet been set.

Press PLAY below to hear why Marion Terrill thinks the project is “riddled with risk”