Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is hopeful a Federal Government led by Malcolm Turnbull will contribute funding for the Melbourne Metro rail project.

Mr Turnbull will be sworn in as Australia's 29th prime minister today, after a political coup saw him reclaim the Liberal Party leadership from Tony Abbott.

The Victorian Labor Government, which came to power in November last year, had a fraught relationship with the Abbott Government, after a long-running dispute over the funding of transport projects in the state.

Mr Andrews came to power promising to tear up the East West Link road project, which the Federal Government had committed $1.5 billion in funding towards.

The Premier wanted to use the funding to help pay for the Government's other transport priorities, including the upgrade of Melbourne's train network.

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But Mr Abbott, who had campaigned in Victoria with former Liberal premier Denis Napthine, said the Federal Government would not contribute funding for public transport projects.

The multi-million-dollar Metro Rail tunnel project includes five new underground stations at Arden, Parkville, CBD North, CBD South and Domain, connected by nine kilometres of underground rail tunnels.

The project is expected to cost up to $11 billion, with major construction to start in 2018.

Mr Andrews said the State Government had already set aside $1.5 billion and negotiated a $3 billion bond agreement for the project, but he would still like a federal contribution.

"That's $4.5 billion - we think the private sector can be a really important part of this as well, but I would welcome a strong and significant financial contribution from the Turnbull government, in recognition I think of the new Prime Minister's clear sense that public transport is just so important," he said.

Mr Turnbull, a public transport enthusiast, regularly posts pictures of himself travelling on public transport across the country on social media.

Mr Andrews said he was hopeful this would translate to federal funding for Victorian projects.

"Any contribution would be welcome, a significant contribution is what's fair and reasonable and I do look forward to having a conversation with someone who's an undoubted fan of public transport," he said.

"But it's very important to be more than just a fan, you've got to provide support so that we can build an even better public transport system."

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Mr Andrews said the Victorian Government could not understand the outgoing-prime minister's opposition to funding rail projects.

The dispute over the federal funding included heated written correspondence between Mr Andrews and Mr Abbott and a demand from Treasurer Joe Hockey that Victoria give the money back, before the Federal Government promised $150 million to finish an upgrade of the M80 Ring Road in Melbourne's west.

"I don't think many Victorians could ever really understand why Mr Abbott and his Government were so opposed to a world-class public transport system in the world's most liveable city," Mr Andrews said.

"Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, New York and Paris, they can all do it, why wouldn't we do exactly the same thing here?

"We provided $1.5 billion in funding in this year's budget, that means all the planning, all the work that's necessary to get us under construction by the end of 2018 is fully funded."

Mr Andrews also said he wanted to talk to Mr Turnbull about the Murray Basin Rail Project and saving jobs in the defence manufacturing sector.

Opposition Leader welcomes Malcolm Turnbull's rise

The Liberal Party's fortunes have been flagging in Victoria, partly because of the collapse in the manufacturing sector.

Victorian Liberal leader Matthew Guy said Mr Turnbull would be a different kind of Liberal to Mr Abbott.

"I think Malcolm Turnbull is certainly going to be a different prime minister, and I think he'll be a prime minister for the times," he said.

Mr Guy said it was hard to tell if the switch to Mr Turnbull would boost the Victorian Liberal Party's chances of winning the next state election in 2018.