The Victorian government has unveiled plans for a massive underground rail loop that would link all Melbourne’s suburban lines, meaning passengers could travel across the city by train without first commuting towards the CBD.

In a social media video posted on Tuesday, the government announced the $50bn proposal – which it called the biggest public transport project in Australian history – would include 12 stations, including at Tullamarine airport, and potentially at Monash and Doncaster in Melbourne’s east, where rail links have long been mooted.

Construction on the project would begin in the latter half of 2022 and would be expected to be completed by 2050, the government said.

It would stump up $300m for a business case if re-elected at the November poll.

Responding on Tuesday, the Coalition opposition was lukewarm on the proposal, saying it “looks more like a plan for the next election rather than a plan for the next generation”.

The shadow treasurer, Michael O’Brien, questioned why the proposal had not been vetted by the independent statutory authority, Infrastructure Victoria.

The proposed train line would create a loop in the city’s outer suburbs, beginning in the sandbelt suburb of Cheltenham, in Melbourne’s south-east, before connecting the eastern suburbs of Glen Waverley and Box Hill, northern suburbs of Fawkner and Broadmeadows, with another station at the airport.

The project would involve laying 90km of new track and would end at Werribee in Melbourne’s outer west, the video said.

The government said 200,000 cars would be taken off the road as a result of the new rail line, which would service 400,000 passengers each day.

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT:

We'll build an underground suburban rail loop connecting Melbourne's train lines. It will get you where you need to go, wherever you live – and that's what our growing state needs. pic.twitter.com/7CCBr5GNlP — Daniel Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) August 27, 2018

The layout of Melbourne’s network means outer suburban commuters need to travel into a number of stations on the fringes of the city to change lines, meaning buses currently carry the bulk of passengers travelling across rather than into the city.

The project would link up with the proposed Melbourne airport rail line, which the state and federal governments committed to building earlier this year. Construction is already under way on the Melbourne metro project, which will add new stations to the city loop.

The premier, Daniel Andrews, conceded the project would take a long time, but said linking the city’s suburban train lines was “critically important”.

“Our train system is built at the moment based on everybody wanting to go to and from the city, and that’s just not the way our city and suburbs work,” Andrews told radio station Triple M.



“I won’t finish this project. It’ll take a long time. But if we’re re-elected I’ll be the one who starts it.”

Andrews later told reporters the rail line would be underground between Cheltenham and the airport, while sections of the link between Werribee and Tullamarine would be above ground.

Asked how it would be financed, Andrews said “any sensible federal government would look closely at this”.

He predicted there would be a “stampede” from investors in the private sector.

O’Brien said the government had “no business case” and “no engineers’ report”, and argued the project should be assessed independently.

“After all that’s why the Andrews government set up Infrastructure Victoria in the first place, to allegedly ‘take the politics out of infrastructure’,” he said in a statement.

“With some estimates suggesting it will cost between $50bn to $100bn and a completion date beyond the year 2050, this looks more like a plan for the next election rather than a plan for the next generation.”

Daniel Bowen, a spokesman for the Public Transport Users Association, said the project was “incredibly ambitious”.

“This is Big City thinking, and should be applauded, though who knows how much it will cost and how long it’ll take to build,” he said.

“But if they can pull it off, it’s huge, a game changer for the city.”