A fresh federal government push to revive the abandoned East West Link tollway through central Melbourne has been rebuffed by the Andrews government which says the road has been rejected at two elections.

Federal Cities Minister Alan Tudge has called for a fresh business case for the politically-charged infrastructure project, and wants Victoria to foot the bill for the exploratory work, saying the original business case – compiled in 2013 – is outdated.

Federal Cities Minister Alan Tudge. Credit:Eamon Gallagher

But the state says it is not interested, with Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan saying the Victorian government is “focused” on its own massive road building program and has no interest in revisiting East West, which Labor controversially dumped after winning the 2014 state election.

Mr Tudge was applying pressure to his state counterparts on Sunday and Monday, calling for an update to the business case for the road to take into account the growth in the city’s population since 2013 and two of the other major road builds under way: the West Gate Tunnel and the North East Link.