Receiving $3.2bn from the Building Australia Fund (BAF), about 35%, the Regional Rail Link was Victorias highest priority project submitted to IA. With works that will increase services and improve capacity across the V/line and metropolitan rail networks set to start at the end of the year, Premier John Brumby said that the Regional Rail Link will for the first time, separate Victorias regional and metropolitan trains.
Victorias budget the week before, started the delivery of the VTP, with the state investing $3bn to deliver new rail lines, more stations and new roads.
Nation building infrastructure
Treasurer Wayne Swan, in presenting the Federal Budget, said it has at its core, the biggest plan for nation building investment in infrastructure since the Snowy Mountains scheme.
There will be concrete, steel and fibre-optic links reaching out across the nation, creating new jobs and clearing new paths to recovery and prosperity in every community.
He said support for shovel-ready infrastructure had largely been provided. The centrepiece of this Budget is the $22bn we are investing in the infrastructure our nation needs to grow and prosper in the years ahead.
Highways in Central Queensland, the Hunter Valley, and up and down the east coast. Metro rail in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, and on the Gold Coast. Ports in the west, and the north and broadband right around the nation, beginning in Tasmania, he said.
Road, rail and ports
The Government will invest $8.5bn in Australias critical road, rail and port infrastructure needs. The projects reflect advice from Infrastructure Australia and will be funded from provisions set aside, including in the Building Australia Fund.
The government will invest more than $4.6bn in building and planning nine metropolitan rail projects:
$3.2bn towards a dedicated dual rail link from West Werribee to central Melbournes Southern Cross Station;
$40m towards planning, design and engineering works for Melbournes East-West rail tunnel linking Footscray with the CBD;
$365m towards a light rail corridor for the Gold Coast and $20 m for a detailed planning study into potential new corridors in Brisbane;
$294m to upgrade Adelaides Gawler rail line and $291m to extend the Noarlunga to Seaford line, in addition to $61m to extend the O-Bahn track in Adelaide;
$236m towards the central city section of the Perth to Fremantle rail line and the Wellington Street bus station to facilitate urban redevelopment in Perth; and
$91m for detailed design work of the Sydney West Metro, a new 25km rail line from Central Station in the CBD to Westmead Hospital.
Road network enhancements
Swan said a $3.4bn investment in Network, the road freight corridor between Melbourne and Cairns that includes the Hume, Pacific and Bruce Highways, would include:
$1.5bn for the Hunter Expressway, a new 40km dual carriageway road in NSW between the F3 at Seahampton and the New England Highway near Branxton;
$618m towards a dual carriageway bypass of Kempsey and Frederickton to the east of the existing Pacific Highway;
$488m to replace 25km of the Bruce Highway between Cooroy and Curra in Queensland with a better four-lane divided carriageway; and
$884m to upgrade the Ipswich Motorway from Dinmore to Goodna.
Swan said: This investment in major roads and rail, will help achieve our goal, of building a truly integrated national transport system. And we will also set aside $389m to invest in the capacity of our bulk commodity ports.
$50m towards design and engineering works for the Port of Darwins East Arm, that will improve port capacity and efficiency; and
$339m towards the development of common user facilities at the Port of Oakajee, north of Geraldton in Western Australia.
National broadband network
The governments plans to partner with the private sector to build a $43bn super fast broadband network, the biggest infrastructure project in Australias history, will be supported by an initial investment of $4.7bn. This will ensure our economy has a fast and efficient communications backbone for the 21st century, Swan said.
Clean energy initiative
The government will also invest $4.5bn in a new clean energy initiative, the critical infrastructure that supports low-emission technologies and creates low-pollution jobs.
It will establish Renewables Australia, a new innovation body to promote the development, commercialisation and deployment of renewable technologies.
Also it will establish up to four new solar flagship projects to demonstrate the viability of solar technologies.
Finally it will support projects that demonstrate carbon capture and storage on an industrial scale from coal-fired power stations.
Victorian budget
The week before the Federal Budget, the Victorian government unveiled a record $11.5bn investment in infrastructure for the next financial year through the combined investment of the state and Commonwealth governments, and state authorities.
Treasurer John Lenders said: This investment covers the full range of economic, social and environmental infrastructure Victoria will need over the coming years from water and sewerage projects to capital grants for government and non-government schools; from major transport projects to new and better hospitals.
Nearly $1bn will be spent re-establishing infrastructure destroyed by the February 7 bushfires. That is in addition to more than $300m donated by Australians and others from around the world.
Water authorities are investing $650m in the Northern Sewerage Project, which is building 12.5km of new sewer in Melbournes north, running from Reservoir to Pascoe Vale and Essendon.
Lenders said: Because most of the building action is below ground and because we dont much like to talk about sewerage its not an especially glamorous project. Even so, it is an absolutely critical project. Without it, the sewerage system will not be able to handle the 77,000 new homes likely to be built in the citys northern suburbs over the next 20 years and we will also be unable to protect local creeks and the Yarra River from sewerage spills.
He said the government was partnering with the Commonwealth to build a new 3000 home suburb in Melbournes west.
He said the budget also provided for the first tranche of the Brumby Labor Governments $38bn Victorian Transport Plan that will deliver the transformational rail, road and freight projects needed to underpin economic growth and support a growing population.
The budget provided more than $1.9bn for a major step-up in Melbournes public transport networks including the biggest boost to the citys rail network in 100 years, Lenders said.
The rail program would include:
$562.3m to extend the Epping line to South Morang;
$204.7m to electrify the Sydenham line to Sunbury;
$152.6m to build four new train stations in west and south-east Melbourne;
$60.8m in partnership with the Federal Government (contributing $480 m), for the grade separation of the Springvale level crossing in Nunawading;
$114m for metropolitan train station upgrades;
$8.8m for regional train station upgrades;
$132.1m for measures to improve reliability and capacity of rail services across Melbourne;
$650.6m for 20 X-Trapolis trains as part of the rolling stock investment program; and
$5m to commence the procurement of up to 50 new trams.
