The Suburban Rail Loop Authority will support 24,000 jobs across Victoria and cost up to $34.5 billion according to the newly released Business & Investment Case study! The report says that this new line of the railway could help connect people with around 550k+ job opportunities for them in close proximity near their station as well as provide relief on overcrowded public transport systems – all while taking 600k car trips off roads or cutting travel times by 40 minutes once one direction has been traveled.
Architectural rendering of the new Suburban Rail Loop.
With a new 90-kilometre orbital rail line, strategic land planning and development initiatives planned for SRL Precincts – the 1600-metre zone around stations. The Business & Investment Case finds that these areas will deliver up to $58.7 billion in economic benefits with a BCR range between 1.1 -1.7.
The Victorian Government is planning some major projects to help solve the west metropolitan congestion problem. Planning work will continue on SRL West, which is expected to fully integrate with Melbourne’s record transport investments. This includes a number of major projects including airport rail and the suburban loop line project – all reaching completion by 2035 at an estimated cost between $30 billion to $34.5 billion across 14 years (SRL East). Community consultation has been underway since 2019; people have many opportunities for input into these processes in addition to formal planning stages through stakeholder engagement events like this one.