<section data-scroll-anchor="false" data-testid="conversation-turn-6" data-turn="assistant" data-turn-id="request-WEB:ca872054-bfe3-4cc5-a2c8-b373d4dfeafb-2" dir="auto">
A completed Castle Hill apartment development is returning to market with an uncommon level of financial backing, positioning it as one of the more secure options for buyers in Sydney’s north-west.

Skyview in Castle Hill, originally developed by Top Place and now overseen by capital partner <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/equitifund-group">Equitifund</a>, is being relaunched following a full remediation process. Central to its repositioning is a substantial financial reserve designed to provide ongoing protection and reduce uncertainty for incoming purchasers.

At the core of this offering is an $11 million bond secured during the project’s remediation phase, negotiated by former NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler. With less than $4 million required to complete the works, approximately $7.2 million remains in reserve, with around 15 years left on the term.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=147685 project_image_fid=359134]

Rather than a typical insurance-backed structure, the remaining funds are held as cash, creating a readily accessible financial buffer should any future building issues arise. The structure is intended to provide buyers with an added layer of certainty, differentiating the development from more conventional apartment offerings.

Equitifund Executive Chairman Greg Huxley said the structure provides a level of security not typically seen in apartment developments.

“The $11 million bond established for the Skyview Castle Hill development represents exceptional value, providing genuine financial security for purchasers,” Huxley said.

“Unlike a standard insurance policy, this bond consists of real funds held in trust for the Owners Corporation, offering a tangible layer of protection and added peace of mind.”

[smartcode_project:default project_id=147685 project_image_fid=359135]

The remediation process has now been completed in full, with no active rectification orders or outstanding directives linked to the project on NSW Government registers. This outcome reflects the broader tightening of building oversight across the state, while also highlighting the project’s transition into a completed, compliant asset.

In a market where many buyers remain cautious about apartment quality, initiatives like this are designed to restore confidence, giving purchasers greater certainty and a stronger sense of security in their investment.

Equitifund has since acquired the remaining apartments and is managing their reintroduction to the market. With the works finalised and a significant financial reserve in place, the project now presents with a markedly different risk profile compared to its initial release.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=147685 project_image_fid=359137]

Beyond the added security, the development is positioned in one of Castle Hill’s more established pockets. The Gay Street address places it within close proximity to Castle Towers, one of the country’s largest retail centres, as well as Castle Hill Metro Station, which now connects directly to the broader Sydney Metro network.

Equitifund National Sales Director Ben Hamblett said buyer demand in the area continues to be driven by access to transport and amenity.

“Interest from both owner-occupiers and investors in Castle Hill remains exceptionally strong, with buyers consistently prioritising developments in close proximity to the Metro station and Castle Towers Shopping Centre,” Hamblett said.

“There is a clear trend in the market, with purchasers seeking convenient access to transport and lifestyle amenities that support a seamless, low-maintenance way of living.”

[smartcode_project:default project_id=147685 project_image_fid=359145]

The apartments also enter the market at a relatively accessible price point for the area, with two-bedroom configurations starting from $995,000 and rental demand for similar stock reaching around $900 per week. This combination of pricing, connectivity, and completed status is expected to appeal to both owner-occupiers and investors seeking lower-risk entry into the Hills District apartment market.

For eligible buyers, a limited 3.50 per cent p.a. two-year fixed interest rate is currently available through Equitifund’s lending partners, providing an additional layer of affordability.

EquitiCredit Pty Ltd ACN 676 363 769 holds ACL 559289 and provides credit assistance. Finance is arranged through EquitiCredit and funded by its lending partners. Interest rates are subject to change and eligibility criteria apply. Terms, conditions, fees and charges may apply. This is not financial advice and should not be relied upon as such. Prospective buyers should seek independent financial advice.

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=147685]
</section>

Joel Robinson

Castle Hill apartments offering unmatched buyer protection through dedicated fund

A State-Assessed Rezoning Proposal for the Kurnell Peninsula is now on public exhibition, setting out a plan to deliver up to 4,300 homes alongside new retail, tourism and public open space on a 210-hectare coastal site.

The proposal, backed by the Minns Labor Government, would transform a former sand mining area along Captain Cook Drive into a mixed-use precinct delivered over approximately 20 years.

In addition to housing, the plan includes more than 7,000 sqm of retail and commercial space, new community facilities and approximately 116 hectares of open space, equating to more than half the site.

<img alt="Kurnell" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="ce1c6567-1df0-4de0-9fe5-a76be0367834" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-04-13%20at%209.11.51%E2%80%AFAM_0.png?VersionId=dbbTmYaJvROA5fkQbgaxis8cmFwtpB5_" />

<hr data-end="849" data-start="846" />
<h2 data-end="902" data-section-id="ony3l3" data-start="851">Rezoning framework enables mixed-use development</h2>

The rezoning application seeks to amend planning controls under the State Environmental Planning Policy (Precincts—Central River City) and the Sutherland Shire Local Environmental Plan 2015.

Its primary objective is to enable a broader range of land uses across the site, including residential, employment, tourism and community uses, while also formalising environmental protections and land management outcomes .

The proposal has progressed through the state-led rezoning pathway after being identified as a project of regional significance, supported by several years of technical studies and agency consultation .

Development would occur in stages, aligned with the progressive closure and remediation of the existing sand mine.

<hr data-end="1718" data-start="1715" />
<h2 data-end="1768" data-section-id="krwii9" data-start="1720">Master plan structured around three precincts</h2>

The accompanying urban design report outlines an indicative master plan that divides the site into three primary precincts, anchored by a town centre in the western portion of the site.

The town centre is planned as the first stage of development, located on land that has already been remediated. It is intended to accommodate higher-density housing, retail, and community uses.

<img alt="Kurnell" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="4bfd5873-4847-4105-b220-0a30c96f5573" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-04-13%20at%209.20.09%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=7aVaSsZLAc6mElSH4g6Ct5bGsNxZcnPL" />

Additional precincts extend toward Bate Bay and Boat Harbour, with built form responding to environmental conditions and proximity to the coastline.

The design framework identifies distinct local character areas, with the master plan structured to reflect “unique natural qualities” across the site.

<hr data-end="2495" data-start="2492" />
<h2 data-end="2544" data-section-id="1vitwqn" data-start="2497">Open space forms core of the design approach</h2>

A key component of the proposal is the allocation of approximately 116 hectares to open space and ecological land.

This includes:

<ul data-end="2846" data-start="2678">
	<li data-end="2702" data-section-id="d96caj" data-start="2678">Three district parks</li>
	<li data-end="2723" data-section-id="17y6uz6" data-start="2703">Nine local parks</li>
	<li data-end="2741" data-section-id="14hui00" data-start="2724">Sports fields</li>
	<li data-end="2778" data-section-id="ts7psx" data-start="2742">Coastal and ecological corridors</li>
	<li data-end="2846" data-section-id="agduax" data-start="2779">Two kilometres of publicly accessible beachfront along Bate Bay</li>
</ul>

The urban design report positions this open space network as central to the structure of the development, rather than ancillary to it.

It is intended to support ecological regeneration, provide recreational amenity and create a connected network across the peninsula.

The plan includes north–south ecological corridors, expanded wetland systems and pedestrian and cycling links designed to connect residential areas to the coastline and open space areas .

<hr data-end="3347" data-start="3344" />
<h2 data-end="3381" data-section-id="ql66rt" data-start="3349">Housing mix and affordability</h2>

The proposal includes approximately 4,300 dwellings across a range of housing types.

This includes high-density apartments, medium-density housing, townhouses and seniors housing.

Affordable housing provision is identified at approximately 240 dwellings, alongside a smaller component of social housing.

The master plan emphasises housing diversity, with the intent of accommodating a range of household types and age groups within the development.

<img alt="Kurnell" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="d4baba4d-b5b0-4a86-bcad-5d319b036184" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-04-13%20at%209.11.59%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=udYFz0q8tjEPR3pmKLHRSFRJN4dKakPO" />

<hr data-end="3877" data-start="3874" />
<h2 data-end="3919" data-section-id="rgckdv" data-start="3879">Built form controls and height limits</h2>

Proposed building heights across the site range from three to 12 storeys.

These controls are set out within the rezoning application and are intended to manage visual impact, maintain view corridors and ensure compatibility with the coastal landscape.

Floor space ratios and height limits are applied across different parts of the site to reflect varying environmental conditions and proximity to open space and the coastline .

Higher density is generally concentrated within the town centre, with lower-scale development toward the coastal edge and environmentally sensitive areas.

<hr data-end="4548" data-start="4545" />
<h2 data-end="4588" data-section-id="1minlda" data-start="4550">Retail, tourism and employment uses</h2>

In addition to residential development, the proposal includes retail, commercial and tourism uses.

This includes:

<ul data-end="4896" data-start="4706">
	<li data-end="4775" data-section-id="1jrun76" data-start="4706">Approximately 7,000–9,800sqm of retail and commercial floor space</li>
	<li data-end="4803" data-section-id="10kyifw" data-start="4776">A full-line supermarket</li>
	<li data-end="4830" data-section-id="fz1hdg" data-start="4804">Food and beverage uses</li>
	<li data-end="4896" data-section-id="1aqg2fj" data-start="4831">Tourism accommodation, including hotel and short-stay options</li>
</ul>

The proposal also identifies employment outcomes, with the development expected to support jobs both during construction and in ongoing operations.

These uses are concentrated within the town centre and key activity areas across the site.

<hr data-end="5142" data-start="5139" />
<h2 data-end="5172" data-section-id="162x2kt" data-start="5144">Infrastructure and access</h2>

The proposal includes upgrades to Captain Cook Drive, which provides the primary access to the peninsula.

These upgrades are intended to improve traffic flow and support emergency access.

The transport strategy also incorporates:

<ul data-end="5529" data-start="5407">
	<li data-end="5433" data-section-id="fanquy" data-start="5407">Internal road networks</li>
	<li data-end="5469" data-section-id="o6y80y" data-start="5434">Walking and cycling connections</li>
	<li data-end="5529" data-section-id="jgraft" data-start="5470">Proposed public transport routes and bus stop locations</li>
</ul>

The rezoning report includes detailed analysis of transport, flooding, and infrastructure requirements to support the staged development of the site .

<hr data-end="5723" data-start="5720" />
<h2 data-end="5769" data-section-id="14urh3" data-start="5725">Environmental and cultural considerations</h2>

The site is identified as having environmental and cultural significance, including areas of ecological value and Aboriginal archaeological sensitivity.

The proposal includes measures to protect and enhance these areas, including:

<ul data-end="6230" data-start="6004">
	<li data-end="6056" data-section-id="1pzyouo" data-start="6004">Retention and regeneration of coastal vegetation</li>
	<li data-end="6100" data-section-id="bjn2vz" data-start="6057">Strengthening of biodiversity corridors</li>
	<li data-end="6148" data-section-id="1bpeyoj" data-start="6101">Protection of riparian systems and wetlands</li>
	<li data-end="6230" data-section-id="lg0cka" data-start="6149">Integration of cultural interpretation and recognition of Indigenous heritage</li>
</ul>

The urban design report also outlines opportunities for incorporating Indigenous cultural elements into public spaces and landscape design.

<hr data-end="6893" data-start="6890" />
<h2 data-end="6908" data-section-id="w7rk5f" data-start="6895">Next steps</h2>

The proposal is currently on public exhibition, with submissions open to the community. Feedback received during this period will inform the Department of Planning’s assessment of the rezoning.

If approved, the rezoning would establish the planning framework for future development applications across the site.

<hr data-end="6893" data-start="6890" />
<h2 data-end="6908" data-section-id="w7rk5f" data-start="6895">What the NSW Government says</h2>

Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said the planned closure of the sand mine and remediation of the Kurnell Peninsula presents an exciting opportunity to transform the area.

“This proposal envisions a vibrant new beachfront community with thousands of new homes, jobs and great open space in the Sutherland Shire. I encourage the community to have their say during the public exhibition period. Feedback from the community will play an important role in the assessment of the proposal.”

Sydney's newest beachfront city: NSW Gov to unlock 4,300 new homes on Kurnell peninsula

A long-awaited transformation of a former industrial site in Holroyd has been given the green light, with the NSW Government approving the $1.2 billion Crescent Parklands masterplan that will deliver more than 1,200 new homes just south of Parramatta.

The State Significant Development approval clears the way for a large-scale mixed-use precinct at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/1-crescent-street-holroyd-nsw-2142">1 Crescent Street</a>, replacing an underutilised site with a coordinated residential community anchored by new open space, retail, and commercial uses.

Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/woods-bagot">Woods Bagot</a> for WA-based developer Tiberius, the approved scheme comprises seven buildings arranged across two precincts. In total, the development will deliver 1,227 apartments, including 201 allocated as affordable housing, alongside approximately 2,500 sqm of retail and 5,000 sqm of commercial space within a mixed-use podium.

<img alt="Tiberius’ Crescent Parklands to deliver 1,200+ homes in major Holroyd transformation" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="1cc82dd2-8184-4b86-8665-90653147820d" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Crescent%20buildings.png?VersionId=2ZmVDc_Rfc4AzQ6ShzZJlvdZnACLerVM" />

The project is structured as a masterplanned precinct rather than a standalone tower. Buildings 1 to 4 will rise from a shared podium with shop-top housing, while Buildings 5 to 7 are positioned closer to the northern park interface as residential flat buildings. The built form has been carefully modulated to balance density with amenity, with the design resolving building separation, solar access, and wind impacts at a precinct scale.

A significant focus of the design is the activation of Crescent Street and the integration of public domain. The submission notes that “individual townhouses [were] removed for community based functions to Crescent Street to increase activation and surveillance,” reinforcing a more urban and publicly engaged street edge. Retail, commercial tenancies, and resident amenity spaces are concentrated along this frontage and within the podium to support day-to-day activity.

The landscape strategy underpins the project’s identity, with a network of pedestrian connections, landscaped corridors, and open spaces linking the site internally and to its surroundings. The design prioritises permeability, delivering “increased uninterrupted flow between spaces for pedestrian access” and improved connections through to the adjoining parklands.

<img alt="Tiberius’ Crescent Parklands to deliver 1,200+ homes in major Holroyd transformation" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="19282454-ab2f-4e2c-866f-4b35cf4283d4" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Crescent%20masterplan.png?VersionId=JQdWGYI5B5R1lzmK4omYOp_8KLPkT4Bv" />

Buildings within the western precinct are oriented toward the park, shaping a residential offering defined by proximity to open space. The design describes this approach as creating apartments “immersed in nature with apartments facing the park,” positioning the landscape as a central organising element of the masterplan.

The broader architectural response addresses both infrastructure and context, with taller elements capturing long-range views toward Parramatta while setbacks and separation distances mitigate impacts on surrounding residential areas. Sustainability initiatives, including solar optimisation, cross-ventilation, and integrated landscape systems, are embedded across the scheme.

Located approximately one kilometre south of Parramatta CBD, the 3.6-hectare site is bounded by Crescent Street, Woodville Road, and Holroyd Sportsground. It benefits from strong access to public transport, including nearby bus routes and train stations, and sits within a rapidly evolving corridor earmarked for increased residential density. The design also strengthens connections between surrounding green spaces, including Holroyd Sportsground and Parramatta Parklands.

The approval follows several years of planning, including a rezoning process that enabled significant uplift in height and density across the site. With determination now secured, Crescent Parklands is positioned to play a major role in delivering new housing supply within Greater Parramatta’s growth area.

Tiberius’ Crescent Parklands to deliver over 1,200 homes in major Holroyd transformation

A new State Significant Development application has been lodged over land at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/33-43-marion-street-parramatta-nsw-2150">33–43 Marion Street</a>, Parramatta, proposing a high-rise mixed-use tower that leverages planning incentives to deliver a substantial pipeline of new housing, including a dedicated affordable component.

The scheme, currently on exhibition, combines a shop-top housing development with a concurrent rezoning, positioning the site for a significant uplift in density within Parramatta’s evolving southern CBD fringe.

The proposal, designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/fuse-architecture-0">Fuse Architects</a> for CN Marion, would replace the existing buildings with a 37-storey mixed-use tower, delivering 296 apartments above a retail podium with six basement levels on the 2,376 sqm site.

The residential mix comprises 58 one-bedroom, 207 two-bedroom, and 31 three-bedroom apartments, with communal facilities located on the second level and the rooftop. Ground-level activation is driven by retail and food and beverage tenancies, alongside a publicly accessible through-site link designed to improve pedestrian permeability.

The project includes 194 car spaces, five motorcycle spaces, and 348 bicycle spaces, reflecting a transit-oriented approach in a location directly adjacent to the rail corridor and within walking distance of Harris Park Station.

<img alt="First Look: Plans lodged for 37-storey mixed-use tower with affordable housing at 33–43 Marion Street, Parramatta" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="3db873ea-62f0-437b-8a6a-eeda154d2dee" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Marion%20building.png?VersionId=YwzBv8OVHwyRnMLGX4slU7QyhTyMZeOX" />

The design adopts a podium-and-tower composition, with a three-storey street wall addressing Marion Street and a reduced two-storey interface responding to adjoining heritage cottages.

A key component of the proposal is the integration of affordable housing under the NSW Government’s in-fill affordable housing pathway, with units to be retained for a minimum of 15 years. This is paired with a broader public domain strategy that emphasises permeability, deep soil planting, and a landscaped through-site link.

“The strategy prioritises a permeable, well-activated public realm and supports a compact tower form to minimise the building’s footprint while enhancing the quality of the ground-level experience,” the design report states.

The proposal includes a central landscaped courtyard, rooftop communal areas, and planting strategies aligned with local environmental conditions and cultural narratives.

<img alt="First Look: Plans lodged for 37-storey mixed-use tower with affordable housing at 33–43 Marion Street, Parramatta" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f0e6c165-9967-4d20-9216-e5b8357c85ba" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Marion%20site.png?VersionId=SRod222LwgDmGZJmJY0wTbK39UrWZLSD" />

The site occupies a prominent corner of Marion and Station streets, roughly 100 metres from Harris Park Station, within a precinct earmarked for significant intensification. While the immediate context is characterised by low- to mid-rise buildings and heritage dwellings, planning controls and recent proposals point to a transition toward high-density development.

<section data-scroll-anchor="false" data-testid="conversation-turn-2" data-turn="assistant" data-turn-id="request-WEB:c78224e4-1dd1-48ac-afda-97fe23bac47e-0" dir="auto">
Parramatta has been starved of new apartment supply in recent years. Builder-developers Deicorp and Coronation are the only two currently progressing projects in the suburb. Coronation is nearing completion of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/8-phillip-street-2-10-phillip-street-parramatta">8 Phillip Street</a>, which will be the tallest building in Western Sydney once finished, while Deicorp is delivering <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/cosmopolitan-by-deicorp-parramatta-34-hassall-street-parramatta-nsw-2150">Cosmopolitan</a>, a development comprising over 600 apartments.
</section>

First Look: Plans lodged for 37-storey mixed-use tower in Parramatta

A substantial uplift in height and density is being tested in Lane Cove, with a 225-apartment scheme at 300 Burns Bay Road now on public exhibition as a State Significant Development alongside a concurrent rezoning.

The proposal by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/level-33">Level 33</a> would see the demolition of an existing commercial building and associated structures, replaced by a residential development ranging from seven to 15 storeys.&nbsp;

The scheme delivers 225 apartments, including 34 designated as affordable housing, positioning it within the NSW Government’s accelerated Housing Delivery Authority pathway.

The development is arranged as three interconnected residential flat buildings, a response to the site’s long, narrow configuration and sloping topography.&nbsp;

<img alt="First look: 225-apartment Lane Cove tower proposal enters exhibition under State Significant pathway" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c325d40c-ead5-45f4-9d77-5a446b23acc0" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Lane%20Cove%20pers.png?VersionId=hsCJxT5hj.5kzA6AMInyan1x8mcHeRez" />

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/pbd-architects">PBD Architects</a>, the project’s designer, describe a built form that is “divided into three sections, each connected by intermediate infill slots which are recessed to establish greater setbacks and further articulate the development.”

Across the scheme, apartments are supported by communal amenity at ground and rooftop levels, including landscaped open space and a rooftop pool. Basement and lower ground levels accommodate parking, storage, and building services, while a new public park is proposed along the eastern edge of the site, replacing part of the existing built form.

The architectural response has been shaped by the site’s pronounced fall towards the Lane Cove River, with building heights stepping down from west to east to reduce visual bulk and respond to adjoining bushland.&nbsp;

The design report notes that “the development has been carefully designed to integrate with the existing topography with the placement of massing and floor levels adjusted respecting the site’s inherent characteristics.”

<img alt="First look: 225-apartment Lane Cove tower proposal enters exhibition under State Significant pathway" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="31cc13a5-bc8b-4dc3-b9b1-07c6ec33a82b" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Lane%20cove%20site.png?VersionId=NiyH3LimQwiHsE6Q7I5g4Grpr5fRdZaX" />

The project is being advanced through a concurrent rezoning process, seeking to increase the permissible height and floor space ratio beyond current Lane Cove LEP controls of 21 metres. Under the proposal, height would reach up to 54.5 metres, reflecting a shift toward higher-density outcomes in well-located urban areas.

Located on a 7,595 sqm site, the development sits within an established high-density residential pocket characterised by mid-rise apartment buildings set within a bushland setting. The site is within close proximity to Burns Bay Reserve, the Lane Cove River, and an extensive network of open space, reinforcing its strategic positioning for increased housing supply.

Level 33 is doing through the Housing Delivery Authority to try and get its Homebush project of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/level-33-adds-to-2-000-unit-pipeline-with-new-two-tower-homebush-plans">more than 300 apartments approved</a>.

The developer has over 2,000 apartments in the pipeline, predominantly in Wollongong.

First look: Level 33 proposes 225-apartment Lane Cove tower

Airports

<html><body>
Adelaide Airport will begin immediate construction on a $165 million expansion which will expand floor space, shopping and dining areas as well as expand international departure and arrival space.

Work is set to begin in earnest with the key focus of the expansion being on improving the passenger departure and arrival experience, <a href="https://www.adelaideairport.com.au/corporate/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/nr-terminal-expansion-14.6-final.pdf">a statement</a> from the airport says.

When the new terminal opened in 2005, Adelaide Airport gained a single terminal for both international and domestic flights.  Unique among the major capital airports in Australia (however Canberra has since joined Adelaide in this respect), some gates could be ringfenced and secured for international departures and arrivals or switched back for domestic use.

The new expansion will see this 'swing configuration' continue however a single gate - number 18 - will become a permanent international gate where the focus of improving international passenger facilities will be.

A second international baggage claim belt will be added in the international arrivals hall and a new common user premium lounge will be constructed.

Other improvements include relocation of the Virgin Australia lounge and an expansion of office space for airlines and regulatory authorities based at the airport.

<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SseeZna6lvU" width="100%"></iframe>

<blockquote>
Since we opened the existing terminal in 2005, our overall passenger numbers have increased by close to 50 per cent.

Our international passenger numbers alone have almost tripled over the same period. This extraordinary growth means we need to keep growing our existing facilities.

While we still have sufficient gate capacity to meet future forecast growth in the number of flights, we’re reaching capacity within the terminal.

This expansion will allow us to be fit-for-purpose based on our future growth forecasts.
<cite>Adelaide Airport Managing Director, Mark Young</cite>
</blockquote>

Virgin Australia's Group Executive, Rob Sharp, said: "the relocation of the Virgin Australia Lounge presents an exciting opportunity and we look forward to sharing more detail on our plans in due course."

The expansion is going to see a 'complete refurbishment of retail areas, resulting in a more than 80 per cent increase in the overall size of the terminal’s retail and dining precinct across domestic and international areas,' according to an airport statement.

Federal Government statistics show Adelaide's busiest domestic route is to Melbourne with 2 475,200 people flying between the city pair over the year ending March 31st, 2018.

This compares with Australia's busiest city pair, Melbourne-Sydney, which sees 9 191,700 passengers fly between the two cities.

For the year ending March 31st, 2018, Adelaide saw 985,748 people use the airport on international flights and if it continues to grow at the rate it did over the past 12 months, it could join the top 5 international airports in Australia within a few years.  Gold Coast is currently in 5th spot with 1,079,568 flying in and out internationally.

Watpac has been appointed builder for the expansion and work is set to be completed in 2021.

Lead image credit: Adelaide Airport.
</body></html>

Alastair Taylor

Adelaide Airport starts $165 million expansion

<html><body>
The advocacy group behind the 'AirTrain' rail vision for Victoria has called on the $5 billion to be allocated in the Federal budget to be deployed on a Melbourne Airport Rail Link that will benefit not just the city, but the state.

Citing the four routes from a 5-year-old study that was on display at the Prime Ministers press conference at the airport last week, the Rail Futures Institute says none of them include meaningful connections from the airport to regional areas.

Not impressed with a direct route via the Maribyrnong defense site - which the Federal Government owns and is actively looking to unload from the balance sheet - RFI says rail to Melbourne Airport would likely be delayed due to widespread decontamination works required.

<blockquote>
The Rail Futures AirTrain proposal is the only serious Melbourne Airport rail option that includes direct connections from the airport to regional rail lines.

Fully executed, AirTrain would link Tullamarine to the Bendigo and Seymour/Shepparton/Albury lines and provide an efficient interchange to the Ballarat and Geelong lines and the coming Melbourne Metro line at a newly expanded station at Sunshine.

All other metropolitan lines and the Gippsland line would connect at Southern Cross station.

Rail Futures’ proposal will provide dedicated airport trains with large luggage spaces running every 10 minutes, stopping only at Sunshine, and take 15 minutes for the journey – half the average 30-minute duration of other proposals.

Partly in-tunnel, the AirTrain railway would be an entirely new build that would not share tracks with much slower metropolitan trains.

“The best airport rail links are dedicated builds with minimal stations between the airport and the city,” Mr Hearsch said. 

“Many overseas airports also have regional trains stopping at the airport station. We envisage that Melbourne Airport will progressively become a major public transport hub, with both heavy and light rail connections, a tram extension from Airport West and a greatly expanded network of metropolitan bus services, providing serious alternatives to our current car dependency.”
<cite>Rail Futures Institute <a href="http://www.railfutures.org.au/2018/04/rfi-media-release-on-federal-governments-melbourne-airport-commitment/">media release</a>.</cite>
</blockquote>

The concept of a public transport hub at Melbourne Airport is gaining traction with some advocates calling for a more comprehensive ground transport plan for the area which would include projects like extending tram routes and creating new high-frequency bus services to areas not directly served by an airport rail link.

These areas that would not be served directly by an airport rail link are to Melbourne's middle-outer north, given that most rail alignment proposals are either running directly north-west from the city, swing via Sunshine in the west or use the Craigieburn train line. 

In the 'AirTrain' vision, people living in or traveling to the East, South East or South from the airport, broadly consistent with an arc sweeping from the Lilydale line to the Frankston and Sandringham lines, would use their local train service and then be able to make a connection to the new airport link.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/rfi_airtrain.png" rel="gallery-all" title="The alignment of RFI's 'AirTrain' vision"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="392" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/rfi_airtrain.png?itok=Ms7zK8gY" title="The alignment of RFI's 'AirTrain' vision" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>The alignment of RFI's 'AirTrain' vision</figcaption></figure>With an intermediate stop at Sunshine, people traveling on the Sunbury line, eventually an electrified Melton line, the Geelong &amp; Warrnambool lines as well as the Ballarat-Ararat/Maryborough lines will all be able to make a connection outside of the centre of the city.

Sunshine already enjoys a very high amount of accessibility on rail-based public transport - a Melbourne Airport Rail Link would increase this accessibility markedly to an area which at present has just under 15,000 jobs.

The Sunshine National Employment and Innovation Cluster <a href="https://vpa.vic.gov.au/project/sunshine-employment-cluster/">planning work</a> is set to facilitate both employment and diversified mixed-use residential growth in the region.

Lead image credit: <a href="http://www.railfutures.org.au/2017/12/hume-rail-corridor-presentation/">RFI</a>
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Rail Futures Institute calls on Melbourne Airport Rail Link to be built for all Victorians

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The Prime Minister this morning, at a press conference on the departures level at Melbourne Airport, announced the Federal Government will allocate $5 billion in this year's budget to kick start the construction of a Melbourne Airport Rail Link (MARL).

In last year's budget $30 million was allocated from Federal Coffers - and matched by Spring Street to the tune of $20 million - to pay for a study which would figure out a way to accelerate the rollout of the MARL.

That study is still underway and at a press conference, the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Federal Treasurer and Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, stood next to a map of Melbourne which depicted 4 possible routes the rail line might take.

Those routes were first foreshadowed under the Napthine Government in their MARL study - see a summary of that study <a href="https://static.ptv.vic.gov.au/siteassets/PTV/PTV%20docs/Feasibility-Studies/Melbourne-Airport-Rail-Link-Study-Overview-brochure.pdf">here</a>.

The State Government was apparently made aware of this Federal Government commitment via a letter sent to the Premier on Wednesday night, after the Federal Government dropped the story in the lap of some of the Herald Sun's press gallery journalists.

When the Prime Minister was pressed on this at the media conference, he responded with "oh well look its very important that Melburnians are enthused and engaged, we want everyone in Melbourne to have their say in this, we want this to be a project that enlivens and excites the whole city, the whole state".

The Federal Treasurer, Scott Morrison said that "this nationally important project for Tulla-rail will be the single largest infrastructure commitment in this year's budget and it'll be there for Victoria and the people for Melbourne and as the deputy prime minister I'm sure will say, well beyond the Melbourne [airport] precinct here".

The Planning work is still underway and despite standing next to a map which was devised five years earlier, no other information was divulged at the press conference - nothing on whether the study is taking into account the changes that are occurring to the Melbourne rail network, now that the city is in high growth mode.

Originally, the Napthine Government saw the Melbourne Airport Rail Link as an extension of the new Pakenham/Cranbourne to Sunbury/Melton metro line - there would be a Melbourne Airport and Rowville branch built in phase 3 according to the older network development plans.

On Tuesday the State Government announced what would have been a heavy rail line to Rowville is now a light rail line via Monash University, Chadstone to Caulfield.  

The Rail Futures Institute has been one external to government organisation that has long held a vision for the Melbourne Airport Rail Link that goes well beyond servicing just Melbourne and its airport, but includes a second phase that would pave the way for regional trains heading to Bendigo, Echuca and Swan Hill as well as Seymour and Shepparton to be completely separated from the metro network as well.

In a November 2017 speech to the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Geelong, the Premier hinted at the MARL would resemble something like the Rail Futures Institute vision with a focus on connecting the state, not just Melburnians to the airport.

"It can't just be an expensive funnel for tourists and businesspeople between the CBD and airport.  Instead, it can transform the way people live, work and travel across Victoria. In our view, the airport rail link has the potential to unlock western and northern Victoria."

The Rail Futures Institute's vision would see three tunnels - one from Southern Cross to Tottenham, another at Sunshine, and the last tunnel at Melbourne airport, where a second phase would then connect the airport to the Bendigo line at Clarkefield and the Seymour-Shepparton line at Wallan.  The Sunshine and Footscray tunneling segments would likely be approximately 10-11km in length with only one station at Sunshine.

The Federal Government, it has been reported, is more keen on a direct line from Melbourne via Victoria University in Footscray, Highpoint, the land it owns in Maribyrnong on the old arms manufacturing site and at Milleara and Buckley Street bordering Avondale Heights and Keilor East.  This proposal would require upwards of 13km of tunnels and 4 underground stations.

At Melbourne Airport, under a Rail Futures Vision scenario, the station would be underground thus requiring tunnels that could be built over two phases with an underground station.  If the Federal Government's favoured direct route via the Maribyrnong defence site is chosen and would only operate as a City-Airport line with no other regional connections, it's conceivable a cheaper elevated terminus station could be built at the airport.

The Federal Treasurer said the study will be complete by September/October.

<iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="350" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FofficeofthePMAU%2Fvideos%2F1489456684497654%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="100%"></iframe>

Lead image credit: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Melbourne_Airport_VIC_3045,_Australia_-_panoramio_(1).jpg">wikipedia</a>.
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Federal Government wants to tip $5 billion into a Melbourne Airport Rail Link

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Air Asia is set to shift its double daily Kuala Lumpur flights from Tullamarine to Avalon with a new international terminal and associated border, customs and quarantine facilities set to open toward the end of 2018.

At an event attended by the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, State Minister for Industry and Employment Bend Carroll and State Minister for Tourism and local member John Eren, it was also announced that the new international facilities at Avalon will be capable of export 14 tonnes of fresh produce per day.

Air Asia CEO Tony Fernades was also in attendance and Federal member for Corangamite, Sarah Henderson, tweeted that Air Asia wanted to fly to Thailand and Indonesia as well.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
Wonderful to be joined by <a href="https://twitter.com/JulieBishopMP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JulieBishopMP</a> for this incredible announcement. The sky’s the limit for <a href="https://twitter.com/AvalonAirportAU?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AvalonAirportAU</a> international airport. Two flights a day from KL, almost 500,000 passengers pa &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/tonyfernandes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tonyfernandes</a> wants to introduce Bali &amp; Thai flights. Wow! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/celebrateCorangamite?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#celebrateCorangamite</a> <a href="https://t.co/1H2BurWdM3">pic.twitter.com/1H2BurWdM3</a>
— Sarah Henderson MP (@SHendersonMP) <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://twitter.com/SHendersonMP/status/959947427825385472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2018</a>
</blockquote>

Air Asia's current Tullamarine - Kuala Lumpur double daily flights are flown by A330-300s which have 12 premium economy and 365 economy seats. 

Assuming a double daily schedule is flown year round, this represents a touch over 275,000 available seats in each direction.

The CEO of Air Asia said via <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-04/avalon-airport-to-get-international-services-to-kuala-lumpur/9386336">the ABC</a> "I firmly believe this is a turning point in our great dream of making Australian and south-east Asia and Asia much much closer."

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/klia2_flickr_cc_by_sa.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Air Asia operates out of KLIA2 in the Malaysian Capital - image: flickr"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="435" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/klia2_flickr_cc_by_sa.jpg?itok=pmhttL5l" title="Air Asia operates out of KLIA2 in the Malaysian Capital - image: flickr" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Air Asia operates out of KLIA2 in the Malaysian Capital - image: <a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8656/16642762245_59744d970e_b.jpg">flickr</a></figcaption></figure>Air Asia operates out of the new, vast, 'KLIA2' (Kuala Lumpur International Airport - Terminal 2) in the Malaysian Capital which is located approximately 50 km south of the city centre.  KL's airport is linked with its urban heart via the KLIA Ekspress rail service and the Malaysian capital's large freeway/tollway network

<h2>Comment</h2>

Well, it happened at last, Avalon will become an international airport.  The new investment is welcome but one can't help but feel for people arriving at Avalon. 

As it is, this represents moving of entire operations between airports, I'll be watching to see if Air Asia maintains double daily frequencies.  The airline is known to vary its flights to Tullamarine depending on the season - will its customers cop the extra distance to the get to/from the airport?

Regardless, the export handling capacity at Avalon that will be built as part of what was announced today seems to suggest whomever flies internationally into Avalon is likely to bank on taking a slice of the cargo market as well.

Lead image credit: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:YMAV.jpg">wikipedia</a>
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Avalon Airport says 'selamat datang' to Air Asia as new international facilities are announced

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Melbourne Airport has hit a new passenger milestone with its August 2017 passenger data confirming 10 million passengers had been clocked through the international terminal over the previous 12 months.

<blockquote>
For the first time in the airport’s 47-year history, 10 million international passengers passed through the doors in a rolling 12-month period. That’s a five-fold increase since privatisation in 1997.

The airport’s latest passenger data revealed more than 850,000 international travellers took international trips in August 2017, a 9.7 per cent increase compared to the same time last year.
<a href="http://melbourneairport.com.au/about-melbourne-airport/media/media-releases/melbourne-airport-passenger-performance-august-2017"><cite>Melbourne Airport Media release</cite></a>
</blockquote>

On a month-to-month comparison, in August 2017, 853,253 passengers travelled on international services and there were 2,097,857 domestic passengers.  This represents 9.7% growth compared to August 2016 for international and 3.6% growth in domestic numbers.

Over the short to medium term it's not hard to see how this growth will continue.  

Australia Pacific Airports - the owner of the leasehold and operator of Tullamarine airport - says the numbers will be boosted further by new services to China with Jetstar beginning services to Zhengzhou and Xiamen Airlines kicking off flights to Hangzhou.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/west_lake_hangzhou.jpg" rel="gallery-all" title="Hangzhou's West Lake - China Daily"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="387" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/west_lake_hangzhou.jpg?itok=L_RKUBxl" title="Hangzhou's West Lake - China Daily" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>Hangzhou's <a href="https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/West+Lake/@30.2587323,120.1428134,6344m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x344b62c0d149f2cb:0xf0f28861cfd37ec9!8m2!3d30.2427011!4d120.1502699">West Lake</a> - China Daily</figcaption></figure>As Apartments.com.au previously reported, we're finally set to get a second non-stop mainland North American destination - Vancouver - with Air Canada kicking off a 4 times weekly seasonal service from December this year through to February next year.  Air Canada has subsequently decided to restart and make the services permanent from <a href="http://australianaviation.com.au/2017/09/air-canada-schedules-year-round-flights-for-melbourne/">June 2018 flying three-times weekly</a>.  

The first non-stop flight to a South American destination - Santiago de Chile - will begin next month and at the beginning of September Japan Airlines kicked off its Tokyo-Narita - Melbourne service.  

The roll-call of Chinese cities to have a non-stop service to Melbourne is pushing upwards of 10 cities.  Air China, China Eastern and China Southern have the lion's share with multiple daily flights to the big three - Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou - however the aviation network from Melbourne is well and truly established amongst the mid-tier cities.

At any rate, the morning <a href="http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=141817842&amp;postcount=12701">departures from Melbourne Airport are set to be very busy</a> with multiple mid-tier Chinese cities in the mix. 

Lead image credit: <a href="http://melbourneairport.com.au/about-melbourne-airport/media/photo-gallery">Melbourne Airport</a>.
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Tullamarine hits a new passenger milestone

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<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ian-woodcock-150260">Ian Woodcock</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/iain-lawrie-387154">Iain Lawrie</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-melbourne-722">University of Melbourne</a>

Melburnians have been talking about a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/wait-for-train-to-tullamarine-now-55-years-20121230-2c1c1">train to Tullamarine Airport</a> since well before it opened. Now Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has made clear his enthusiasm for an <a href="https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiGkr_squLUAhWDXLwKHT4fC3gQqUMIKDAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heraldsun.com.au%2Fnews%2Fvictoria%2Fmelbourne-airport-rail-link-may-be-built-without-victorian-funding%2Fnews-story%2F2ef855853e494fc9fbd6261611a48085&amp;usg=AFQjCNFDRAYD7hlo0NmWHwvsN0zEZAu0Xg">airport rail line</a>, with or without state government support.

But these conversations need to move beyond the question of getting travellers between their plane and their city hotel.

Beyond airport access, this proposal highlights the potential for rail projects to shape Melbourne and feed an integrated public transport system that could serve its growing population.

<h2>How railways shape our cities</h2>

Transport investment shapes cities, but different modes <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.routledge.com/Transport-Planning-2nd-Edition/Banister/p/book/9780415261722">have diverse effects</a>.

Freeways, tollways and arterial roads (used by cars, taxis, ride-sharing services and buses, as well as trucks) encourage cities to extend horizontally at low densities. Rail-based modes (trams, light rail and trains, both passenger and freight) encourage <a href="https://islandpress.org/book/the-transit-metropolis">intensification of corridors and centres</a>.

Melbourne has concentrated most of its post-war transport investment on road-based transport. It has done very little to extend the enormous rail-based legacy of trams and trains built during the first century of European settlement. This is despite transport plans that proposed <a href="http://www.hawthorntramdepot.org.au/papers/gs1923.htm">doubling the tramway system</a> in 1923, and adding <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://library.intranet.vic.gov.au/client/search/asset/1286832">several new railway lines</a> – including to Doncaster, Rowville, and between Dandenong and Frankston.

Until 2015, the only major investment in suburban rail since the 1950s was the City Loop, which opened in 1981 after a decade of construction.

The City Loop’s clear legacy has been the transformation of Melbourne’s CBD into one of the highest-density mixed-use precincts in Australia. This has driven some of the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyReleaseDate/C508DD213FD43EA7CA258148000C6BBE?OpenDocument">fastest growth in residential population</a> anywhere in the country.

The demonstrated desirability of apartment living in urban centres, driven by the accessibility delivered by metro-quality public transport, shows how investment in rail-based transport can reshape cities. While many have advocated this for decades, the precedents have primarily been European or North American.

Australians now have homegrown experience of what transit-oriented urbanism could mean. Sydney has many examples of substantial rail-based suburban intensification. Centres such as Chatswood, Bondi Junction, St Leonards, Strathfield and Wolli Creek (close to Sydney Airport) offer insight into opportunities for Melbourne and elsewhere.

<h2>Airport rail can give structure to city’s growing west</h2>

A 25-minute metro journey from Melbourne’s Southern Cross station to the airport via Maribyrnong would appear time-competitive with the profitable and popular <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/skybus-fares-hit-new-high-as-company-jacks-up-price-of-ticket-to-melbourne-airport-20160322-gnonk6">SkyBus service</a>.

However, unlike SkyBus, rail has the potential to fundamentally reshape Melbourne’s northwestern corridor.

A metro line to the airport east of the currently favoured Albion corridor could realise the considerable intensification potential of many sites along its route. This is no bad thing. Melbourne’s population is projected to rise to <a href="https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/14036/Victoria-in-Future-2016-FINAL-web.pdf">8 million by 2051</a>, with disproportionate growth in the western suburbs.

Although exact alignments are up for grabs, significant urban renewal potential exists at Flemington, Footscray, Highpoint, the former Maribyrnong Defence site, Essendon Fields, Airport West, Tullamarine, and at the airport itself.

By directly investing in rail infrastructure, the federal government would reap the benefits of the land it owns and unlock the potential of many other locations. This is what integrating public transport and land-use planning looks like. And the urban outcome is vastly different from the current paradigm of road-driven transport and land-use planning.

<h2>Realising the full potential of an integrated transport system</h2>

A rail link won’t provide for all of the access demands for travel to and from the airport.

For that to occur, a comprehensive <a href="https://www.ptua.org.au/policy/network/">multi-modal network</a> solution that serves a much wider catchment is needed. There will always be people living beyond an easy stroll to a train station. Their needs can only be met by a radical rethink of Melbourne’s buses in addition to rail-based investment.

However, the latest proposal offers alternative ways to think about long-promised rail lines – such as Doncaster and Rowville – as part of a network, linking intensified suburban centres.

Some lines have the ability to do what Infrastructure Victoria <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/http://www.infrastructurevictoria.com.au/node/78">has recommended</a> to increase development densities in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, using light rail. For example, connecting Doncaster to the suburbs to its south and east, as well as its west, will provide great potential for intensification.

For Rowville, a light rail to Gardenvale will provide better public transport integration while maximising intensification potential.

Other comparable cities are realising the most effective combinations of public transport and land-use investment with light rail. In Montreal, Canada, the Quebec Pension Fund is investing in <a href="https://www.cdpqinfra.com/en/Reseau_electrique_metropolitain">67 kilometres of driverless light rail</a>. This will link the city’s airport with urban redevelopment zones and existing metro lines to create a city-wide multi-modal network.

In Melbourne, thinking about the city-shaping potential of rail-based transport should focus minds on the priority to <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/http://www.infrastructurevictoria.com.au/node/77">plan and build Melbourne Metro 2</a>. This would provide a tunnel between Clifton Hill and Newport, creating a cross-town metro from Wyndham Vale to Mernda via Fishermans Bend, which is currently bereft of quality public transport.

Melbourne Metro 2 would also improve the chances that <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/new-suburb-in-melbournes-west-given-the-nod-as-winning-bidder-selected-20151105-gkre9i">Werribee East</a> can realise its potential.

Turnbull is to be congratulated for his reported support for airport rail. But we should be wary of losing sight of the wood for the trees – or, more accurately, the network for the line.

<img alt="The Conversation" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/80203/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1">Victoria urgently needs a transport plan premised on integrated public transport and land-use planning. Only then might it work toward a liveable city for 8 million people.

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ian-woodcock-150260">Ian Woodcock</a>, Lecturer, School of Global, Urban &amp; Social Studies, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063">RMIT University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/iain-lawrie-387154">Iain Lawrie</a>, Sessional Lecturer in Urban Planning, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-melbourne-722">University of Melbourne</a>

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/airport-rail-link-can-open-up-new-possibilities-for-the-rest-of-melbourne-80203">original article</a>.
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theconversation

Airport rail link can open up new possibilities for the rest of Melbourne

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<h2>Comment</h2>

At first, there was $10 million on the table in the Victorian Budget.  And when it was time for Canberra to hand down its budget, that figure swelled to $30 million.  In short, whatever the final figure will be, a sizeable chunk of dough is to be spent executing a proper feasibility study on a Melbourne Airport Rail Link.

The study will look a number of aspects, most notably what form a high-capacity rail link would take (its corridor, its technology, its transit time etc) and how building and operating it will be funded (via a PPP, government debt, the Federal Government's new National Rail building fund).  This funding aspect seems to be key, not least because the Victorian State Government to date has been reluctant to commit to any airport link project, except during this year's budget time.

Firstly, let's look back at what's already been studied.

In 2013 the <a href="https://static.ptv.vic.gov.au/siteassets/PTV/PTV%20docs/Feasibility-Studies/Melbourne-Airport-Rail-Link-Study-Overview-brochure.pdf">Melbourne Airport Rail Link (MARL) Study</a> was completed.  Its findings primarily focus on corridors - working on the assumption a MARL would be an extension of the existing network (or utilise network-compatible rail equipment).

Here are the corridors that were looked at in the study.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/melair_corridors.png" rel="gallery-all" title="MARL Study (2013) - corridors"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="650" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/melair_corridors.png?itok=l2jbrN3a" title="MARL Study (2013) - corridors" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>MARL Study (2013) - corridors</figcaption></figure>And here's the assessment of each corridor.

<figure><a class="colorbox colorbox-insert-image" href="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/pictures/article-images/melair_corridors_assessment.png" rel="gallery-all" title="MARL Study (2013) - corridor assessment"><img alt="" class="image-article-full-width-580px" height="303" src="/sites/urban.melbourne/files/styles/article_full_width_580px/public/pictures/article-images/melair_corridors_assessment.png?itok=YgV11hLG" title="MARL Study (2013) - corridor assessment" width="580"></a>

<figcaption>MARL Study (2013) - corridor assessment</figcaption></figure>The conclusion from this study is that the Albion East corridor best meets the various criteria each corridor was assessed against.  It is a very safe assumption to make that should a standard heavy-rail / existing rail network compatible solution be chosen, the Albion East corridor will remain top dog.

On Wednesday 31st of May, RMIT's Centre for Urban Research held the latest in its series of Talking Transport seminars which focused on the Melbourne Airport Rail Link.  One of the panellists was John Hearsch from the Rail Futures Institute and he spoke about <a href="http://www.railfutures.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/170409-Airport-brochure-v6.pdf">RFI's proposal</a>. 

RFI's Airtrain proposal &amp; documentation is a subset of its larger InterCity study which aims to completely separate all regional and metropolitan rail traffic over the longer term and while at the conceptual level, it's no doubt going to be a reference point for the new study.

At the seminar John Hearsch also provided greater context for the RFI proposal in that it would likely be a 3 phase implementation, done under a public-private partnership with the first phase being the most capital intensive: building the three tunnels, airport train shuttle maintenance and storage facility over a 4 year planning and 4 year build timeframe.

The transit time of 15 minutes would be made possible through the combination of tunnels and at-grade sections having a track speed (and operational service) in the same realm as the regional lines outside Melbourne: 160kph.

It takes inspiration from the 2013 MARL Study and John Hearsch made particular mention of the connectivity benefits in that from either Melbourne Airport, Sunshine or Southern Cross stations, the RFI proposal railway would be a 1 train change from any rail destination in Victoria.

The other public-domain proposal that the new feasibility study should look at is the <a href="http://www.airshuttleaust.com.au/">Airshuttle Australia express train project</a>.  This is a proposal to use different rail technology on more direct corridors - in the Citylink median or a combination of above the existing Craigieburn rail corridor and the Tullamarine Freeway median north of Essendon.

As it is technology independent and wouldn't directly interface with the existing network, the Metro Tunnel dependency that has been used as an excuse to not talk about the Airport link in any great detail by the State Government - up until this year's budget - is irrelevant.  In fact, both public domain concepts propose operationally separate railways with no dependency on the existing network; in both cases thne real sticking point is narrowing down the costs, potential benefits and how to fund them.

Of course, we shouldn't discount another well-rounded solution to the long-term needs of passengers at the airport and the employees who work within the vicinity of it to come out of this process either.

<h2>The road public transport network should also be a study priority</h2>

As PTUA's president Tony Morton mentioned at the Talking Transport seminar, the rail link should be ambitious and aim to do most of the heavy lifting; it should aspire to carry a high proportion of trips to and from the airport but we musn't also exclude other modes of public transport.

More than one panellist made mention of the 903 Smartbus that connects the airport with the Craigieburn line and going forward this is likely to remain the primary public transport connection for those who live in this area. But what other opportunities are there for a large airport-focused high-frequency bus network to the east of the airport?

Should money be invested in expanding 24-hour bus lanes &amp; bus priority on Broadmeadows Road, Mahoneys Road, Pascoe Vale and Cooper Street? How much would it cost to operate a 15-minute frequency service from places like South Morang, cross-town, through outer north to Broadmeadows and onto the airport? What would patronage be like?

And a shout out for the tram network, the #59 tram terminates at Airport West, just short of the southern airport employment precinct and terminals.  How much would it cost to extend this tram route out to the airport to compliment the bus network to the airport's east and the heavy lifting rail line?

Servicing the areas directly to the east and south-east of the airport should be within the scope of the new study.

<h2>Strategic land-use context</h2>

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="350" scrolling="no" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZBdK2sX3DFo" width="100%"></iframe>

It's also worth reminding ourselves that there is a significant body of strategic planning work underway in the region, most notably the <a href="https://vpa.vic.gov.au/project/sunshine-employment-cluster/">Sunshine National Employment and Innovation Cluster</a> shown in the video above.  

'All rails lead to Sunshine' when it comes to the metropolitan and regional network in this part of Melbourne - the Ballarat Line has budgeted work coming online soon where the line will be duplicated to Melton in preparation for electrification and the Sunbury line is directly benefiting from the Metro Tunnel project.

It's a combination of this already budgeted for or investment that's underway, minimal property acquisition/re-use of existing surplus land in existing rail corridors, coupled with the Victorian Planning Authority's planning work that makes Sunshine such a potent inclusion to a rail link to the airport.

In short, the promised cash should not be limited to just studying how to get an airport rail link up and running sooner, it should be a holistic airport ground transport plan for the next 50 years.
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Setting the scope for the upcoming $30 million Melbourne Airport Rail Link study

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On Wednesday next week, <a href="http://cur.org.au/">RMIT's Centre for Urban Research</a> is holding its third monthly Talking Transport event: The Melbourne Airport Rail Link, are we there yet?

It is a free, <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-melbourne-airport-rail-link-are-we-there-yet-tickets-34843527930">ticketed event</a>, to be held at RMIT's Building 80 - located at 445 Swanston Street - level 11, room 10 from 6:00 pm.

<blockquote>
<h3>Description</h3>

Recently, the Australian Government pledged $30 million in addition to the Victorian Government's $10 million for the development of a business case for a rail link between Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport and city, much to the delight of many Victorians.

A train between the airport and city may seem like a no-brainer for Melbourne, but are there details that may derail our expectations?

Join us for the third instalment of RMIT Centre for Urban Research’s Talking Transport series where we bring together leading experts from government, academia, industry and the community sector, to explore and identify real solutions for our city’s future mobility.

The panelists will be seeking to address:

<ul>
<li>Should the link be privately or publicly owned?</li>
	<li>How will that affect ticket pricing?</li>
	<li>What route should the link take?</li>
	<li>Should it be part of the Melbourne Metro?</li>
	<li>Should it be built before or after the Metro?</li>
	<li>What mistakes have other cities similar to Melbourne made and how can we avoid it?</li>
	<li>Should the airport rail should be our #1 priority or are there other public transport projects or issues more deserving of immediate attention?</li>
</ul>
Speakers:

<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://www.ptua.org.au/team/tonymorton/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Anthony Morton</a>, President PTUA</li>
	<li>
<a href="http://www.impa.org.au/peoplek/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Marianne Richards</a>, Vice-President Inner Melbourne Planning Alliance</li>
	<li>
<a href="http://www.railfutures.org.au/about-rail-futures/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">John Hearsch</a>, President, Rail Futures Institute</li>
	<li>
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-smelt-327b3242/?ppe=1" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Edward Smelt</a>, Principal Engineer Infrastructure Victoria</li>
</ul>
* More speakers to be announced

Moderator:

<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://cur.org.au/people/professor-michael-buxton/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Michael Buxton</a>, Professor of Environment and Planning RMIT University</li>
</ul>
Date/Time:

Wednesday 31st May, 6:00pm-7:15pm.
</blockquote>

To book a free seat, please see this link on <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-melbourne-airport-rail-link-are-we-there-yet-tickets-34843527930">Eventbrite</a>.

The Centre for Urban Research also streams its events on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RMITCUR/">Facebook live</a>. Shown below are the first two seminars.

April 26th:

<iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="350" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FRMITCUR%2Fvideos%2F1259704960794910%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="100%"></iframe>

March 22nd:

<iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="350" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FRMITCUR%2Fvideos%2F1221957964569610%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="100%"></iframe>
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Event: The Melbourne Airport Rail Link, are we there yet?

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On Sunday, the Minister for Public Transport and the Premier were in Warrigal to announce the Victorian Government's regional rail revival program. Soon after, the Victorian Government announced their intention to spend $10 million on figuring out how to deliver the Melbourne Airport rail link sooner than the timeframe specified in infrastructure Victoria's 30-year strategy.

This $10 million comes with strings attached, however: it - along with the Regional Rail Revival program - will be financed out of the money that Victoria is entitled to under the Federal Government's asset recycling scheme.

This announcement marks a distinctive shift in Victorian Government rhetoric when it comes to the Melbourne Airport rail link. To date, the Victorian Government has frequently attempted to shift the focus to its current portfolio of infrastructure projects and likewise, they have repeatedly said that the Melbourne Metro project must be built before the Melbourne Airport rail link.

Various news reports have circulated widely in the past of proposals by private organisations to link the airport and city via monorail or other rail-based technologies and the Victorian Government's response has often been reported that the project proponents should approach the government through the unsolicited proposals process.

In receiving briefings from the proponents, the Victorian Government appears to have made the judgement that there is a large amount of interest in linking the airport and Melbourne's CBD with the rail-based transit solution via a privately funded solution.

What a privately funded rail solution looks like is hard to picture at present but it could involve utilising a completely different rail technology and corridor or it could also involve a Melbourne Metro-style private-public partnership extension to our current rail network out to the airport.

In any case, dialing everything back to effectively starting from scratch might frustrate some but on the other hand it also provides far more freedom to develop solutions in relieving pressure on the road network in accessing Melbourne Airport.

At a fundamental level this new business case and study round should revisit all previous Melbourne Airport rail link studies and update the data contained within them. This would include projected rail passenger statistics, updated aviation passenger projections, and taking a more forensic look at how land is used around the airport and how many people are, and how many people will be employment in non-aviation related jobs in future.

One of the themes from Infrastructure Victoria's 30-year strategy found that, when modeled, if a rail link is much more than just a 'City to Airport' service, it has the tendency to have positive impacts dispersed over a greater area. In the 30-year strategy's case, having Melbourne Airport Rail Link as a branch of the new high capacity metro line would take cars off the Monash because airport services would run through the city and out to the south-east.

There is a good body of commentary and evidence elsewhere around the world which points to airport rail solutions should try to serve more than two destinations and the fares should be realistic. Jarrett Walker's article on <a href="http://humantransit.org/2016/03/keys-to-great-airport-transit">Keys to Great Airport Transit</a> is an excellent starting point.

<blockquote>
Toronto’s new <a href="https://www.upexpress.com/">high-fare, elite train</a> between downtown and the airport is a <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/union-pearson-express-ridership-slumps-to-all-time-low/article28634074/">failure in ridership terms</a>, so it’s a good moment to talk about transit to the airport in general.

This <a href="http://www.ryerson.ca/citybuilding/blog/up_express_and_down/?mc_cid=7f336ff24e&amp;mc_eid=9acc982aad">critique by Cherise Burda of Ryerson University, one of the Toronto line’s few regular riders</a>, pretty much sums up why the Toronto Union Pearson Express is doing so poorly: Fares too high (CAD $27.50 one way) for a line that just doesn’t connect the airport to enough places.
<cite>Jarrett Walker, <a href="http://humantransit.org/2016/03/keys-to-great-airport-transit">Keys to Great Airport Transit</a></cite>
</blockquote>

Interestingly, since that article was published (and the linked blog post was published), Toronto has dramatically reduced the Union-Pearson Express fares and <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/transportation/2016/03/17/union-pearson-express-ridership-spikes-after-fare-reduction">patronage has subsequently blossomed</a>.

While we should welcome any action on getting rail into Melbourne Airport (the faster, the better), if we're going down the path where there is a greater private sector role in developing the Melbourne Airport Rail solution, we mustn't ignore the experience other cities have had.
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$10M Melbourne Airport Rail link study: don't ignore lessons from other cities

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In December 2016, Melbourne airport almost nudged 1,000,000 international passengers through its terminals - on top of the 2,100,000 people who flew through the domestic terminals.

The January 25th media release title says it all: "<a href="http://melbourneairport.com.au/news-events/listing/overview/melbourne-airport-passenger-records-smashed-in-2016-2136">Melbourne Airport passenger records smashed in 2016</a>".

In December 2015, 864,477 international passengers used Tullamarine, in December 2016: 953,855 passengers embarked on their journey to or from Australia through our airport, representing 10.2% growth.

Domestic growth was a little more tempered, where 2,188,317 people used the domestic terminals (compared to the December 2015 numbers of 2,142,748) representing 2.1% growth.

Overall, the calendar year saw 34.6 million passengers fly through Melbourne Airport - 4.6% growth compared to the 2015 calendar year.  4.6% growth is <a href="/news/tick-tock-melbourne-airport-records-5-1-fy16-passenger-growth">bang-on the 10 year average growth rate</a> at the airport.  

Tick tock, tick tock.

<h2>Monorail proposal pops up again</h2>

Despite the curious, generalised and overwhelmingly simplistic put-down of old steel-wheel on steel-rail technology in the first 15 seconds of its corporate video, <a href="http://www.airshuttleaust.com.au/">Airshuttle Australia</a> as it is now known, popped up again in October last year with a promise to build a cheap monorail down a freeway median with a ticket price similar to the current skybus.

On the whole we should encourage solutions that propose to use a different technology to fulfil a solution to a major problem. Yet, I question whether it should be a sky-high fares, private-sector type solution.

There's a now a decent amount of literature on Toronto's dalliance with dedicated "downtown to Airport" rail which began services with sky-high fares only to have them more-than-halved soon after launch.  4-5 months after fares were chopped in half, ridership had tripled according to <a href="http://torontoist.com/2016/10/ridership-is-up-on-torontos-airport-rail-link/">Torontoist</a>.  

I recommend reading Human Transit's "<a href="http://humantransit.org/2016/03/keys-to-great-airport-transit">Keys to Great Airport Transit</a>"; discerning readers will note this one major warning: don't limit the airport rail service to just make it serve one destination, having more is better.  

Consider this: Toronto Pearson saw 40 million passengers in 2016, Melbourne Tullamarine saw 34.6 million.  Toronto Pearson is - measured by rail distance 23 km from the centre of the city, Melbourne Tullamarine would be a similar distance via Sunshine &amp; Albion.  The Union-Pearson Express has two intermediate stops, an airport rail line to Tullamarine would likely stop at Footscray and Sunshine (including Metro tunnel stations).

In fact the only dramatic difference between Toronto and Melbourne airport is that Toronto sees a much higher amount of aircraft movements (~440k versus ~250k), best explained owing to the nature of North American aviation: short and medium distance city pairs are generally served by regional jets (~50-100 passengers) on high frequencies; the bulk of Melbourne's aircraft movements are undertaken in Boeing 737/Airbus 320 or larger sized aircraft (~150-180+ passengers).

It's not uncommon to hear/read people use the early experience of Sydney and Brisbane when discussing (or debating) Melbourne's possible solution for better public transport to the airport. 

Sydney, if you go by Human Transit's guidance, got it right on making trains go "somewhere else" other than the city and airport (trains head all the way out to the south western suburbs) but got it wrong on fares.  <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/train-passengers-to-sydney-airport-line-governments-coffers-to-tune-of-100m-20160301-gn7c3y">Calls are still to this day being made</a> to eliminate the high access fee which bumps up the Sydney airport rail fares.

The lessons of Toronto are possibly the most relevant to Melbourne and here's hoping the state government take heed of them when assessing an unsolicited proposal, should one actually end up on Spring Street.
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