Why has the Victorian ALP sold this multi-billion dollar programme of work as a must do for rail services when it primary outcome is the better flowing traffic after the level crossing has been removed?
Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Danny Pearson, announced a cost blowout of $837 million today, with the project now expected to cost $15 billion, $4 billion more than the original cost.
The business case used by Victoria to request $11.5 billion for the first phase of its controversial Suburban Rail Loop contained information gaps and used a questionable methodology to calculate the project’s benefits.
The government is doing the right thing building much housing around the stations as they are constructed and that accomodation will have ready access to the rail network.
But more than a decade later, a bombshell review of the crash found the police investigation that supported the Andrews’ version of events was ‘deeply flawed’.
