Personally as much as I’d love to have it, I am extremely doubtful that it will happen, at least this century. Maybe far far in the future, at least after 2150 (that is if there isn’t some new mode of transport by then), but I don’t think that anything beyond SRL East will actually be constructed in my lifetime.
Have a look at the Metronet project in Perth. Massive investment in rail infrastructure is possible if you keep at it. Metronet has already built/rebuilt 6-8 stations, a rail line to the airport, and most of another major line.
A fleet of new locally built trains are in final tests.
It takes time and money. It can’t all be done in a single term.
SRL is so unnecessarily overbudgeted it’ll never get fully funded
Just need to poach some more competent workers from NSW, they’re having 113km of track by the end of the decade.
Maybe some project managers as they can manage a few projects going at the same time. This saves alot if time.
I’m still unsure why the SRL will be taking another few decades to build.
The NSW project is 30km end to end. VIC SRL is 90km end to end. The time maths roughly checks out.
Not sure how you got 30km,
Stage 1: Tallawong to Chatswood - 36km - 5 years construction. Opened 2019
Stage 2: Chatswood to Bankstown - 30km - 2017 start, new section will open in a few months, converted section in 2025) - 8 years
Stage 3: St Marys to Aerotropolis - construction started last year or there abouts finishing in 2026 in time for the airport opening, let’s say 5 years? 23km
Stage 4: Hunter Street to Westmead 24km, construction started 2020, this one will take a decade to do.
Regardless of how you put it it’s 113km in a bit less than two decades.
It’s already quietly been shelved. The airport link was the first and most visible segment of the SRL and that part has already been officially shelved. They’re already winding down work on it.
There hasn’t been any official announcement that the SRL has been shelved but given the state of the budget and the shelved airport link it’s pretty obvious that the SRL is dead.