The state government has announced $2 billion in budget cuts on the Suburban Rail Loop project, including scrapping station interchanges in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
However, a RMIT urban policy professor says if the rail loop is less accessible, fewer drivers will switch from cars to public transport.
What is the Suburban Rail Loop? Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) East is the first stage of the planned 90-kilometre underground orbital rail line, looping around the CBD to connect Melbourne’s outer northeast and northwest suburbs.
Due for completion by 2035, the project will deliver six underground stations from Cheltenham to Box Hill via 26 kilometres of twin tunnels.
What’s happened? The SRL project was budgeted up to $34.5 billion, but on Tuesday August 25, Premier Ben Carroll announced the state government would bring the cost down to $32.3 billion by making project cuts such as scrapping station interchanges.
The initial $1 billion in savings included scrapping the planned construction of station interchanges at Box Hill and Glen Waverley, ditching the scheduled multi-level car park in Glen Waverley and abandoning a second station entrance at Clayton and a pedestrian bridge at Burwood.
The state government has also announced it would wrap up the SRL Community Projects Fund after all round two recipients have received funding.
The government also promised to commission an independent review to determine where else it could create a further $1 billion in savings.
What they said: Speaking to 3AW’s Tom Elliott, Opposition leader Jess Wilson said she would pause and review the project if the Coalition wins in November.
🗣️ “The Suburban Rail Loop is putting all of the eggs in one basket,” she said. “We have no visibility … of what this government has signed us up to for decades into the future.”
Reducing emissions: According to the SRL East’s Environmental Effects Statement, the initial plans estimated emissions savings of 14,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide for the first year of operations, attributed to fewer private vehicle trips and reduced car production and maintenance.
This will result in a drop in greater Melbourne’s emissions of 0.1 percent.
The targets: According to the Suburban Rail Loop Authority, about 70,000 people are expected to use the SRL East arm every day, with close to half shifting from driving.
The plans estimate that by 2050, SRL East and SRL North will take about 600,000 cars off the road every day.
Less convenient: RMIT urban policy professor Jago Dodson said the change in plans had the potential to drive people away from considering shifting their daily commute, as people would have to travel further to change services or park further away from the station.
🗣️ “By reducing the attractiveness to travellers, it's actually bringing the SRL towards a no net greenhouse gas emissions benefit,” he told the Eastern Melburnian.
The carbon cost: The project aims to reduce embodied carbon emissions from materials and the supply chain by at least 20 percent, including using low-carbon steel and recycled concrete.
Embodied carbon is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions released during the extraction, manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of building and infrastructure materials.
Tunnel boring machines and trains will be fully powered by renewable energy, while segments of the tunnel will use more sustainable concrete mixes and more than 4,000 trees will be planted to offset emissions.
The government also plans to double the tree canopy in and around each station.
Dodson said any construction project involving the pouring of concrete with structural steel creates “very high carbon emissions”.
🗣️ “Unless you’re either offsetting those or finding compensating savings overall, you’re effectively adding to the net carbon intensity of the city,” he said.
Is it enough? Dodson said the 0.1 percent emissions reduction was a “miniscule” offset of the emissions.
🗣️ “It’s never really going to pay itself back in terms of carbon emissions,” he said.