Melbourne Airport Rail Is Finally Moving Again - What Stage 1 Actually Delivers
Stage 1 of Melbourne Airport Rail is a rebuild of the Sunbury line between West Footscray and Albion. It is not a railway to Melbourne Airport. Big Build says that stage will be finished in 2030. The airport station, and the tracks that would reach it, are later stages. The photograph is the existing West Footscray station on 19 June 2026, at the start of that corridor.
What stage 1 is
The funded job is the West Footscray to Albion rail upgrade. The Australian and Victorian governments describe it as a joint investment of more than $4 billion, and some Big Build pages put the same package at $4.1 billion. That figure is for this stage. It is not a budget for a line to the airport, so the project page does not show it as the project cost.
The February 2026 fact sheet says the works cover more than 6 km and include:
- Sunshine station rebuilt as what the government calls a superhub, with two new platforms for regional services, a longer concourse, a new forecourt, and an upgraded bus interchange
- a new Tottenham station on a realigned Sunbury line
- a new Albion station
- two new rail bridges and one new rail underpass
- realigned passenger and freight tracks, and new signalling
The point of the rebuild is to separate metro, regional, and freight trains through Sunshine. Big Build says that, once it is done, the station will have room for more than 1,000 trains a day. That is a future capacity claim, not a count of trains running now. The same pages say the extra room is what would later allow airport trains, and electric trains toward Melton. Neither of those services is in this stage.
West Footscray station is the southern end of the corridor. The Sunbury line between there and Sunshine is being realigned. The station itself is not one of the new stations in the stage 1 list.
What is actually happening
Some of the work is already physical, and some of it is still investigation.
In April 2026, boring started on a new jet-fuel pipeline tunnel, about 2 km, between Sunshine and Albion. The existing pipe, which supplies the airport, sits between one and five metres down. It is being moved about 30 metres underground so the new Sunshine platforms and concourse can be built. The Albion station car park closed on 2 February 2026 for the drilling and pipe storage, and Big Build said it would stay closed until late 2026. Eight accessible spaces were to remain, with replacement parking near Tottenham station on Rupert Street.
On Sunshine Road in Tottenham, westbound lanes are closed overnight, 7pm to 7am, until early 2027, while overhead electricity cables are relocated and new pipes go in. Traffic is sent via Dempster Street and Paramount, Somerville, and Market roads.
At Sunshine itself, the work in late September and early October 2026 is soil testing. A notice dated 22 September 2026 sets that testing from Tuesday 29 September to Wednesday 14 October, between 7am and 6pm, in the rail reserve between Anderson Road and the station, then in the Station Place bus area, the Sun Crescent car park, and the station’s western car park. Soil testing is preparation for major construction. It is not the superhub, and it is not an airport train.
What is not in this stage
A train from the city to Melbourne Airport still depends on later stages: dedicated tracks past Albion, and new stations at the airport and at Keilor East. Those are not in the funded West Footscray to Albion package.
Electrifying the line toward Melton is described as something this stage makes possible. It is not part of the works now under way.
The 2030 date is Big Build’s completion target for the West Footscray to Albion upgrade, including the Sunshine station works. It is not a date for airport services.
Tottenham’s new station is further behind the Sunshine and Albion works. The February 2026 design release says construction there is set to start in 2027, and that the station designs were still to come.
References
- Melbourne Airport Rail, Victoria’s Big Build. Stage 1 scope, and completion in 2030.
- Future stages, Victoria’s Big Build. Dedicated tracks to the airport, and new stations at the airport and Keilor East, are later stages.
- West Footscray to Albion Rail Upgrade, February 2026, Victoria’s Big Build. Joint investment of more than $4 billion for more than 6 km from West Footscray to Albion, and two new regional platforms at Sunshine.
- Sunshine Superhub designs unveiled, Victoria’s Big Build. The $4.1 billion figure for this stage, the Sunbury line realignment, and Tottenham station construction set to start in 2027.
- Sunshine site investigations, September and October 2026, Victoria’s Big Build. Soil testing from 29 September to 14 October 2026.
- Major works start on jet fuel pipeline between Sunshine and Albion, Victoria’s Big Build, 13 April 2026.
- Stay up to date on disruptions, Victoria’s Big Build. Overnight closures on Sunshine Road in Tottenham until early 2027.
- Photograph: West Footscray station, platform 1, 19 June 2026, PEPSI697, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.