Almost $4bn more for Victoria’s contentious Suburban Rail Loop to be included in federal budget

The federal budget will include another $3.8bn for the Suburban Rail Loop , Melbourne’s controversial and costly 90km public transport project. Prime minister Anthony Albanese will announce the additional funding alongside the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, on Friday ahead of the 12 May budget and as early campaigning for the state election heats up. The state opposition leader, Jess Wilson, has committed to pausing construction if the Coalition wins in November, after years of controversy about the massive underground rail project, to run 90km between Cheltenham in the south-east and Werribee in the south-west, and stopping at Melbourne airport. The new funding, to be delivered over the four-year forward estimates period, brings total federal government contributions to more than $6bn. The two governments had been locked in negotiations for months over billions more from Canberra. State government sources said a “live option” being considered was a commitment of $9.3bn over a decade. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email State Labor has already committed about $11.8bn for the first stage of the loop , known as SRL East – a 26km stretch of tunnels between Cheltenham and Box Hill – and it has signed $13bn worth of construction contracts. Victoria’s Suburban Rail Loop, a 90km proposed underground railway line running between Cheltenham in the south-east and Werribee in the south-west. …