Dan’s Suburban Rail Loop a ‘$200 billion thought bubble’

Tuesday 14 March 2023

To nobody’s surprise, the estimated cost of building and operating Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) swelled to $200 billion, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office, which is around four times higher than its estimated $50 billion cost when it was announced ahead of the 2018 state election:

RMIT Planning Professor, Michael Buxton, yesterday lashed the SRL in the Herald-Sun, describing it as a “$200 billion thought bubble” and said that to fit a million people into 15 new precincts as planned signalled suburban skyscrapers.

“They will radically transform Melbourne into a high rise city around these 15 precincts,” Buxton said.

The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers

$1 for your first month, then:

$24.99 / month

$249 / year

Cancel at any time through our billing provider, Stripe

About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.