Victoria’s 90-kilometre Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) is arguably the nation’s worst infrastructure project.
Former Premier Daniel Andrews announced the project just before the 2018 state election.
Andrews claimed that the SRL’s three stages would cost $50 billion. However, the project’s construction and operating costs have already exceeded $200 billion for the first two stages only.
SRL Cost Estimate (Stage 1 and 2)
The SRL was never fully costed prior to its announcement; there was no cost-benefit study, and the state’s infrastructure agency was not even informed of it.
In short, the SRL project was a complete failure of due process and policymaking, brought about by an all-powerful Premier.
Jacinta Allan took office as Premier in 2023, and it was hoped that she would follow her own path and abolish the SRL.
Instead, Allan ignored expert advice and signed tunnelling contracts, committing the state’s taxpayers to finance the project.
The world’s two main credit rating agencies—S&P and Moody’s—then warned that if Victoria proceeded with the SRL, it would risk further credit rating downgrades.
The Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) and the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) also lambasted the project.
The PBO concluded that every $1 spent on building the first two stages of the SRL (60 kilometres) would yield social benefits of between $0.60 and $0.70.
The ANAO warned that the business case Victoria used to request $11.5 billion in federal funding for the first stage of the SRL contained information gaps and used a dubious methodology to calculate the project’s benefits.
Fast forward to August 2026, and Victorians are facing a no-win situation:
- proceed with the SRL, plunge the state further into debt, and cannibalise the state’s infrastructure budget for a generation; or
- cancel the SRL and pay many billions of dollars in break fees.
With the November state election fast approaching, a Freshwater Strategy poll on infrastructure priorities finds that the majority of Victorians want the SRL dumped, with almost 70% backing a rail link to Melbourne Airport:
“When it comes to the SRL East – a 26km tunnel between Cheltenham and Box Hill – two thirds say the billions sunk into Jacinta Allan’s signature project should instead be spent on cost-of-living relief, schools or hospitals “even if it means the project does not go ahead”, the Herald-Sun reports.
“It showed that a rail link to Tullamarine remained popular with 68 per cent of people, and was supported most strongly by Labor voters (77%)”.
“When put head to head with the SRL, 60% picked airport rail, compared with 18% who nominated the SRL – the same number that opted for “neither”…
“The SRL is due to open in 2035 and has had almost $17bn in contracts inked in what insiders say locks the state into the most expensive infrastructure project in history”, the Herald-Sun reports.
The fact is that the SRL will plunge the state deeper into debt, causing further credit rating downgrades and a higher interest burden.
By acting against expert advice and signing contracts for the SRL, Jacinta Allan has enslaved Victorian taxpayers.
