The cash-strapped Allan government faces funding brawls over Airport Rail and the Suburban Rail Loop after a federal review of the nation’s infrastructure pipeline axed 12 Victorian projects as part of an overhaul of Commonwealth investment. A $4 billion plan for faster rail between Melbourne and Geelong is dead after the independent report recommended it be abandoned.
Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King on Thursday released the review of the nation’s infrastructure pipeline, totalling $120 billion over 10 years, and its recommendations to improve how major projects are approved and funded. But its findings on a $13 billion railway to Tullamarine and the Suburban Rail Loop have exposed a looming rift between Victoria and the Commonwealth over the mega projects at a time when the state’s net debt is on track to reach $171.4 billion by 202