Plan for monorail to Melbourne Airport

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Plan for monorail to Melbourne Airport

Mono-fail: It didn’t work in Springfield and Sydney’s was scrapped, too, but the Victorian premier says he’ll consider a proposal to run a monorail from Melbourne Airport to the city.

Mono-fail: It didn’t work in Springfield and Sydney’s was scrapped, too, but the Victorian premier says he’ll consider a proposal to run a monorail from Melbourne Airport to the city.

Melbourne Airport would be linked to the city by a $1 billion monorail under a proposal by a tourism infrastructure entrepreneur.

The monorail would be built high above the Tullamarine Freeway and would connect the airport to either Southern Cross or Flinders Street station, News Corp Australia reports.

The plan is the brainchild of tourism infrastructure entrepreneur Peter O'Brien, who says it would be a high-tech alternative to a diesel train.

The monorail would be similar to one recently commissioned in Incheon, South Korea.

It would be driverless and virtually silent, the paper reports.

The Plenary Group has shown interest in the project and its founding principal, John O'Roarke, said the idea had merit.

"We are keen to explore the best ideas in the private sector to make unsolicited project submissions to the government," he told News Corp.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine said he had received a six-page proposal on the monorail and would have discussions with its proponents.

"We are always open to ideas as a government, but they need to be properly evaluated and properly considered," he told reporters in Geelong on Tuesday.

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But Transport Minister Terry Mulder appeared to pour cold water on the idea, saying there was a lot more work to be done before the proposal got off the ground.

"They don't have a great history, these particular projects, and I've had them proposed to me in the past," he told Fairfax radio.

Opposition spokeswoman Jill Hennessy said a metro rail tunnel was needed before a link could be built to the airport.

Sydney's monorail had its final run in June 2013 before being pulled apart.

It was described by NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian as a fad and a white elephant.

AAP

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