Airport rail link will include tunnel

Watch a fly-through of the proposed rail link.

The state government says its $2.2 billion Forrestfield-Airport rail link will be complete by 2020, with the line set to include an eight-kilometre tunnel underneath the Swan River.

Premier Colin Barnett announced the route over the weekend, saying the rail line would head east from the Midland line near Bayswater Station, then tunnel under the Swan River and Tonkin Highway before reaching the airport.

New stations will be built at Belmont, near the existing domestic terminal, in Forrestfield and underneath the current international terminal.

Mr Barnett said the project would be a boon to fly-in, fly-out workers, as well as domestic and international tourists and WA travellers.

“The tunnels are a really exciting engineering project that also means this railway line can be built in the most timely fashion with the least disruption to residents, businesses, traffic and the airport,” Mr Barnett said in a statement.

Finance for the project was included in the 2014-15 state budget, with $12 million set to be spent on planning and procurement in the current financial year.

Budget papers show $57 million is forecast to be spent in 2015-16, rising to $104 million in 2016-17 and $510 million in 2017-18.

Construction is slated to begin in 2016, with the rail line complete and operational by 2020.

Mr Barnett said the exact cost of the project would not be known until the end of the tender process and appointment of a construction contractor, but the government estimated it would cost around $2.2 billion.

A project definition plan will be released within the next couple of weeks, Transport Minister Dean Nalder said.