The North East Rail Line project is to upgrade rail track between Melbourne and Albury/Wodonga to a Victorian Class 2 performance standard. It includes upgrading supporting rail infrastructure.

The business case was accepted for Infrastructure Australia's assessment on 8 March 2019.

On 3 December 2019, Infrastructure Australia has evaluated the business case for the North East Rail Line and concluded that the project, as it is currently presented, should not be included on the Infrastructure Priority List at this time.

Infrastructure Australia recognises the importance of good-quality regional rail transport to give people genuine travel choices and equitable service levels. However, while the underlying rail service problems may be locally or regionally significant, the current cost of the problems are not nationally significant. Furthermore, while the business case states that the costs of the project are slightly higher than its benefits, our analysis found that the benefits to the community were materially overestimated. 

To find out more about how we evaluate projects, see our Submission Guidelines.