Universities could be asked to chip in to pay for a contentious $34.5 billion rail line as a state government attempts a project rebrand.
Premier Jacinta Allan copped a grilling over Melbourne's Suburban Rail Loop on Thursday after the federal government made good on releasing $2.2 billion it committed before the 2022 election.
The planned 90km orbital rail line is designed to run from Cheltenham in Melbourne's southeast to Werribee in the outer west via the airport at Tullamarine.
Cash-strapped Victoria is counting on the Albanese government to stump up a third of the estimated $34.5 billion cost for the first stage between Cheltenham and Box Hill.
But the Albanese government won't guarantee any more funding just yet, with Infrastructure Australia working with Victoria on its project evaluation report.
Federal Transport Minister Catherine King flagged her Victorian Labor counterparts face "hurdles" over value-capture costings.
They are taxes, charges and fees generated through increased land value and developments near station precincts.
So far the Victorian government has committed $11.8 billion to the project, with the remaining third expected to come from value capture.
Those are the only funding streams mentioned within a 400-page business and investment case released in 2021 and subsequent state budgets.
In an at-times heated 40-minute press conference, Premier Jacinta Allan repeatedly failed to explain what year value-capture money would start flowing into state coffers.
"We're working on this program right now," she said.
"We've seen it in other parts of the country and around the world."
She was also unable to say when the first house associated with the rail loop would be built as her government tries to rebrand it as "Australia's largest housing project".
The 2021 business case details the project's housing benefits but it is not described in that way anywhere in the document.
Opposition housing spokesman Richard Riordan said the attempted rebadge was a disgrace.
The rail project is slated to deliver a direct train connection to Deakin University and another public transport option for students to get to Clayton station near Monash University by 2035.
The premier hinted universities and other groups that stand to benefit from the planned transport and housing links could be hit up to contribute.
"We're having conservations with stakeholders," she said.
"You can appreciate that they are ongoing."
Monash and Deakin universities have been contacted for comment.
The entire rail loop was initially estimated to cost $50 billion when first announced by Labor before the 2018 state election.
The 2021 business case showed the east and northeast sections could cost up to $50.5 billion.
Further doubt was cast over the build cost by the state's independent Parliamentary Budget Office, which put it at $96.4 billion for first two sections in an 2024 estimate update.
