The platform will serve as a key connection point for the regions, Melbourne CBD and the airport.

State member for Bendigo East and Victorian minister for transport infrastructure Jacinta Allan said the new platform is an investment in developing Sunshine as the centre of Melbourne's booming west.

"With most people travelling directly between the airport and their home, Melbourne Airport Rail Link route via Sunshine provides a solution that benefits most Victorians through good connectivity to the existing metropolitan and regional rail network," Ms Allan said.

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At the moment, Bendigo V/Line trains do not stop at Sunshine, and the minister said allowing central Victorians to be further connected was a strong focus point of the project.

"For Bendigo line passengers this is important because it will see trains stopping in Sunshine," she said, "giving people from our community more options as to how they travel around the state."

Pre-COVID, over 40 per cent of the 20,000-plus daily regional trips made to and from Melbourne Airport came from Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong.

Ms Allan said the new station opens up the city to regional communities.

"When you go to Sunshine you can choose to travel straight through to Southern Cross as you do now," she said, "or you can get off and change to go to the airport, or you can get on a metro tunnel train and that will take you to other parts of the city like Melbourne University, or the Cancer Centre or the St Kilda Road Shrine.

"The options are endless."

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As we approach the state election later this year, the Bendigo East MP said the local community has been vocal about their need for improved public transport connections.

"Bendigo people often talk about better rail connections," she said, "and what's really exciting is to create that for them through the Sunshine transport superhub."

The new Sunshine Station platform forms part of the broader Melbourne Airport Rail Link project, set to provide 8,000 jobs to the state.

The new station also adds to previously announced Sunshine Station upgrades, including extending existing regional platforms to accommodate longer nine-car VLocity trains and a new, second concourse to make transfers easier between metro, regional and airport services.

The Melbourne Rail Link project is set to be complete by 2029.

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