Funding for a train line to link Adelaide to Flinders University and the Flinders Medical Centre in the city’s south is due to be announced by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

The Federal Government will contribute $43 million towards project to extend the Tonsley railway line by 650 metres.

The line will run between the Tonsley Innovation Precinct and the Flinders University campus.

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The project will form part of the Coalition’s Smart Cities plan to build better transport connections, which was revealed last month by Mr Turnbull.

In a statement last month, he said the plan would “draw on the Commonwealth’s coordination capacity and the strength of its balance sheet at a time of historically low interest rates, to get the best infrastructure projects off the ground”.

The rail extension is expected to cut travel times from the city to Finders University to just over 20 minutes.

South Australia’s Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mulligan said the other half of the $85 million project would be funded by the State Government.

“This will be a huge benefit for Flinders University students and people looking to get to the Flinders Medical Centre,” Mr Mulligan said.

“Having a direct line between the city … a travel time of a little over 20 minutes means it makes absolute sense to leave the car at home and take public transport instead.”

Mr Mulligan said the project would create 75 jobs.

“We’ve already got funds locked away for this so we’re looking forward to getting on with appointing a contractor and getting the works underway as quickly as possible,” Mr Mulligan said.

Federal Labor MP Nick Champion said the project was originally a Labor project funded in 2012 but the money was cut in the Abbott government’s first budget.

“What they’ve done now is allocate some savings made from other projects and from the cancellation of the Goodwood Road project and funnelled it into this new project, so there’s not one new cent of money for public transport in South Australia,” he said.

The project is in the Liberal-held federal seat of Boothby.

Construction is expected to take about two years to complete.