Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) is a transport, housing and urban planning project that will connect our suburbs, slash travel times, ease congestion and ensure our city grows in the right places.

SRL will not only deliver faster, more reliable travel for Victorians, it will help deliver thousands more homes where they’re needed – right next door to jobs, services, and world-class public transport.

SRL East will connect our growing health, education, retail and employment precincts in Melbourne's east and south east between Cheltenham and Box Hill.

The new SRL station at Monash will provide students, workers and visitors with a direct train connection for the first time to Melbourne's largest employment and innovation hub outside of the CBD. The station will boost economic growth, employment and further attract global industry leaders.

Tunnel boring machines to build the SRL East tunnels will arrive in late 2025 and launch in 2026. In preparation, we’re establishing a worksite for the new underground station.

These site establishment works commenced in mid 2025 and will continue until early 2026. We’re starting by demolishing buildings along the eastern side of Howleys Road and building temporary offices for our workforce.

Getting ready for tunnelling and the new station

Early works activities

• Installing fencing and gates around the worksite to keep workers and the community safe
• Changes to footpaths and traffic lanes at the entry and exit gates of our site
• Demolition of existing buildings along Howleys Road
• Building a temporary site office and worker facilities
• Earthworks to create strong ground conditions for excavating of the new underground station
• Trucks delivering equipment and materials to the worksite

What are construction impacts?

As with all construction projects, there will be some impacts to the community, including increased noise, dust or vibration.

These impacts may be caused by the use of heavy machinery, ongoing site activities or the removal and transport of excavated material. We mitigate these impacts through careful planning, monitoring and consultation with local community.

What you may experience during early works

Traffic changes:

• Changes to traffic conditions for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. This includes slower speed limits, closed lanes, and changes to parking.

Parking:

• Workforce parking will be proactively managed to mitigate impacts to public parking spaces and loading zones.

Noise and vibration:

• There may be increased noise from construction vehicles and equipment such as concrete saws, piling rigs, excavators, and power tools. Noise will be managed in line with the project’s Environmental Performance Requirements (EPRs).
• All practicable steps will be taken to minimise the impact of noise and vibration on the local community.

Site offices:

• Site offices will be set up near work areas with parking provided on-site for the workforce.

Local businesses

We have a team dedicated to helping local businesses during works and we strongly support shopping locally, often running local promotions and events. We also partner with local businesses to provide goods and services across the project.

We recognise our works may impact businesses, and that’s why supporting local businesses is important to the project.

If you’re a local business and want to know more, contact us on 1800 105 105 and one of our business engagement team will be in touch.

How we will manage our works

As with all major infrastructure projects, surrounding communities may experience some impacts during construction. The Project supports businesses and residents to continue to live, work, study and shop in their community. We will minimise impacts to the community during construction by:

• Establishing site buildings, internal access roads, plant storage and away from businesses and residents where possible
• Installing hoarding around the site to minimise noise and dust from construction activities
• Scheduling works at times when they will have the least impact
• Providing advance notification to community
• Safely removing hazardous materials in accordance with Environmental Protection Authority regulations
• Transporting materials from site in covered trucks to minimise dust
• Using water and dust suppressants
• Installing road safety and detour signage
• Pedestrian and cyclist detours in place
• Using noise control equipment on machinery and tools where possible
• Maintaining access for emergency vehicles and buses at all times
• Maintaining access to homes and businesses.