15 September 2025
More transport, more homes, more jobs
Melbourne is growing. We’re building the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) now to make moving across Melbourne easier, quicker and more affordable for generations to come.
SRL will reduce travel times, ease congestion, and connect our suburbs, ensuring our city grows in the right places. It will enable construction of more homes and housing choice close to public transport, services, jobs, schools, parks and cafes.
Connecting to all major train lines from Cheltenham to the west via Melbourne Airport, SRL will transform our public transport network - connecting more Victorians to employment, hospitals, universities and each other.
Construction of SRL East from Cheltenham to Box Hill is underway, creating up to 8,000 direct local jobs. Tunnel boring machines are building the twin tunnels and the underground stations are taking shape. Trains will be taking passengers in 2035.
SRL will deliver
Better and more direct connections
to health, jobs and leading education facilities, including Deakin University.
Employment in Burwood
will double to 24,000 jobs as a result of the SRL.
Opportunities to build and enhance recreation spaces
plazas and community facilities, including the naturalisation of Gardiners Creek Reserve.
Upgrading and extending the Gardiners Creek trail
connecting people to the places they love most in Burwood.
SRL East at Burwood
Located near Deakin University and connecting with existing tram and bus services, the new SRL station will make it easier and faster to access the area’s parkland, education and retail services.
The station will better connect students to the area, deliver faster and more reliable public transport, and provide better connectivity to stations on the metropolitan network.
The station will integrate with local tram and bus services, including the route 75 tram – connecting more people to jobs, health services and study opportunities in one of Melbourne’s fastest growing education hubs.
Fast facts
Burwood to Box Hill
in 4 minutes, saving 16 minutes on the current public transport journey.
‘Turn up and go’
train services.
13,000 passengers
expected to use the station every day.
70,000 passengers
expected to use the SRL East every day - nearly half shifting from their cars.
Station construction
Construction of the SRL station at Burwood is being completed in stages. Disruption at surface level is expected to be shorter than the overall construction time.
Construction stages and activities include:
- Tunnelling operations and spoil removal
- Construction of a second tunnel boring machine launch site
- Main works including tunnelling, excavation of the station box, and construction to build the underground station
- Station completion including any road and path upgrades, incorporation of public open space and planting and landscaping.
A new station at Burwood
The new SRL station at Burwood will be located near Deakin University and close to the Gardiners Creek Trail and Burwood Highway, with a station entrance facing the university.
The new station’s 94m long platform will sit around 18m below ground, with lifts and escalators connecting passengers to SRL’s turn-up-and-go train services.
A new tram stop right outside the station on Burwood Highway, near Deakin University, will make interchanges quick and easy, providing a new rail connection for local workers, students and residents.
At-grade pedestrian links across Burwood Highway will provide safe connectivity between the station and Deakin University, as well as improved links to Gardiners Creek trail and nearby schools.
There will be accessible pick up and drop off areas, taxi bays and up to 750 bicycle parking spaces located nearby.
Planning around the new SRL East station at Burwood
Planning rules for neighbourhoods around the SRL East stations – including Burwood – have been finalised, streamlining approvals for thousands more homes around the SRL East stations over the next 15 years.
We’ve been speaking to the community for several years about how the SRL East can bring more jobs, homes and services within walking distance of world-class public transport.
Community feedback played a vital role in finalising the plans, with more than 10,000 responses and submissions received throughout the planning process, including public hearings.
A structure plan guides the development of an area over time – helping to achieve sustainable growth and positive social, economic and environmental outcomes.
The new rules will ensure the areas around the stations remain vibrant, thriving neighbourhoods for generations to come – giving developers and the community certainty about the scale and type of future development expected in local areas.
