4 October 2022
Connecting suburbs. Creating jobs.
Suburban Rail Loop will shape our city and state for future generations, ensuring Melbourne remains one of the world’s most liveable cities.
The 90km Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) will link every major rail line from the Frankston line to the Werribee line, via Melbourne Airport, improving access to housing, jobs, schools, universities and hospitals for all Victorians.
SRL East between Cheltenham and Box Hill will deliver huge benefits to those in Melbourne's east, south east and regional Victoria, with faster and more reliable public transport and greater access to jobs, health and education.
SRL East includes new underground stations at Cheltenham, Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood and Box Hill, and will be built as a standalone 26km rail line integrated with the existing public transport network.
SRL East will slash travel times, create new jobs and housing closer to home, deliver more direct journeys for regional Victorians and enhance walking, cycling and green spaces.
SRL will be delivered in stages and construction on SRL East began in June 2022. SRL East trains will be running by 2035, taking around 70,000 passengers per day.
SRL East at Clayton
The new SRL East station at Clayton will become a transport super hub, connecting more people to Clayton’s vibrant town centre and providing faster and more convenient transport to destinations across Melbourne and the Gippsland region.
The SRL East station and transport super hub at Clayton will make it easier for metropolitan and regional passengers from Gippsland to access leading medical research and hospitals, retail, entertainment and employment areas nearby, as well as travel to Melbourne's other middle suburbs.
The transport superhub will connect into both SRL East and the existing Clayton Station, catering to more than 90,000 transfers a day by 2056 – making it one Melbourne’s busiest metropolitan stations.
Benefits for Clayton
A new station at Clayton
The underground station at Clayton will be located north of Carinish Road and the existing Clayton Metro station. It will have two station entrances - one east of Clayton Road in the Remembrance Gardens and one west of Clayton Road near the existing station.
The new two-level underground station platform will sit around 18m below ground, with lifts and escalators connecting passengers to SRL’s ‘turn up and go’ train services.
A new elevated walkway will connect passengers from the new station directly to the existing Clayton Station, making it safe, easy and fast to interchange between stations.
There will be accessible pick up and drop off areas, taxi bays and a secure bicycle hub with parking for up to 400 bicycles, plus 100 bicycle parks within the new station plaza.
The station will also include buildings to accommodate ticketing and customer facilities and potential retail tenancies, operational equipment and rail systems, and essential emergency and safety infrastructure.
As part of the works in Clayton, new pedestrian and cycling paths between Madeleine Street and Monash Medical Centre will also be created to improve safety in the area and connect with the Djerring Trail.
Fast Facts
- Less than 10 minutes from Clayton to Cheltenham, saving 25 minutes
- ‘Turn up and go’ services every 6 minutes
- Transporting around 15,000 passengers from Clayton daily
- More than 600,000 car trips off roads and freeways every day
Station construction
Construction of the SRL station at Clayton will be completed in stages and is expected to take approximately 6 years.
Disruption at surface level is expected to be shorter than the overall construction time.
Construction stages and activities include:
- Initial Works to prepare the site, such as utility relocations.
- Early Works involving demolition of existing structures, earthworks to prepare the site and utility relocations.
- Protection works to safeguard the existing elevated rail line during SRL East construction activities.
- Main Works, which involve excavation of the station box, using a bottom-up technique to build internal structures and building the station structures.
- Station completion including any road and path upgrades, incorporation of public open space and planting and landscaping.
During construction, there will be some temporary impacts to existing open space in Clayton. Replacement open spaces will be created nearby.
Green light for SRL East
The environmental effects for SRL East have been assessed through Victoria’s most comprehensive and transparent planning approvals process – an Environment Effects Statement (EES). The project received planning approvals in September 2022.
SRL East’s EES received more than 360 submissions and saw an independent panel hear from 47 witnesses over 39 days of public hearings and it has resulted in enhanced measures and outcomes that will benefit the community during construction and operation.
The EES was Victoria’s first fully digital EES and will remain online for the life of the project as a reference document.
Planning approval for SRL East
Following extensive planning and design work, SRL East received planning approvals in September 2022.
The assessment of the SRL East Environment Effects Statement recognised that the project will bring enormous benefits to Melbourne and has resulted in enhanced measures and outcomes that will benefit the community during construction and operation.
At Clayton, these changes include:
- Delivering replacement open space as close as possible to the areas required for SRL East including Remembrance Gardens and the community space under the existing rail viaduct
- Further investigating the position of the station box to reduce the length of time that Carinish Road would need to be closed during construction
- More technical work to consider whether the permanent partial closure of Carinish Road creates the best solution for
- traffic and pedestrian movements
- Further assessing the transport network arrangements around the new SRL East station, including optimising the quantity and location of pick-up and drop-off parking areas and bus interchange.
What’s next for SRL East?
Construction of SRL East kicked off in June 2022, with Initial Works underway to prepare sites for major construction by 2024.
Initial Works are planned at Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood, Box Hill and at the site of the stabling facility in Heatherton.
Activities are similar to routine infrastructure maintenance and renewal works that happen in our suburbs every day, and involve:
- Relocating and protecting utilities such as gas, electrical, water, sewer and telecommunications services
- Minor road modifications
- Site levelling and ground improvement works
- Establishing the construction sites.
To support construction, there will be temporary facilities set up along the alignment. These will include site offices and worker amenities, car parking, gates, entries and exits, fencing, equipment storage, and environmental, traffic and safety controls.
- 2020 – $2.2b provided for Initial & Early Works
- 2021 – EES exhibited late 2021
$9.3b provided for SRL East Main Works, I&EW contract signed - 2022 – Initial and Early Works commenced
- 2024 – Main Works start for SRL East
- Mid 2020s – Precinct development to commence, with a focus on SRL East
- 2035 – Trains running by 2035 on SRL East
*Ongoing community and stakeholder engagement
More than a rail line
Beyond the rail line, SRL includes strategic land planning and development initiatives in SRL Precincts that will attract and support clusters of new businesses and deliver better local services and additional housing.
SRL will open up exciting prospects for new recreation spaces and community facilities, as well as improved walking and cycling links that will make Clayton an even more attractive and vibrant place to live, work and visit.
Enhancements to Clayton Road will improve access to the bus interchange, with landscape improvements and new and enhanced public spaces also proposed to support the existing parkland under the elevated rail line.
Get involved
Since mid-2019, we've been speaking with community members online and face to face to understand what locals love most about their areas and how SRL East can help further enhance neighbourhoods.
Feedback from the people who know SRL East precincts best is very important throughout all stages of planning and development.
There will be many opportunities for you to get involved and contribute your ideas on how we can make areas around SRL East stations even better places to live, study, work and visit.
Subscribe to our newsletters and receive regular project updates