Making travel easier, delivering jobs

Suburban Rail Loop will shape our city and state for future generations, ensuring Melbourne remains one of the world’s most liveable cities.

To be delivered in stages, 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 will connect our growing health, education, retail and employment precincts in Melbourne’s east and south east between Cheltenham and Box Hill.

Built as a standalone 26km underground rail line that is integrated with our existing public transport network, SRL East includes new underground stations at Cheltenham, Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Burwood and Box Hill.

SRL East will slash travel times, create new jobs, housing, and public spaces, enable more direct journeys for regional Victorians and enhance walking, cycling and green spaces.

Connecting Burwood to the Loop

The SRL East station at Burwood will make it easier to for people to access Deakin University and connect with existing tram and bus services, including the route 75 tram, as well as travel to Melbourne's other middle suburbs.

The new station platform will sit around 18m below ground, with a single station entrance facing Burwood Highway.

The 2-level underground station will include a concourse level and an island platform below with escalators and lifts for passengers. Ticketing and customer facilities will also be located on the concourse level.

A new bus interchange adjacent to the station entrance will make it more convenient to access bus services, with accessible pick up and drop off areas, taxi bays and undercover bicycle parking located nearby.

A new pedestrian overpass across Burwood Highway will provide safe, uninterrupted connectivity between the station and Deakin University, as well as improved links to Gardiners Creek trail and nearby schools.

Gardiners Creek and associated parklands will be enhanced with the naturalisation of the existing concrete lined channel and landscape improvements adjacent to the station.

Above ground buildings at the station will accommodate bicycle parking and potential retail tenancies. They will also house essential rail operations and systems equipment including emergency and safety infrastructure.

These 2 to 3 level buildings will consist of:

• A combined entrance and northern service building.
• A southern services building.

About 13,000 passengers are projected to use the SRL station at Burwood daily when trains start running in 2035, providing better connections to jobs, education and public open space in the area.

Benefits for Burwood

Jobs for Burwood

SRL East will deliver more jobs closer to where people live. Employment in Burwood is set to double to 24,000 jobs as a result of SRL East and SRL North. Up to 8000 direct local jobs will be created during construction of SRL East, and it will support many more across the economy.

Better connections

Trains will run every 6 minutes in the peak, increasing with demand to around every 2 minutes. A journey between Cheltenham and Burwood will take less than 20 minutes, saving students 40 to 60 minutes on a return journey between Cheltenham and Deakin University.

Vibrant communities

SRL East will build on the qualities and characteristics of the neighbourhoods surrounding stations with new and enhanced recreation spaces, plazas and community facilities, as well as improved walking and cycling paths to cater for our growing suburbs.

Delivering faster and more reliable public transport for Melbourne and regional Victoria, SRL East will generate around 70,000 daily trips, creating a 47% shift away from private vehicle use and easing road congestion.

Station construction

Construction works for the SRL station at Burwood will be carefully staged to ensure safety and minimise disruption to the community.

Construction stages and activities include:

• Initial works (outside the scope of the EES) to prepare the site, such as utility relocations.
• Early works involving the demolition of existing structures, earthworks to prepare the site, flood management measures and establishment of tunnel access shafts.
• Ground support and excavation of the station box to create an open trench and using bottom-up construction to build the internal structures.
• Structural works including the station entrance and above ground structures as well as mechanical and electrical fit out.
• Construction of the pedestrian overpass across Burwood Highway. The overpass structure will be assembled offsite and installed using a crane.
• Station completion including any road and path upgrades, incorporation of public open space and planting and landscaping.

Two tunnel access shafts would be located at the SRL station site at Burwood to facilitate tunnelling between Glen Waverley and Box Hill.

Construction timeframes

Construction of the SRL station at Burwood will be completed in stages and is expected to take approximately 7 years.

Disruption at surface level is expected to be shorter than the overall construction time.

• 2022 – Initial and early works begin
• 2024 – Main works begin
• 2031 – Main works complete
• 2035 – Commissioning of SRL East

By 2036, SRL East precincts, consisting of an approximate 1.6km area around the new stations, will be home to 192,500 jobs, up from 120,500 in 2018, and 73,000 households, up from 48,500 in 2018.

Traffic and transport

As with other major infrastructure projects, surrounding communities may experience some impacts during construction.

Works will be carefully managed to minimise traffic and transport disruptions to ensure people can still get where they need to go on Melbourne's road and public transport networks.

The following traffic and transport impacts are anticipated in Burwood:

• Access to the construction site is proposed from Burwood Highway and Sinnott Street. Trucks will use designated roads in the area.
• Installation of additional traffic signals on Burwood Highway to allow trucks and construction vehicles to safely enter and exit site.
• Likely designated construction traffic routes include Burwood Highway, Blackburn Road, Middleborough Road, Stephensons Road, Eastlink and Monash Freeway.
• Some disruption to Burwood Highway tram services (route 75) and tram stop (stop 63).
• There may be some travel time delays to bus services that operate around Deakin University and/or use Burwood Highway.

Managing impacts in Burwood

A range of measures will minimise and manage impacts on businesses and residents, similar to what has been done successfully for other recent major infrastructure projects in Melbourne.

Measures for Burwood include:

• Developing and implementing a construction traffic management plan to minimise disruption to traffic, parking, pedestrians, and cyclists.
• Monitoring dust and air quality in line with Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria requirements and adapting site practices to protect air quality.
• Offsetting the removal of trees and vegetation, including measures to minimise tree loss and double tree cover canopy impacted by construction.
• Enhancing open space in Sinnott Street Reserve by naturalising Gardiners Creek and enhancing biodiversity value through plantings and landscaping.
• Working with local council on a new interpretation strategy to bring the history of this area, including the site of the former Skyline Drive-In Cinema, to life.
• Providing advance notice of construction impacts including changed traffic conditions and periods of potential high noise and vibration activities.
• Commissioning of property condition surveys by our contractors before construction begins to record the existing condition of buildings and residences near tunnels and construction sites.

In addition, Suburban Rail Loop Authority has prepared Business and Residential Support Guidelines, which include specific measures to support businesses and residents who may be impacted during the construction of SRL East.

What we have heard about Burwood

Since mid-2019, Suburban Rail Loop Authority has engaged with more than 20,000 people via online and face to face consultation activities.

What we have heard:

• Access to open green spaces and local flora and fauna makes Burwood special.
• Traffic congestion is a challenge, particularly on major roads such as Burwood Highway.
• Strong support for a direct rail connection and better transport links to Deakin University.
• Desire for improved access to buses and trams and walking and cycling paths.
• Opportunity to highlight and celebrate local history along Gardiners Creek.

Your feedback is important to planning and developing Suburban Rail Loop and will contribute to making areas around SRL East stations even better places to live, work and visit.

Read our translated fact sheets