5 November 2021
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 Cheltenham to the Loop
The SRL East station at Cheltenham will make it easier for people to access retail, entertainment and employment areas nearby as well as travelling to Melbourne's other middle suburbs.
The new station platform will sit around 17m below ground, with a single station entrance facing Bay Road.
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 off Bay Road 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.
Re-purposed open space will be delivered as part of the station plaza area with a new pedestrian and cycling overpass across Bay Road connecting the station precinct to Southland Shopping Centre and Southland 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 station entrance building.
- A station services building.
- A small station egress building.
About 8000 passengers are projected to use the SRL station at Cheltenham daily when trains start running in 2035, with about 2700 people interchanging with Frankston Line services.
Benefits for Cheltenham
Jobs for Cheltenham
SRL East will deliver more jobs closer to where people live. Employment in Cheltenham is set to double to 36,500 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 six minutes in the peak, increasing with demand to around every two minutes. A journey between Cheltenham and Clayton will take less than 10 minutes, saving 25 minutes, with the commute time to Box Hill slashed by up to 80 minutes.
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 Cheltenham will be carefully staged to ensure safety and minimise disruption to the community.
Construction stages and activities include:
- Early works involving demolition of existing structures, earthworks to prepare the site and utility relocations.
- Excavation of the station box to create an open trench and using bottom-up construction to build internal structures.
- Structural works including the station entrance and above ground structures as well as mechanical and electrical fit out.
- Construction of the pedestrian and cycling overpass on Bay Road. 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.
Construction timeframes
Construction of the SRL station at Cheltenham 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.
Cheltenham construction timeframes
- 2023 – Early works begin
- 2027 – Main works begin
- 2033 – 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 get where they need to go on Melbourne's road and public transport networks.
The following traffic and transport impacts are anticipated in Cheltenham:
- Partial closure of the Nepean Highway service road north of Bay Road during construction.
- Access to the construction site is proposed from Bay Road and Nepean Highway with designated haulage routes proposed for trucks and other construction traffic.
- Likely designated construction traffic routes include Bay Road, Nepean Highway, Centre Dandenong Road, Warrigal Road, Dingley Bypass and Mordialloc Freeway. See map for proposed inbound and outbound construction traffic routes.
- There may be some travel time delays for bus services operating around the Southland bus interchange or using Nepean Highway and Bay Road.
Managing impacts in Cheltenham
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 Cheltenham 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.
- Removing and disposing of excavated soil in accordance with relevant legislation and implementing specific measures as required.
- Offsetting the removal of trees and vegetation from Sir William Fry Reserve, including measures to double the amount of tree canopy impacted by construction and retain trees along Bay Road.
- Relocating the skate park and addressing the loss of open space by implementing improvements to the reserve, including new and upgraded paths and lighting.
- 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 Cheltenham
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:
- Open spaces and the natural environment are valued by the Cheltenham community.
- Traffic congestion is a challenge, particularly in peak hours and school drop-off time.
- More walking and cycling connections are needed especially between shops and public transport.
- The fewer changes to parks, gardens, and local roads, the better.
- The engagement process must be genuine, robust, and transparent.
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.