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 Clayton to the Loop
The SRL East station and transport superhub at Clayton will make it easier for metropolitan and regional passengers from Gippsland to access medical and health services, retail, entertainment and employment areas nearby, as well as travel to Melbourne's other middle suburbs.
The new station platform will sit around 18m below ground, with 2 entrances, one east of Clayton Road in the Remembrance Gardens and 1 west of Clayton Road near the existing station.
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 elevated walkway will connect directly with the existing Clayton Station, with accessible pick up and drop off areas, taxi bays and bicycle parking located nearby.
New pedestrian and cycling paths between Madeleine Street and Monash Medical Centre will improve safety in the area and connect with the Djerring Trail.
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 station entrance and southern service building.
- A northern service building.
About 15,000 passengers are projected to use the SRL station at Clayton daily when trains start running in 2035, with about 10,000 people interchanging with the Cranbourne/Pakenham line and regional services.
Benefits for Clayton
Jobs for Clayton
SRL East will deliver more jobs closer to where people live. Employment in Clayton is set to almost triple to 57,500 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 6 minutes in the peak, increasing with demand to around every 2 minutes. A journey between Cheltenham and Clayton will take less than 10 minutes, creating direct connections to vital health and medical facilities including Monash Medical Centre.
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 Clayton 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 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.
- Excavation of the station box and construction of diaphragm walls to create an open trench and using bottom-up construction to build internal structures.
- Structural works including the station entrances and above ground structures as well as mechanical and electrical fit out.
- 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 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.
- 2022 – Initial works begin
- 2023 – Early works begin
- 2027 – Main works begin
- 2030 – 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 Clayton:
- Staged modifications of Clayton Road will be required to construct the eastern entrance in the Remembrance Gardens. This will involve traffic modifications to allow traffic to move around the site.
- Access for emergency services within the health and medical precinct will be maintained at all times.
- Permanent closure of Carinish Road between Clayton Road and Clayton Link Road.
- Access to the construction site is proposed via Clayton Road and Carinish Road.
- Likely designated construction traffic routes may include Clayton Road, Centre Road, Police Road, Wellington Road, Huntingdale Road and Monash Freeway.
- There may be some travel time delays to bus services that operate around the Clayton Road bus interchange or use Clayton Road and Carinish Road.
- Pedestrian and cycling diversions around construction areas.
Managing impacts in Clayton
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 Clayton 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 from the Remembrance Gardens, including measures to protect the Lone Pine tree within the gardens, which is of high value.
- Providing advance notice of construction impacts including changed traffic conditions and periods of potential high noise and vibration activities.
- Working with key stakeholders to identify and manage any potential impacts to sensitive equipment in health and research precincts and applying at-source design measures to minimise electromagnetic interference (EMI) during operation of the new rail line.
- 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 Clayton
Since mid-2019, Suburban Rail Loop Authority has engaged more than 20,000 people via online and face to face consultation activities.
What we have heard:
- Access to vital medical services, including hospitals, is important.
- Diversity of restaurants, cafes and grocery stores is valued, but there are opportunities to revitalise some retail.
- Safer pedestrian and cycling connections are needed with more open, green spaces in the area.
- An opportunity to develop underutilised land parcels.
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.