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 Monash to the Loop

The SRL East station at Monash will connect more people to the largest employment and innovation hub outside of Melbourne’s CBD, providing students, employees and visitors with a direct train connection for the first time.

The new station platform will sit around 20m below ground with two station entrances, one facing north towards Ferntree Gully Road and a southern entrance oriented towards Monash University.

The two-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 Howleys 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.

New pedestrian and cycling paths will connect the station precinct to Monash University and nearby employment areas.

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 services building including the southern entrance.
• A northern services building.
• A station entrance building sitting between the 2 service buildings.

About 9000 passengers are projected to use the SRL station at Monash daily when trains start running in 2035, providing better connections to jobs, education and research facilities in the area.

Benefits for Monash

Jobs for Monash

SRL East will deliver more jobs closer to where people live. Employment in Monash will boom with an additional 19,000 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 two minutes. Travel time between stations will be around 3 to 4 minutes with an end-to-end journey from Cheltenham to Box Hill just 22 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 Monash 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.
• Early works will also involve modifications to road intersections, excavation and construction of tunnel access shafts, and installation of a temporary power supply substation to support tunnelling 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.

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

Construction timeframes

Construction of the SRL station at Monash 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 works begin
• 2023 – 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 Monash:

• Temporary lane and road closures on Howleys Road, Normanby Road and Ferntree Gully Road.
• Access to the construction site is proposed from Normanby Road and Howleys Road. Trucks will use designated roads in the area.
• Likely designated construction traffic routes include Normanby Road, Blackburn Road, Howleys Road, Ferntree Gully Road, Forster Road and Monash Freeway.
• There may be some travel time delays to bus services that operate around Monash University or use Blackburn Road, Normanby Road and Ferntree Gully Road.

Managing impacts in Monash

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 Monash 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 Normanby House and the south side of Normanby Road by doubling the tree canopy cover impacted by construction.
• Working with key stakeholders to identify sensitive equipment in health and research precincts and applying pre-emptive design measures to minimise electromagnetic interference (EMI).
• 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 Monash

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:

• Monash University is a critical hub of learning, research and employment.
• Public transport options are limited and poor connections between modes is a challenge.
• Natural open space is valued. The natural environment should be protected and enhanced.
• There are opportunities to develop underutilised land in the industrial area.
• Improved pedestrian and cycling links are desired, particularly to connect the east and west.

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