The city-shaping Metro Tunnel Project has entered a new stage of construction, with crews preparing to lay track through the completed tunnels – a step closer to enabling more than half a million extra passengers every week on the rail network.
The first of almost 40km of rail has been delivered on freight trains to the Metro Tunnel’s western entrance in the past week as works gear up to install rail systems and tracks through the project’s twin 9km tunnels.
Installing the track will take up to a year, beginning with crews laying 4,000 high-performance precast concrete panels through the twin tunnels. There are 300 different panel shapes to account for the varying curvature and elevation of the tunnels as they wind from Kensington to South Yarra up to 30m underground.
From mid-2022 crews will install 165m lengths of steel rail, progressively clipping them to the concrete panels and welding them together to form a continuous rail line along the length of the tunnels.
At the 5 new stations – Arden, Parkville, State Library, Town Hall and Anzac – crews are also installing features such as escalators and lifts and fitting out back-of-house equipment rooms. The station platforms are taking shape, along with ceilings, stairs, walls and mechanical and electrical systems.
When it opens in 2025, the Metro Tunnel will create capacity for more than half a million extra passengers a week during peak times across the city’s train network.
Learn more about Metro Tunnel construction.
